Marion Winik is a journalist and author, best known for her work on
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's ''
All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
''.
Early life and education
Winik was born in Manhattan in 1958 and grew up on the Jersey shore. She graduated from
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1978, majoring in History and Semiotics, and received her MFA from
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in 1983.
Notable works
In her childhood and early twenties, Winik focused on writing poetry, publishing two collections, ''Nonstop'' and ''Boycrazy''. Winik then began writing personal essays, which were published in ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
.'' These essays caught John Burnett's eye, who was an NPR reporter based in Austin, Texas at the time. He suggested that Winik work as a commentator for ''All Things Considered'' and her first piece was published there in 1991. The following year, a literary agent contact her, resulting in the 1994 publication of ''Telling'', a collection of Winik's essays.
A couple of years later in 1996, Winik published ''First Comes Love,'' a memoir about her marriage to Tony, who died of AIDS in 1994.
In her review of the book in the ''New York Times'', Daphne Merkin wrote, "Marion Winik is resilient, hardy, unfazable; this self-described "suburban boho wannabe" is a frontier woman in disguise."
A professor in the MFA program at the
University of Baltimore
The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt's schools and colleges provide education in business, law, public affairs, and the applied arts and sc ...
since 2007, Winik writes "Bohemian Rhapsody," a monthly column at Baltimore Fishbowl.com. She is a board member of the National Book Critics Circle and reviews books for People, Newsday, The Washington Post, and Kirkus Reviews; she hosts The Weekly Reader podcast at WYPR. Her honors include an NEA Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction and the 2019 Towson Prize for literature. More info at marionwinik.com.
Bibliography
ABOVE US ONLY SKY (Counterpoint, 2020; Seal Press, 2005)
THE BIG BOOK OF THE DEAD (Counterpoint, 2019)
THE BALTIMORE BOOK OF THE DEAD (Counterpoint, 2018)
HIGHS IN THE LOW FIFTIES (Globe Pequot Press, 2013)
THE GLEN ROCK BOOK OF THE DEAD (Counterpoint, 2008)
RULES FOR THE UNRULY (Simon and Schuster, 2001)
THE LUNCH-BOX CHRONICLES (Villard, 1998)
FIRST COMES LOVE (Pantheon, 1996)
TELLING (Villard, 1994)
BOYCRAZY (Slough Press, 1985)
NONSTOP (Cedar Rock, 1981)
References
Living people
1958 births
People from Manhattan
Brown University alumni
Brooklyn College alumni
NPR personalities
20th-century American journalists
21st-century American journalists
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