Monday, May 4th, 2009...5:34 am
Frank McCourt – Writing About Poverty
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Frank McCourt, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Angela’s Ashes, discusses his latest work, Angela and the Baby Jesus. Marking a departure from his familiar memoir form, this Christmas tale – published in editions for both adults and children – revolves around the early years of the eponymous Angela, and her attempts to keep an effigy of the baby Jesus warm. Hosted by Sandip Roy of KALW’s UpFront Radio, this conversation is sure to offer insight into one of the master storytellers of our time.
25 Comments
May 5th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I don’t think he should be ashamed of having been “poor”. Wasn’t almost everyone in the same boat back then?
May 7th, 2009 at 2:25 am
thank u Mr.McCourt from the bottom of my heart,u r an inspiration,there will never be another story that will move me like ur story’s do,and i keep coming back to them over and over again,each time it lift’s my soul to a higher place,with a smile and a tear on my face i know i can,that i have the right to dream,this u said in one interview,it is my guide through life I DIDN’T HAD THE SELF-CONFIDANCE,BUT I HAD THE VISION,THE DREAM.IF U DON’T HAVE THE DREAM U R DEAD.
MAY U BE BLESSED,SIR
May 8th, 2009 at 6:31 am
this was the most amazing book ever : ) I loved Malachy Jr.. And Malachy Sr. made me laugh even tho he was an alcho,
good man Mr. McCourt, I’ll pray for you : )
May 11th, 2009 at 11:25 am
If you’ve read Angela’s Ashes, you will want to read Tis as well. After you read Tis, read A Monk Swimming, by Malachy Jr.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Well, he actually wrote about them in his paper route, and how much he envied them and how spoiled they were in his eyes.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Read his sequel, ‘Tis. Info about his parents’ deaths are there.
May 16th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
He wrote about the part he lived in. He did mention going to he areas with large houses, well-dressed people with white pearly teeth, a nicer theater in a better part of town, the school masters sending their children to the Christian Brothers for education. He lived in the poor part. Was he supposed to write a novel about the middle-class and the wealthy? No. He wrote about his personal experiences in the very poor area where he happened to live.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Hands down, Angela’s Ashes is the greatest book I’ve ever read, greater than Lord of the Rings, anything. When I need a lift, I read this book. I read it before I ended up homeless myself, and he got himself out of nothing, and I knew I could too. He’s been a real inspiration to me.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
writing about poverty is the ultimate luxury.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
a great american, irishman..prayin for u Mr. McCourt.. beat it like the typhoid
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:34 am
He returned to Ireland and lived in Belfast (by the mid 50s Angela and all the boys had gone to NY), where he died (it doesn’t say in the book but I think it was early 70s).
May 24th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
to think this guys old house is 10 minutes walk from my house. lets just say things have changed in Limerick
May 26th, 2009 at 3:47 am
somewhere in the begining of angelas ashes it says something about him wasting away in england. im not sure if he even knew.
May 27th, 2009 at 3:16 am
he came recently to dubai womans collage ( my sis is studying there ) and she loved him saying that he is a gr8 teacher …. he signed books too .. it was awesome ^^
May 29th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I love his book. I just cannot put the book down… Laughing between tears is so accurate.I feel so bad for children with poverty like that. I wonder what happened to his father in the end.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Don’t forget that his Limerick would be very subjective. I’m sure there were affluent areas but speaking to my own Irish relatives the poverty that FM describes was not uncommon throughout Ireland during those years.
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:23 am
Brilliant book, one of my favorites. Just wondering – I’ve heard rumors that McCourt’s descriptions weren’t always accurate, and that he made Limerick sound poorer than it was. Does anybody know if that’s true? (Please don’t give me thumbs down, I love the book, I’m just curious)
June 5th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Put simply, he is a legend. An amazing way with language, just the way he describes things has you hanging on his every word. Rare are the people like him.
June 6th, 2009 at 12:36 am
beautiful peice of writting! loved the way he writes and how he can remember such details, it feels like a child is telling the story and makes you feel, this book makes you feel many emotions at the same time. i am looking forward to reading the rest of his serious i beleive the second book is ‘Tis
June 6th, 2009 at 9:56 am
This has GOT to be my absolute favourite book/movie of all time. Frank McCourt writes about his early childhood and poverty-stricken life in Ireland. I laughed between my tears, felt his pain and hunger and just fell completely in love with him!
June 7th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Why do we honor great writers in the name of a man who was a yellow journalist?
June 8th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Its amazing that he gets “down in the dumps”, considering the upbringing he had.
VERY clever man, he has so much insight
June 8th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
angelas ashes is a great book and i have to say the film is nearly as good as the book.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Lovely good man
June 11th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Try his books as Audiobooks. I don’t normally advocate them but in the case of McCourt’s books they are BRILLIANT. When reading Angela’s Ashes it’s possible to miss the point & just see parts as desperate, sad, etc. Yes, they are those things but they are poigniantly amusing as well, & because they are narrated by McCourt the humour really comes across. When he talks about Malachy showing his bare **** he actually cracks up laughing which adds to the character of these exceptional books.
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