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Pulitzers for the Arts
Published: 4/12/2010 5:02 PM
Last Modified: 4/12/2010 5:02 PM

The 2010 Pulitzer Prizes in the Arts were announced Monday, with the fiction prize catching a lot of people by surprise.

"Tinkers" by Paul Harding, published by the small Bellevue Literary Press, is the first "small-press" novel to win the prize since "A Confederacy of Dunces" did in 1981.

Harding's novel was not one of the thousands of recently published books that came to the Tulsa World, but just to go by the austere cover and the prominent endorsement by Marilynne Robinson, it's very likely we would have given the book more than a passing glance.

That is one of the problems of doing the things I do for the Tulsa World -- there is so much that is worthy of attention, in performances, in visual arts, in books -- and so little space in the newspaper and so little time in my day to treat everything with the consideration all and sundry deserve.

As for the other Pulitzers -- Oklahoma City native Blake Bailey was a nominee in the Biography category for his "Cheever: A Life," while Jennifer Higdon, who was the composer in residence for OK Mozart in 2008, won the Music prize for her Violin Concerto.

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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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Past Articles By James D. Watts Jr

2/15/2013		'Concept/OK' exhibit ends Saturday
2/14/2013		Symphony to host piano soloist
2/14/2013		Broadway tours bring 'Shrek,' improv musical to Tulsa area this weekend
2/14/2013		Arts roundup: Improv reigns at several upcoming theater events
2/14/2013		'Lion King' returns to Tulsa PAC June 4
2/12/2013		Review: Signature Symphony reprises '100 Years of Oklahoma Music'
2/11/2013		Tulsa Symphony's concert salutes diverse American music
2/10/2013		Cherokee artist weaves messages into baskets
2/10/2013		Tesla Quartet set for Tulsa residency next week with variety of activities
2/10/2013		Jim Murphy wins 2013 Anne Zarrow Award
2/10/2013		LBJ chronicler Robert Caro to speak at TU on Tuesday
2/9/2013		Theater review: Playhouse makes "Barefoot in the Park" believable

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