Australian-American journalist and novelist
Geraldine Brooks
AO
(born 14 September 1955)
[1]
is an
Australian-American
journalist and novelist whose 2005 novel
March
won the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
.
Early life
[
edit
]
A native of Sydney, Geraldine Brooks grew up in its inner-west suburb of
Ashfield
. Her father, Lawrie Brooks, was an American big-band singer who was stranded in Adelaide on a tour of Australia when his manager absconded with the band's pay; he decided to remain in Australia, and became a newspaper sub-editor. Her mother Gloria, from
Boorowa
, was a public relations officer with radio station 2GB in Sydney.
[2]
She attended
Bethlehem College
, a secondary school for girls, and the
University of Sydney
. Following graduation, she was a
rookie
reporter for
The Sydney Morning Herald
and, after winning a
Greg Shackleton Memorial Scholarship
, moved to the United States, completing a master's degree at New York City's
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
in 1983.
[3]
The following year, in the
Southern France
artisan
village of
Tourrettes-sur-Loup
, she married American journalist
Tony Horwitz
and
converted
to
Judaism
.
[4]
Career
[
edit
]
As a foreign correspondent for
The Wall Street Journal
, she covered crises in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. The stories from the Persian Gulf that she and her husband reported in 1990 received the
Overseas Press Club
's Hal Boyle Award for "Best Newspaper or Wire Service Reporting from Abroad".
[5]
In 2006, she was awarded a fellowship at
Harvard University
's
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
.
[6]
Brooks's first book,
Nine Parts of Desire
(1994), based on her experiences among Muslim women in the Middle East, was an international bestseller, translated into 17 languages.
Foreign Correspondence
(1997), which won the
Nita Kibble Literary Award
for women's writing, was a memoir and travel adventure about a childhood enriched by
penpals
from around the world, and her adult quest to find them.
Her first novel,
Year of Wonders
, published in 2001, became an international bestseller. Set in 1666, the story depicts a young woman's battle to save fellow villagers as well as her own soul when the
bubonic plague
suddenly strikes her small Derbyshire village of
Eyam
.
Her next novel,
March
(2005), was inspired by her fondness for
Louisa May Alcott
's
Little Women
,
which her mother had given her. To connect that memorable reading experience to her new status in 2002 as an American citizen, she researched the
Civil War
historical setting of
Little Women
and decided to create a chronicle of wartime service for the "absent father" of the March girls. Some aspects of this chronicle were informed by the life and philosophical writings of the Alcott family patriarch,
Amos Bronson Alcott
, whom she profiled under the title "Orpheus at the Plough", in the 10 January 2005 issue of
The New Yorker
, a month before
March
was published. The
parallel novel
received a mixed reaction from critics, but was nonetheless selected in December 2005 by the
Washington Post
as one of the five best fiction works published that year, and in April 2006, it won the
Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction.
[7]
She was eligible for the prize by virtue of her American citizenship, and was the first Australian to win the prize.
In her next novel,
People of the Book
(2008), Brooks explored a fictionalized history of the
Sarajevo Haggadah
. This novel was inspired by her reporting (for
The New Yorker
) of human interest stories emerging in the aftermath of the 1991?95
breakup of Yugoslavia
.
[8]
The novel won both the Australian Book of the Year Award and the Australian Literary Fiction Award in 2008.
[9]
Her 2011 novel
Caleb's Crossing
is inspired by the life of
Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk
, a
Wampanoag
convert to Christianity who was the first Native American to graduate from
Harvard College
, in the seventeenth century.
[10]
Brooks, at the invitation of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, delivered the 2011 series of the prestigious
Boyer Lectures
. These have been published as "The Idea of Home",
[11]
and reveal her passionate humanist values.
The Secret Chord
(2015) is a historical novel based on the life of the biblical King
David
in the
Second Iron Age
.
[12]
[13]
In 2016, Brooks visited
Israel
, as part of a project by the "
Breaking the Silence
" organization, to write an article for a book on the
Israeli occupation
, to mark the 50th anniversary of the
Six-Day War
.
[14]
[15]
The book was edited by
Michael Chabon
and
Ayelet Waldman
, and was published under the title "Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation", in June 2017.
[16]
Horse
(2022) is a historical novel based upon the racing horse
Lexington
. It quickly became a New York Times Best Seller.
