Mark Kurlansky 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, was an international bestseller and was translated into more than 15 languages. His book was the non-fiction winner of the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
Life and work
Kurlansky was born in Hartford, Connecticut on December 7, 1948. He attended Butler University, where he earned a BA in 1970. 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. He moved to Mexico in 1982, where he continued to practice journalism. In 2007 he was named the Baruch College 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 1997 book Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World was 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. That same year, he was awarded an honorary ambassadorship from the Basque government. 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. 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
Non-fiction
A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny, Addison-Wesley Publishing.
A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry,
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World,
Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea,
The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town,
The Food of a Younger Land,
The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris,
World Without Fish, 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?,
