NEW YORK — A $100,000 prize for military writing has been awarded to an author of fiction.

Tim O’Brien, known for such books as “The Things They Carried” and “In the Lake of the Woods,” has received the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award.

The honor, announced Tuesday, has previously been given to such acclaimed historians as James McPherson and Rick Atkinson. O’Brien is the first fiction writer to win.

The 66-year-old O’Brien served in the Vietnam War from 1968-70 and often draws directly on his experiences as a soldier.