(1948-12-07) December 7, 1948 (age 75) Hartford, Connecticut
Occupation
Journalist
author
Genre
Nonfiction
Mark Kurlansky (December 7, 1948) is an American journalist and author who has written a number of books of fiction and nonfiction. His 1997 book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997), was an international bestseller and was translated into more than fifteen languages. His book Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006) was the nonfiction winner of the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
Kurlansky was born in Hartford, Connecticut on December 7, 1948.[1] He attended Butler University, where he earned a BA in 1970.[1] He started his career as a playwright. He was a theatre major at college and wrote seven or eight plays, a few of which were produced. But he said that he became "frustrated with theatre, which is to say I became frustrated with Broadway".[2]
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.[5] It became an international bestseller and was translated into more than 15 languages. His work and contribution to Basque identity and culture was recognized in 2001 when the Society of Basque Studies in America named him to the Basque Hall of Fame.[1] That same year, he was awarded an honorary ambassadorship from the Basque government.[1]
As a teenager, Kurlansky called Émile Zola his "hero", and in 2009, he translated one of Zola's novels, The Belly of Paris, whose theme is the food markets of Paris.[6]
Kurlansky's 2009 book, The Food of a Younger Land, with the 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.
Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006), ISBN0-679-64335-4
The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town (2008), ISBN0-345-48727-3
The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris (2010), ISBN1-59448-750-2
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.
What?: Are These the 20 Most Important Questions in Human History—Or Is This a Game of 20 Questions? (2011), ISBN978-0-8027-7906-9
Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn't Want to Be One (2011), ISBN978-0300136609
