HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mark Kurlansky (December 7, 1948) is an American journalist and writer of general interest non-fiction. He has written a number of books of fiction and non-fiction. His 1997 book, ''Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World'' (1997), was an international bestseller and was translated into more than 15 languages. His book '' Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea'' (2006) was the non-fiction winner of the 2007
Dayton Literary Peace Prize The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual United States literary award "recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace" that was first awarded in 2006. Awards are given for adult fiction and non-fiction books published at some point ...
.


Life and work

Kurlansky was born in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
on December 7, 1948. He attended
Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...
, where he earned a BA in 1970. From 1976 to 1991 he worked as a correspondent in Western Europe for the ''
Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pen ...
'', and eventually the
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
-based ''
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
''. He moved to Mexico in 1982, where he continued to practice journalism. In 2007 he was named the
Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates unde ...
Harman writer-in-residence. Kurlansky wrote his first book, ''A Continent of Islands'', in 1992 and went on to write several more throughout the 1990s. His third work of nonfiction, ''Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World'', won the 1998 James Beard Award. It became an international bestseller and was translated into more than 15 languages. His work and contribution to
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
identity and culture was recognized in 2001 when the Society of Basque Studies in America named him to the Basque Hall of Fame. That same year, he was awarded an honorary ambassadorship from the Basque government. As a teenager, Kurlansky called
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
his "hero", and in 2009, he translated one of Zola's novels, ''
The Belly of Paris ''Le Ventre de Paris'' (1873) is the third novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series ''Les Rougon-Macquart''. It is set in and around Les Halles, the enormous, busy central market of 19th-century Paris. Les Halles, rebuilt in cast iron and gl ...
'', whose theme is the food markets of Paris."A Conversation with Mark Kurlansky, translator of Zola’s Classic"
, conversation with Terrance Gelenter
Kurlansky's 2009 book, ''The Food of a Younger Land'', with the lengthy subtitle "A portrait of American food – before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation's food was seasonal, regional, and traditional – from the lost WPA files", details American foodways in the early 20th century.


Publications


Nonfiction

* ''A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny'' (1992), Addison-Wesley Publishing. * ''A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry'' (1995), * ''Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World'' (1997), * ''The Basque History of the World'' (1999), * ''Salt: A World History'' (2002), * ''1968: The Year that Rocked the World'' (2004), * '' The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell'' (2006), * '' Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea'' (2006), * ''Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea'' (2006), * ''The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town'' (2008), * ''The Food of a Younger Land'' (2009), * ''The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris'' (2010), * ''World Without Fish'' (2011), this work was chosen by many school districts to be used in their curriculum as part of EL education, including
Wake County Public School System The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is a public school district located in Wake County, North Carolina. With 157,673 students in average daily membership and 194 schools as of the 2021–2022 school year, it is the largest public sc ...
. * ''What?: Are These the 20 Most Important Questions in Human History—Or Is This a Game of 20 Questions?'' (2011), * ''Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn't Want to Be One'' (2011), * ''Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man'' (2012), * ''Ready for a Brand New Beat: How "Dancing in the Street" Became the Anthem for a Changing America'' (2013), * ''International Night: A Father and Daughter Cook Their Way Around the World'' with Talia Kurlansky (2014), * ''Paper: Paging Through History'' (2016), * ''Havana: A Subtropical Delirium'' (2017), * ''Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas'' (2018), * ''Bugless: Why Ladybugs, Butterflies, Fireflies, and Bees are Disappearing'' (2019), * '' Salmon and the Earth: The History of a Common Fate'' (2020), * ''The Importance of Not Being Ernest: My Life with the Uninvited Hemingway'' (2022),


Fiction

* ''The White Man in the Tree, and Other Stories'' (2000), * ''Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue: A Novel of Pastry, Guilt, and Music'' (2005), * ''Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts'' (2010), * ''City Beasts: Fourteen Stories of Uninvited Wildlife'' (2015),


Children's books

* ''The Cod's Tale'', illustrated by S. D. Schindler (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2001), * ''The Girl Who Swam to Euskadi'' (Reno, NV: Center for Basque Studies, 2005), * ''The Story of Salt'', illus. S. D. Schindler (Putnam, 2006), * ''Battle Fatigue'' (Walker Books & Co., 2011), , young-adult historical novel, * ''Frozen in Time: Clarence Birdseye's Outrageous Idea About Frozen Food'' (2014), , 165 pp.


As editor

*''Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing From Around the World and Throughout History'' (2002),


As translator

*''
The Belly of Paris ''Le Ventre de Paris'' (1873) is the third novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series ''Les Rougon-Macquart''. It is set in and around Les Halles, the enormous, busy central market of 19th-century Paris. Les Halles, rebuilt in cast iron and gl ...
'' by
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
, Mark Kurlansky as translator.
The Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
, 2009.


Awards

* 1998: James A. Beard Award for excellence in food writing * 2006: ''
Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...
'' Food Writer of the Year * 2007: Nonfiction winner of the
Dayton Literary Peace Prize The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual United States literary award "recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace" that was first awarded in 2006. Awards are given for adult fiction and non-fiction books published at some point ...
for ''Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea'' (2006). * 2007: Honorary Doctor of Letters,
Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...
* 2011: Gold Award, National Parenting Publications Awards for ''World Without Fish'' * Pluma Plata award for Salt


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurlansky, Mark 1948 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century translators American male journalists American male non-fiction writers Butler University alumni Historians from Connecticut James Beard Foundation Award winners Jewish American writers Living people Microhistorians Translators of Émile Zola Writers from Hartford, Connecticut