We're a bit late to this, but we should acknowledge that Frank McCourt, author of the lovely, tough, Pulitzer-winning 1996 memoir Angela's Ashes died over the weekend. McCourt was born in New York and lived there until, heading against the flow of Irish immigration to America, his mother returned with her children to her hometown of Limerick. A childhood filled with poverty and misery awaited him, a period McCourt covers with childlike directness in Ashes. McCourt returned to New York as a youth and worked as a writing teacher for decades before writing the book. More books followed the bestselling Ashes and McCourt achieved a rare, late-life literary celebrity.
Here's a clip of McCourt reflecting on his craft in 2007:
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