( CNN ) Anthony Doerr 's `` All the Light We Can not See , '' a novel centered on the World War II bombing of St.-Malo , France , and two characters on opposite sides of the war , won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction Monday . Doerr 's novel had received rave reviews upon its release last spring . `` I must blame Anthony Doerr for lost sleep , because once I started reading his new novel , 'All the Light We Can not See , ' there was no putting it down , '' wrote William T. Vollmann in The New York Times Book Review . Doerr 's work was also a finalist for the National Book Award . It 's his second novel and fourth work of fiction , including two short story collections . 2015 Pulitzer Prize winners in journalism named . `` Between Riverside and Crazy , '' a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis , won the Pulitzer for drama . An earlier Guirgis work , `` The Motherf***** with the Hat , '' ran on Broadway in 2011 . Elizabeth Kolbert 's `` The Sixth Extinction : An Unnatural History '' won the Pulitzer for general nonfiction . Kolbert , a New Yorker staff writer , tackles the idea that we 're at the beginning of another mass die-off . `` As the planet warms up , and carbon dioxide acidifies the oceans , all bets are off -- except the ones hinging on mass extinctions , '' wrote Nicholas Lazard in The Guardian . Despite that prospect , he added , `` Kolbert 's book is not , thankfully , as depressing as you might think . She has a good grip on her subject and uses a light touch when it is most needed . '' Other winners in arts and letters categories include `` Encounters at the Heart of the World : A History of the Mandan People '' by Elizabeth A. Fenn ( history ) ; `` The Pope and Mussolini : The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe '' by David I. Kertzer ( biography/autobiography ) ; `` Anthracite Fields '' by Julia Wolfe ( music ) ; and `` Digest '' by Gregory Pardlo ( poetry ) . The Pulitzer Prizes are administered by Columbia University and are considered some of the most prestigious honors in journalism and literature .
Anthony Doerr 's ``` The Sixth Extinction '' We Can not See '' wins Pulitzer for fiction . Elizabeth Kolbert 's ` All the Light wins general nonfiction prize .