Richard Powers, who earned two English degrees from the UI, received one of writing's highest honors for his 2018 novel, 'The Overstory.' It had been 60 years since a University of Illinois alum was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction — Robert Lewis Taylor, from the Class of 1933. Monday, it happened for a second time, when Richard Powers ('78) received one of writing's highest honors for his 2018 novel, 'The Overstory.' read more