Pulitzer-winning author Annie Dillard dies at 81

Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning essayist best known for “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” died of natural causes on Tuesday at her South Wellfleet, Massachusetts home, aged 81, according to her agent Rob McQuilkin. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Dillard produced a diverse body of work, including poetry, journalism, a novel about marriage, and a memoir of her childhood. In 2010, President Barack Obama presented her with a National Humanities Medal for her deep reflections on human life and nature.

Born Meta Ann Doak in Pittsburgh, she later wrote about her unconventional upbringing and lifelong curiosity. Dillard taught writing at Wesleyan University for over 20 years before retiring in 2002. She was married three times, most recently to literary biographer Robert Richardson, and had one son, Cody, with her second husband Gary Clevidence.