[17]
It won the 2023
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
for Fiction.
[18]
Recognition
[
edit
]
Works
[
edit
]
Novels
[
edit
]
Nonfiction
[
edit
]
Personal life
[
edit
]
While retaining her Australian citizenship, Brooks became a United States citizen in 2002.
[24]
[25]
She has two sons with her husband
Tony Horwitz
, Nathaniel and Bizu. Tony died suddenly in 2019 while away on a book tour.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Geraldine Brooks"
.
Jewish Women's Archive
. Retrieved
26 June
2023
.
- ^
Larry Schwartz, "Author of her own success",
The Age
, 22 April 2006, Encounter, p. 8
- ^
"Geraldine Brooks interviewed by Julia Baird for
ABC Sunday Profile
"
. Abc.net.au. 23 April 2006
. Retrieved
18 June
2012
.
- ^
"The wandering Haggadah: Novel follows journey of ancient Sephardic text (
J. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California
, 25 January 2008)"
. Jewishsf.com. 25 January 2008
. Retrieved
18 June
2012
.
- ^
"OPC Awards: 1990 Award Winners"
. Overseas Press Club of America. Archived from
the original
on 3 November 2004
. Retrieved
21 December
2006
.
- ^
"Fellows"
.
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
. Archived from
the original
on 15 January 2019
. Retrieved
15 January
2019
.
- ^
"The Pulitzer Prizes ? 2006 Winners"
. The Pulitzer Board. Archived from
the original
on 20 December 2006
. Retrieved
21 December
2006
.
- ^
"The Book of Exodus"
.
The New Yorker
. Retrieved
6 March
2009
.
- ^
"Brooks Wins Book of the Year Award"
.
Sydney Morning Herald
. 16 June 2008
. Retrieved
6 March
2009
.
- ^
Atlas, Amelia (17 April 2011).
"Pride of the Indian College"
.
Harvard Magazine
. Retrieved
10 October
2021
.
- ^
"The Novels"
.
GeraldineBrooks.com
. 27 June 2014
. Retrieved
28 June
2016
.
- ^
"The Secret Chord"
. Author website. 20 July 2015
. Retrieved
17 August
2015
.
- ^
Hoffman, Alice (28 September 2015).
"Geraldine Brooks reimagines King David's life in 'The Secret Chord'
"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
29 March
2018
.
- ^
Zeveloff, Naomi;
The Forward
(18 April 2016).
"Renowned Authors Learn About Occupation Firsthand in Breaking the Silence Tour"
.
Haaretz
.
- ^
Cain, Sian (17 February 2016).
"Leading authors to write about visiting Israel and the occupied territories"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Kingdom of Olives and Ash Writers Confront the Occupation By Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman"
. Retrieved
18 August
2022
.
- ^
"The New York Times Best Sellers"
.
The New York Times
. 3 July 2022
. Retrieved
2 July
2022
.
- ^
"Geraldine Brooks, Saeed Jones win Anisfield-Wolf prize"
.
apnews.com
. 4 April 2023
. Retrieved
6 May
2023
.
- ^
"GERALDINE BROOKS"
.
Aspen Words
. Retrieved
26 June
2023
.
- ^
"Brooks wins Book of the Year award"
,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, 15 June 2008
- ^
Althea Peterson,
"2009 Helmerich award winner has unusual past"
Archived
7 October 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Tulsa World
, 19 February 2009.
- ^
LLC, D. Verne Morland, Digital Stationery International.
"Dayton Literary Peace Prize - Geraldine Brooks, 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award"
.
www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org
. Retrieved
28 June
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"
'Runt' wins 2023 Indie Book of the Year"
.
Books+Publishing
. 22 March 2023
. Retrieved
22 March
2023
.
- ^
"Geraldine Brooks biographical details at NNDB"
. Nndb.com
. Retrieved
18 June
2012
.
- ^
Marquis Who's Who
(2009). New Providence: Reed Reference Electronic Publishing
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Cunningham, Sophie
(June 2011). "Caleb goes to Harvard".
Australian Book Review
(332): 55?56.
Review of
Caleb's crossing
.
- Steggall, Stephany (March 2012). "Geraldine Brooks". Celebration. Australian Authors Past & Present.
Australian Author
.
44
(1): 22?25.
External links
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Previously the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel from 1917?1947
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2001?present
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