NEW YORK, April 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Marilynne Robinson was awarded the Pulitzer for fiction for "Gilead," a poetic modern-day tale ofa dying Iowa preacher and Oscar-winning writer John Shanley was given the Pulitzer for his play "Doubts" here Monday.

    David Fischer, a professor at Brandeis University, was awarded the prize for history for his book "Washington's Crossing," while Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan won in biography category for their sweeping biography "de Kooning: An American Master."

    Stevens is currently the art critic for New York magazine, and Swan is a magazine writer who has worked for Time and Newsweek.

    The prize for poetry went to national poet laureate Ted Kooser for his "Delights &Shadows," and Steve Coll got his second Pulitzer, winning in the general nonfiction category for "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to Sept. 10 2001." The author of four books, Coll is now an associate editor at The Washington Post.

    Steven Stucky won the music award for "Second Concerto for Orchestra."

    The annual Pulitzer Prize winners in Journalism and Letters, Drama and Music were announced at Columbia University in New York.Enditem