Monday, July 19, 2010

Remembering a great author after a year!




Frank McCourt
Birth: Aug. 19, 1930 Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
Death: Jul. 19, 2009 New York, New York County New York Francis "Frank" McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes. His brothers Malachy McCourt and Alphie McCourt are also autobiographical writers. In the mid-1980s Francis and Malachy created the stage play "A Couple of Blaguards", a two-man show about their lives and experiences. He taught English at McKee High School in Staten Island. Frank McCourt taught across a range of five New York schools, including McKee Technical and Vocational High School and Stuyvesant High School. Mr. McCourt also taught in the English department of New York City Technical College of the City University of New York. In a 1997 NY Times Op-Ed essay, Mr. McCourt wrote about his experiences teaching immigrant mothers there. He received the Pulitzer Prize (1997) and National Book Critics Circle Award (1996) for his memoir Angela's Ashes (1996), which details his impoverished childhood in Limerick. He also authored 'Tis (1999), which continues the narrative of his life, picking up from the end of the previous book and focusing on life as a new immigrant in America. Teacher Man (2005) detailed the challenges of being a young, uncertain teacher. It was announced in May, 2009 that he had been treated for melanoma and that he was in remission, undergoing home chemotherapy. On July 19, 2009, he died from the cancer, with meningeal complications, at a hospice in Manhattan. Frank McCourt: Sir, its been a privilege to read your books and remembering a great an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes. As a Staten Islander, this island will never forget on what you did at one of the local high schools, thanks for everything, remembering you one year ago today, may you rest in peace!

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