SSC CGL 2025 Tier-II · Paper-I, 19 January 2026 · General Awareness · Question 19 of 150

We transcribed this text from the pictures of a candidate's response sheet for this paper; the answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. This paper reaches us as a candidate's response sheet saved as pictures, so we transcribed the text from those pictures, and a second reader checked every question against them; where the layout carries meaning, we show the picture too. Each answer is the key SSC marked with a green tick on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. UnlockIAS wrote the solutions.

Who was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for a novel that serves as a provocative and satirical reimagining of the life of Jim from Mark Twain’s 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'?

(a)Percival Everett
(b)Colson Whitehead
(c)Paul Lynch
(d)Hernan Diaz

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Percival Everett won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for James (Doubleday, 2024). The novel reimagines Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, narrated by Jim, the fugitive slave who travels with Huck.

It also won the 2024 Kirkus Prize and the National Book Award for Fiction.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Colson Whitehead — Colson Whitehead has won the Pulitzer for Fiction twice, for The Underground Railroad (2017) and The Nickel Boys (2020), but not in 2025.
(c)
Paul Lynch — Paul Lynch, an Irish novelist, won the 2023 Booker Prize for Prophet Song. Wrong prize and wrong year.
(d)
Hernan Diaz — Hernan Diaz won the 2023 Pulitzer for Fiction for Trust, sharing it with Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, the first time the fiction prize was split.

Concept

This item names the book by its premise, not its title. James retells Huckleberry Finn from Jim's side, and that premise points to Percival Everett.

The other three names are all recent prize-winners: two Pulitzer fiction laureates from other years and the 2023 Booker winner. The test is knowing which prize and which year goes with each name.

Key facts

2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Percival Everett, James.
2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Jayne Anne Phillips, Night Watch.
2023: Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead) and Hernan Diaz (Trust) shared the prize, the first split in the fiction category.
Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for Prophet Song.

Study next

Booker Prize and International Booker Prize winners of recent yearsOther 2025 Pulitzer winners in drama, history and biography

Common traps

Picking Colson Whitehead because he is a two-time winner of the fiction prize.
Mixing Booker and Pulitzer winners, such as Paul Lynch's Prophet Song.

Here the winning book is identified by its plot, so you need to know what James is about as well as who wrote it.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Current events — all 162 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.