Annie Dillard, Meditative Author of 'Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,' Dies at 81

Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, died Tuesday at her home in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts. She was 81. Her literary executor, Maggie Nelson, confirmed the death. Dillard first rose to national prominence in 1974 with the publication of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek at age 28. Critics quickly compared the book to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, a connection she reinforced by choosing Thoreau for her master’s thesis at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. The article also recalls her belief that she was not a nature writer, but a theologian seeking God.