Can You Ace This Quiz on the Pulitzer Prize?

The Pulitzer’s novel category had a 30-year run, but formally ended after the 1947 award was given to Robert Penn Warren for his book "All the King's Men." The fiction category took its place starting in 1948.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” started breaking barriers long before her writing career soared. Maya Angelou was the first Black female cable car conductor in San Francisco, having applied for the job at age 16. It took some convincing — she sat in the office lobby every day for two weeks before the hiring manager would consider her — but she achieved her goal. The civil rights activist later became the first Black woman to write a nonfiction bestseller when she released "Caged Bird" in 1969.

Playwright Eugene O’Neill had acting in his blood. The son of Shakespearean actor James O’Neill, Eugene was born in a hotel on Broadway in 1888. After writing and producing a series of one-act plays, O’Neill achieved success with 1920’s “Beyond the Horizon,” which won the Pulitzer Prize. He would win two more Pulitzers as well as the Nobel Prize in literature in 1936. His plays “The Iceman Cometh” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” are considered American classics.

Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Goldfinch" references a 1654 painting by Dutch artist Carel Fabritius. The painting is now held by the Mauritshuis collection in The Hague. In the book, the young protagonist steals the painting during an explosion at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, which kills his mother. Fabritius himself was killed in the explosion of a gunpowder magazine the same year he painted "The Goldfinch," and much of his work was destroyed.

In 1948, the first year the Pulitzer Prize was awarded in fiction, James A. Michener's “Tales of the South Pacific” was the winner. Authors A.B. Guthrie, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner all won Pulitzers in this category as well, but in 1950, 1953, and 1955, respectively.

Two years after winning the Nobel Prize in literature for his “realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception," John Steinbeck was awarded another high honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was given to the "East of Eden" and "Of Mice and Men" author by President Lyndon B. Johnson 25 years after Steinbeck received both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for "The Grapes of Wrath," his best-known work and the archetypal great American novel.

Most Pulitzer Prize category winners are presented with a cash prize, but the winner of the public service category is awarded a gold medal. This particular prize is always given to a news organization rather than an individual.

Gwendolyn Brooks won a Pulitzer in 1950 for her work “Annie Allen,” a collection of poetry that tells the story of a young Black girl's journey into womanhood. Gwendolyn Brooks also became the first Black woman to work in the Library of Congress as a poetry consultant.

Biographer David McCullough's work “Truman” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, and his book ”John Adams” won in 2002. One of his earlier works, ”Mornings on Horseback,” was also a finalist in the 1982 Pulitzer Prize contest.

Jared Diamond is the author of “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies,” and his work won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1998. All of the authors listed have also won a Pulitzer in this category.

Dramatist Edward Albee received an impressive three Pulitzer Prizes in his lifetime, but his most famous work, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” was notoriously snubbed. The play was the only work nominated for the 1963 award, but the board ended up giving out no prize that year due to the controversial themes in the play. Two jury members resigned their positions in protest.

Composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein made an unforgettable first impression with their debut musical "Oklahoma!" When the show opened on Broadway in 1943, its love stories, themes of social class disparities, and timeless tunes immediately resonated with audiences, and the musical won the 1944 Pulitzer in special awards and citations. Rodgers and Hammerstein are often credited with birthing the modern musical, and over the course of their career they won 35 Tonys, 15 Oscars, two Emmys, and two Grammys.

Over the years, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded to classic American novels, including Toni Morrison's “Beloved” in 1988, which triumphed over “Persian Nights” by Diane Johnson and “That Night” by Alice McDermott.

Edith Wharton made history in 1921 when she became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize. She took home the award for her twelfth novel, "The Age of Innocence." Wharton became known for her descriptions and stories of high-class society and social norms in the early 20th century a reflection of her own experiences.

Robert Frost won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1924, 1931, 1937, and 1943, making him one of only four people to have won four Pulitzer Prizes. Other mega-winners include playwrights Eugene O'Neill and Robert E. Sherwood, photographer Carol Guzy, and journalist David Barstow.

The Broadway smash “Hamilton” swept awards season, winning the 2016 Pulitzer Prize, as well as 11 Tony Awards and a Grammy. Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to write a musical about the titular founding father after reading Ron Chernow's biography “Alexander Hamilton” while on vacation.

Ernest Hemingway was a prolific writer, churning out many classic works in his lifetime. But only one book received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize: his novel “The Old Man and the Sea,” which won in 1953.

President John F. Kennedy won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book “Profiles in Courage.” Kennedy wrote the book while taking a leave of absence from the Senate in 1954 to recover from back surgery. He won the Presidential election in 1960.

Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer gave an endowment to Columbia University in New York to create a school of journalism. He also left money to the school in his will to create the yearly Pulitzer Prize, an award for a significant accomplishment in American literature, journalism, or music. Columbia’s School of Journalism opened in 1912 and the first prizes were given in 1917.

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller met on a film set in the 1950s. Miller, who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Death of a Salesman," shook Monroe's hand and, after watching her act on set, told her she should act on stage. The pair were married in 1956 and divorced five years later.