Frank McCourt with his former teacher Sister Rita when he visited Limerick City in July 1997. ROLLING NEWS.IE
The 9th Annual Frank McCourt Memorial Lecture will be given by author Susan Jane Gilman on next Thursday afternoon, at United Federation of Teachers, 52 Broadway, Downtown Manhattan. The program hosted by the UFT Irish-American Committee begins at 4:30 (19th Floor).
Gilman, who was inspired by McCourt when she was his student at Stuyvesant High School, has written two novels – “The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street” and “Donna Has Left the Building,” published this week – and several works of non-fiction. Her commentary has been heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Ms. and Real Simple. She has won several literary awards, and her books have been published in a dozen languages. She teaches writing and speaks to audiences worldwide. To see her TEDx talk on the creative process, click here.
McCourt's first book "Angela's Ashes" was on top of the bestsellers' list for two years after it was published in 1996 and won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. It sold 4 million copies in hardcover. He followed up with two more volumes of memoir, "'Tis" and "Teacher Man." He died in 2009. His widow Ellen, surviving brother Malachy and other relatives support the annual UFT lecture in his name and are regularly in attendance.
