Geraldine Brooks
Encyclopedia
Geraldine Brooks is an Australian journalist and author whose 2005 novel, March
, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
. While retaining her Australian passport, she became an American citizen in 2002.
, where she attended the all-girls' Bethlehem College
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 in journalism at New York City's Columbia University
in 1983. The following year, in the Southern France
artisan
village of Tourrettes-sur-Loup
, she married American journalist Tony Horwitz
and converted to his religion, Judaism
. As a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal
, she covered crises in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, with the stories from the Persian Gulf, which she and her husband reported in 1990, receiving the Overseas Press Club
's Hal Boyle Award for "Best Newspaper or Wire Service Reporting from Abroad". In 2006 she was awarded a fellowship at Harvard University
's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
.
Brooks and Tony Horwitz are the parents of two sons, Nathaniel and Bizuayehu, and divide their time between homes in Sydney and the Massachusetts
island of Martha's Vineyard
with Nathaniel Horwitz
In November 2011 Brooks will deliver the 52nd series of Boyer Lectures
for the ABC
. Entitled "At Home in the World" the lectures will explore the theme of expatriation
.
(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
.
Published in late February 2005, her next novel, March
, found its inspiration in memories of its author's early adolescence when her mother, Gloria, a journalist and radio announcer, gave her, when she was ten, a copy of Louisa May Alcott
's Little Women
. As a way of making a personal connection from 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 March girls' absent father suggested, in some aspects, by the life and philosophical writings of the Alcott family patriarch, Amos Bronson Alcott
, whom she profiled, under the title "Orpheus at the Plow", in the 10 January issue of The New Yorker
, a month before Marchs publication. The parallel novel
was generally well received by the critics, resulting in its December 2005 selection by the Washington Post as one of the five best fiction works published during the year and, in April 2006, winning the Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction.
She attached tangible meaning to her adopted Jewish heritage in her subsequent work, People of the Book
, published in January 2008, a fictionalized account of the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah
, which grew out of her reporting, for The New Yorker, on human interest stories emerging in the aftermath of the 1991–95 breakup of Yugoslavia. The novel won both the Australian Book of the Year Award and the Australian Literary Fiction Award in 2008.
Her 2011 novel Caleb's Crossing is based on the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first native American to graduate from Harvard College.
March (novel)
March is a novel by Geraldine Brooks. It is a parallel novel that retells Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women from the point of view of Alcott's protagonists' absent father. Brooks has inserted the novel into the classic tale, revealing the events surrounding March's absence during the American...
, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
. While retaining her Australian passport, she became an American citizen in 2002.
Biographical details
A native of Sydney, Geraldine Brooks grew up in its inner-west suburb of AshfieldAshfield, New South Wales
Ashfield is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Ashfield is about 9 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Ashfield.The official name for the...
, where she attended the all-girls' Bethlehem College
Bethlehem College, Ashfield
Bethlehem College is a high school in Ashfield, New South Wales originally founded in 1881 by the Sisters of Charity.Students are easily identifiable by the purple school uniform - fondly known around the inner western suburbs of Sydney as "Ribena Berries". Bethlehem excels in their sport as well...
and the University of Sydney. Following graduation, she was a rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
and, after winning a Greg Shackleton Memorial Scholarship
Balibo Five
The Balibo Five was a group of journalists for Australian television networks based in the town of Balibo in East Timor where they were killed on 16 October 1975 during Indonesian incursions prior to the invasion....
, moved to the United States, completing a Master's degree in journalism at New York City's Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1983. The following year, in the Southern France
Southern France
Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...
village of Tourrettes-sur-Loup
Tourrettes-sur-Loup
Tourrettes-sur-Loup is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.This is an artisan's village situated near Grasse. It features medieval and romanesque buildings.-Population:-External links:*...
, she married American journalist Tony Horwitz
Tony Horwitz
Tony Horwitz is an American journalist and writer. His works include Blue Latitudes or Into the Blue, One for the Road, Confederates In The Attic, Baghdad Without A Map, and A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World. His next book Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked...
and converted to his religion, Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. As a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, she covered crises in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, with the stories from the Persian Gulf, which she and her husband reported in 1990, receiving the Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
's Hal Boyle Award for "Best Newspaper or Wire Service Reporting from Abroad". In 2006 she was awarded a fellowship at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard is an educational institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the semiautonomous components of Harvard University. It is heir to the name and buildings of Radcliffe College, but unlike that historical institution, its focus is directed...
.
