Mark Kurlansky

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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.

Early life and education

Kurlansky was born in Hartford, Connecticut on December 7, 1948.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> He attended Butler University, where he earned a BA in 1970.<ref name=":0" /> 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. He later said that he became "frustrated with theatre, which is to say I became frustrated with Broadway".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

From 1976 to 1991, he worked as a correspondent in Western Europe for the Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and eventually the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He moved to Mexico in 1982, where he continued to practice journalism. In 2007, he was named the Baruch College Harman writer-in-residence.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It became an international bestseller and was translated into more than 15 languages. His 2002 book, Salt, was a New York Times bestseller.<ref name="lithub">Template:Cite web</ref> Kurlansky's 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.<ref name=":0" /> That same year, he was awarded an honorary ambassadorship from the Basque government.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=bop>"A Conversation with Mark Kurlansky, translator of Zola's Classic" Template:Webarchive, conversation with Terrance Gelenter</ref>

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.

Publications

Nonfiction

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Fiction

  • The White Man in the Tree, and Other Stories (2000), Template:ISBN
  • Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue: A Novel of Pastry, Guilt, and Music (2005), Template:ISBN
  • Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts (2010), Template:ISBN
  • City Beasts: Fourteen Stories of Uninvited Wildlife (2015), Template:ISBN
  • Cheesecake: A Novel (2025), Template:ISBN

Children's books

As editor

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

As translator

Selected awards

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References

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