Last Updated on 23 hours ago by Vijay Kumar
Annie Dillard, the acclaimed American author and essayist best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, has died at the age of 81.
Dillard died on September 15, 2026, at her home in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Her literary agent, Rob McQuilkin, confirmed that she died of natural causes. Her death was also confirmed by her literary executor, writer Maggie Nelson.
Born Meta Ann Doak in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dillard became one of America’s most influential literary voices through her distinctive writing about nature, spirituality, human experience and the craft of writing.
Annie Dillard rose to national prominence with her 1974 book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Written when she was 28, the nonfiction work explored the natural world around Tinker Creek in Virginia and won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
Throughout her career, Dillard wrote across several genres, including essays, poetry, fiction, memoir and literary criticism. Her notable books included Holy the Firm, Teaching a Stone to Talk, An American Childhood, The Writing Life, The Living and The Maytrees.
Dillard also had a long career as an educator. She taught at Fairhaven College and Western Washington University before spending more than two decades teaching at Wesleyan University. She retired from teaching in 2002.
In 2015, President Barack Obama presented Dillard with the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contribution to American literature.
Annie Dillard is survived by her daughter, Cody Rose, whom she had with her second husband, Gary Clevidence.
Dillard was married three times. Her final husband was literary biographer Robert D. Richardson, who died in 2020.
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