Brooks and Tony Horwitz are the parents of two sons, Nathaniel and Bizuayehu, and divide their time between homes in Sydney and the Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
island of Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
with Nathaniel Horwitz
In November 2011 Brooks will deliver the 52nd series of Boyer Lectures
Boyer Lectures
The Boyer Lectures began in 1959 as the ABC Lectures. They were renamed in 1961 after Richard Boyer , the ABC board chairman who had first suggested the lectures...
for the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
. Entitled "At Home in the World" the lectures will explore the theme of expatriation
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
.
Works
Brooks' first book, Nine Parts of DesireNine Parts of Desire
Nine Parts Of Desire is a non-fiction book by Australian journalist Geraldine Brooks, based on her experiences among Muslim women of the Middle East...
(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
Nita Kibble Literary Award
The Kibble Literary Awards comprise two awards which are presented annually: the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, which recognises the work of an established Australian female writer, and the Dobbie Literary Award, which is for a first published work by a female writer. The Awards recognise the works...
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
Year of Wonders
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague is a 2001 international bestselling historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks. It was chosen as both a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book.-Plot introduction:...
, 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
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
suddenly strikes her small Derbyshire village of Eyam
Eyam
Eyam is a small village in Derbyshire, England. The village is best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread...
.
Published in late February 2005, her next novel, March
March (novel)
March is a novel by Geraldine Brooks. It is a parallel novel that retells Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women from the point of view of Alcott's protagonists' absent father. Brooks has inserted the novel into the classic tale, revealing the events surrounding March's absence during the American...
, found its inspiration in memories of its author's early adolescence when her mother, Gloria, a journalist and radio announcer, gave her, when she was ten, a copy of Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...
's Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
. As a way of making a personal connection from that memorable reading experience to her new status, in 2002, as an American citizen, she researched the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
historical setting of Little Women and decided to create a chronicle of wartime service for the March girls' absent father suggested, in some aspects, by the life and philosophical writings of the Alcott family patriarch, Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and avoided traditional punishment. He hoped to perfect the human spirit and, to that end, advocated a...
, whom she profiled, under the title "Orpheus at the Plow", in the 10 January issue of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, a month before Marchs publication. The parallel novel
Parallel novel
This is a partial list of works of fiction that are written within, or derived from, the framework of another work of fiction by another author. This list does not include franchised book series, which are typically works licensed by the publisher of the original work to use its settings and...
was generally well received by the critics, resulting in its December 2005 selection by the Washington Post as one of the five best fiction works published during the year and, in April 2006, winning the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Fiction.
She attached tangible meaning to her adopted Jewish heritage in her subsequent work, People of the Book
People of the Book (novel)
People of the Book is a 2008 historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks. The story focuses on an imagined past of the still extant Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest surviving Jewish illuminated texts.-Plot summary:...
, published in January 2008, a fictionalized account of the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah
Sarajevo Haggadah
The Sarajevo Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript that contains the illustrated traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder. It is one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs in the world, originating in Barcelona around 1350. The Haggadah is presently owned by the...
, which grew out of her reporting, for The New Yorker, on human interest stories emerging in the aftermath of the 1991–95 breakup of Yugoslavia. The novel won both the Australian Book of the Year Award and the Australian Literary Fiction Award in 2008.
Her 2011 novel Caleb's Crossing is based on the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first native American to graduate from Harvard College.
Awards and nominations
- 2006: Pulitzer Prize for March
- 2008: Australian Publishers Association's Literary Fiction Book of the Year for People of the Book
- 2009: Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author AwardHelmerich AwardThe Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award is an American literary prize awarded by the Tulsa Library Trust in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is bestowed annually upon an "internationally acclaimed" author who has "written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of...
External links
- Geraldine Brooks official website
- http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2201563.htmGeraldine Brooks interviewed by Ramona KovalRamona KovalRamona Koval is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist.Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of the Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950....
on ABC Radio National's The Book ShowThe Book ShowThe Book Show is an Australian ABC radio program for the discussion of everything relating to the written word. It is broadcast live around Australia on Radio National with a daily weekday morning show which is then replayed nightly and also has a Sunday evening show. The show is hosted by Ramona...
, regarding her novel, People of the Book] - Write TV Public Television Interview with Geraldine Brooks
- "A Muslim Response" (criticism of Nine Parts of Desire at the website www.jannah.org)
- Geraldine Brooks' Civil War March, NPR
- Book Page interview by Trisha Ping, An Idealist at War, 2005
- 2008 interview on Littoral, the blog of the Key West Literary Seminar
- Audio: Geraldine Brooks reading from March at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2009