Ilyon Woo and her Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom" (Yonhap)

A nonfiction book by a renowned Korean American author won this year's Pulitzer Prize in the biography category Monday, according to Columbia University, which administers the prestigious annual award.

"Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom" by Ilyon Woo was announced as the winner of the prize. The book is based on the story of a young enslaved couple that made their escape together from Georgia to the free states of the North in 1848.

Woo holds a BA in the humanities from Yale College and a PhD in English from Columbia University, where she first came upon the story of William and Ellen Craft, the couple in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

"King: A Life" by Jonathan Eig also won the 2024 prize in the biography category.

Established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher, the award honors those who have made achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature and musical composition in the United States. (Yonhap)