from npr.org
Francis "Frank" McCourt (19 August 1930 - 19 July 2009) was an American-Irish teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes.The memoir was adapted to a feature film Angela’s Ashes in 1999, starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle.
Frank McCourt, the Irish-American writer who turned a grim childhood in Ireland into a best-selling memoir, has died. He was 78.
McCourt had been gravely ill with meningitis and was being treated for skin cancer. Malachy McCourt, also a writer, said his brother died Sunday afternoon at a New York hospice.
McCourt was a retired schoolteacher in his 60s when his first book, Angela's Ashes, became a huge best-seller. It won the Pulitzer Prize.
The book detailed McCourt's bleak upbringing in an alcoholic household in Limerick, Ireland. When it was first published, The New York Times review noted that "there was not a trace of bitterness or resentment in it," but McCourt told interviewers that he had to learn to overcome his anger before he could write the book.
McCourt's second memoir, 'Tis, took up the story of his life when he moved to the country at the age of 19. His third book, Teacher Man was the story of his years as a teacher in the New York City school system.
Reeves says McCourt brought the same sense of humor and charm to his teaching that was so evident in his writing. He liked to laugh at himself and he enjoyed life, in spite of — or perhaps because of — the tough pitches life had thrown his way.
"Frank's serenity may have come from the fact he's surrounded by and had lived through so much that would be upsetting to serenity," says Reeves. "There was a willful calm and happiness. I think people can decide to be happy. Maybe that was it."
RIP
Francis "Frank" McCourt (19 August 1930 - 19 July 2009) was an American-Irish teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes.The memoir was adapted to a feature film Angela’s Ashes in 1999, starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle.
Frank McCourt, the Irish-American writer who turned a grim childhood in Ireland into a best-selling memoir, has died. He was 78.
McCourt had been gravely ill with meningitis and was being treated for skin cancer. Malachy McCourt, also a writer, said his brother died Sunday afternoon at a New York hospice.
McCourt was a retired schoolteacher in his 60s when his first book, Angela's Ashes, became a huge best-seller. It won the Pulitzer Prize.
The book detailed McCourt's bleak upbringing in an alcoholic household in Limerick, Ireland. When it was first published, The New York Times review noted that "there was not a trace of bitterness or resentment in it," but McCourt told interviewers that he had to learn to overcome his anger before he could write the book.
McCourt's second memoir, 'Tis, took up the story of his life when he moved to the country at the age of 19. His third book, Teacher Man was the story of his years as a teacher in the New York City school system.
Reeves says McCourt brought the same sense of humor and charm to his teaching that was so evident in his writing. He liked to laugh at himself and he enjoyed life, in spite of — or perhaps because of — the tough pitches life had thrown his way.
"Frank's serenity may have come from the fact he's surrounded by and had lived through so much that would be upsetting to serenity," says Reeves. "There was a willful calm and happiness. I think people can decide to be happy. Maybe that was it."
RIP
