A Fairfield native has earned one of the highest honors in American literature.
Daniel Kraus, who grew up in Fairfield before attending the University of Iowa, has been awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel “Angel Down.”
The novel, released in 2025, tells the story of five World War I soldiers crossing No Man’s Land in search of a rumored German stronghold, only to discover a fallen angel tangled in the battlefield wire. What makes the book especially unique is its structure — the nearly 300-page novel is written entirely as one continuous sentence, without a single period.
Pulitzer Prize judges described the novel as a “stylistic tour-de-force” that blends allegory, magical realism, and science fiction into a single narrative.
Kraus told reporters the award came as a complete surprise, saying he initially thought something was wrong when congratulatory messages began pouring in.
The author said the book’s unusual single-sentence format was intentional and meant to reflect the endless cycle of war. He explained that he wanted readers to feel trapped inside the story in the same way soldiers were trapped in conflict.
Kraus credited his upbringing in Fairfield with helping shape his creativity. He recalled spending hours writing in his basement as a child and frequently visiting Adventureland Video, where he developed an early fascination with storytelling and horror films.
Since leaving Southeast Iowa, Kraus has built a career spanning more than two dozen novels across multiple genres, along with collaborations in film and television. He co-wrote the novelization of “The Shape of Water” with director Guillermo del Toro and completed an unfinished novel by legendary filmmaker George Romero following Romero’s death in 2017.
A film adaptation of Kraus’s 2023 novel “Whalefall” is expected to be released later this year, while “Angel Down” has also already been approved for a future film adaptation.