Serge Schmemann (born April 12, 1945) is a

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and member of the editorial board of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' who specialize in international affairs. He was editorial page editor of the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

-based '' International Herald Tribune'', the erstwhile global edition of ''The New York Times'', from 2003 until its dissolution in 2013. Earlier in his career, he worked for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

and was a bureau chief and editor for ''The New York Times''.

Life and career

Born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the son of Alexander Schmemann and Juliana Ossorguine (a descendant of

Juliana of Lazarevo Juliana of Lazarevo (or Juliana of Murom) (1530 – 10 January 1604) is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. She was born in Moscow, to Justin and Stefanida Nedyurev, and married Giorgi Osorgin, owner of the village of Lazarevo, near Murom. Sh ...

, a Russian Orthodox Saint), he moved to the United States in 1951. He grew up speaking Russian at home, but visited his ancestral homeland for the first time only in 1980 when he arrived with his family as

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

correspondent for the Associated Press. It was not until 1990 that the Soviet authorities allowed him to visit his grandparents' home village near Kaluga. His reflections on the village's changing fate provided the subject matter for his memoirs, published in 1997. A 1963 graduate of the Collegiate School on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of New York City, he received his undergraduate degree in English from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1967 and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Slavic studies from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1971. Writing for ''The New York Times'', he won the

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...

in 1991 for his coverage of the German reunification, which he also made the subject of a book. The September 12, 2001 ''New York Times'' featured a front-page article by Schmemann about the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. He won an Emmy Award (Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Writing) in 2003 for the Discovery Channel documentary ''Mortal Enemies''. Schmemann has three children and lives in the District of Colombia.

Awards

*1991 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for coverage of the reunification of Germany *1998

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction for ''Echoes of a Native Land''

Bibliography

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmemann, Serge Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners 1945 births American male journalists American people of Russian descent Living people International Herald Tribune people Kent School alumni The New York Times corporate staff Collegiate School (New York) alumni French emigrants to the United States The New York Times editorial board Harvard College alumni Columbia University alumni