Pulitzer for Mailer’s ‘novel’

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 9

Pulitzer for Mailer’s ‘novel’

NZPA-Reuter New York Norman Mailer, long a controversial - figure in American, literature, has won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his book, “The Executioner’s Song,” a work many critics claim is not fiction at all. “The Executioner’s Song” is a 1000-page inquiry into the short, unhappy life, of Gary Gilmore, whose death by firing squad two years ago was the first execution in the United States in a decade. Although the book is described by Mailer as a novel, , all the characters in the book are

real, and based on extensive interviews with those involved with Gilmore. Among j the 19 other awards given out yesterday were a Pulitzer for generallocal reporting which went to the “Philadelphia Inquirer” for its coverage of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Gannett news service won the public-service award for a controversial series on the financial dealings of the Pauline Fathers, a Polish Roman Catholic order that has evoked much criticism from Roman Catholics. Al

5 best foreign-reporting award ■ went to two reporters on the “Louisville Courier-Jour-r nal” for stories on Kam- ' puchea, and a “presently un- • named” photographer for : United Press International • won the spot-news photo- ’ graph award for a picture : entitled "firing Squad in • Iran.” The investigative-re- ! porting award went to a . “Boston Globe” team for ■ articles on the city’s public transit system, and the : national reporting award went to two reporters on the “St Petersburg Times,” Florida, for a series on the I Church of Scientology. The

“Boston Globe” also won awards for commentary and for criticism. The columnist, Ellen Goodman, won the! award for commentary, and; William Henry won for criti- i cism. The award for best play of the year went to “Talley’s Folly” by Lanford Wilson; the award for best history book went to Leon Litwack’s “Bitter the Storm So Long” a study of the; aftermath of slavery; and the award for best biography of the year went to Edmund Morris for “The I Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.” I