Frank McCourt and friends in 1996.
(Universal Pictures)
Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt, who died Sunday at 78 in New York, didn't just write.
The "Angela's Ashes" author, who barely survived an extremely impoverished Irish childhood, spent much of his adult life teaching next-generation authors how to write as well.
That's why I really like the picture that accompanies this blog. At first glance it's just a publicity shot from the 1996 movie version of "Angela's Ashes." Upon closer inspection, however, it epitomizes the bond of McCourt the teacher, McCourt's tortured inner-child and McCourt the mentor.
New York Daily News staff writer Denis Hamill sums up the celebrated author very well in an article posted online on the Daily News Web site:
"An English teacher at (New York's) Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called 'A Couple of Blaguards.'
"When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was 'Angela's Ashes,' a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries.
"'I had a lot of false starts,' Frank told me about writing 'Angela's Ashes.' 'But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me,'" McCourt told Hamill.
Click here to read the entire New York Daily News article.
Rest in peace, Mr. McCourt. You have left your mark on bookshelves, on movie screens, in the budding creative minds of hundreds of students and in my heart.
An English teacher at Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called "A Couple of Blaguards."
When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was "Angela's Ashes," a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries. "I had a lot of false starts," Frank told me about writing "Angela's Ashes."
"But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_mccourt_from_teacher_to_pulitzer.html#ixzz0Lo1B2LQo
An English teacher at Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called "A Couple of Blaguards."
When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was "Angela's Ashes," a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries. "I had a lot of false starts," Frank told me about writing "Angela's Ashes."
"But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_mccourt_from_teacher_to_pulitzer.html#ixzz0Lo1B2LQo
An English teacher at Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called "A Couple of Blaguards."
When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was "Angela's Ashes," a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries. "I had a lot of false starts," Frank told me about writing "Angela's Ashes."
"But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_mccourt_from_teacher_to_pulitzer.html#ixzz0Lo1B2LQo
An English teacher at Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called "A Couple of Blaguards."
When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was "Angela's Ashes," a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries. "I had a lot of false starts," Frank told me about writing "Angela's Ashes."
"But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_mccourt_from_teacher_to_pulitzer.html#ixzz0Lo1B2LQo
An English teacher at Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called "A Couple of Blaguards."
When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was "Angela's Ashes," a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries. "I had a lot of false starts," Frank told me about writing "Angela's Ashes."
"But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_mccourt_from_teacher_to_pulitzer.html#ixzz0Lo0xgYQo
An English teacher at Stuyvesant High, he was such a gifted storyteller that he and brother Malachy put together a two-man show called "A Couple of Blaguards."
When he was 66, Frank finally published the book that everyone kept telling him he had to write. That book was "Angela's Ashes," a celebrated memoir that was published in 25 languages and 30 countries. "I had a lot of false starts," Frank told me about writing "Angela's Ashes."
"But once I found the voice of the little boy to tell the tale, the rest of it just sort of poured out of me."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/19/2009-07-19_mccourt_from_teacher_to_pulitzer.html#ixzz0Lo0xgYQo
