Annie Dillard, author of the Pulitzer prize-winning book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, died aged 81 at her home in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. Maggie Nelson, Dillard’s literary editor, confirmed her death to the New York Times. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a nonfiction narrative Dillard wrote about the natural world surrounding her mountainous Virginia home, was published in 1974 when the young writer was just 28. The book was an instant critical and financial success, skyrocketing Dillard to becoming one of the most prominent nonfiction writers of her generation. Tinker Creek won the 1975 Pulitzer prize for general nonfiction, and in 1998 it was included in Modern Library’s list of 100 best nonfiction books. …Her work was often compared to Henry David Thoreau, the naturalist about whom she wrote her master’s thesis. [Tree Frog Editor Sandy McKellar adds – Dr. Bart van der Kamp assigned this book as required reading for his UBC Forestry 100 class!]