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Frank McCourt, author of the memoirs Angela's Ashes, 'Tis and Teacher Man, died Sunday, July 19 at 78 in New York City. He had suffered from metastatic melanoma, according to the New York Times, which has a long obituary.

On scanning the obituaries, it seems to me that all writers highlight McCourt's gifts as a consummate storyteller. I remember how, when Angela's Ashes came out in 1996, people would recount to each other anecdotes from the book. They would laugh and cry at the same time at tales of Frank McCourt's growing up in grinding poverty in Ireland: some of the incidents in his life are shocking and tragic and yet told so outrageously and engagingly that they are funny and very human.

Here are links to Frank McCourt's memoirs in our catalog:
Angela's Ashes
'Tis
Teacher Man

Frank McCourt also co-authored some books:
Ireland ever / photographs by Jill Freedman ; texts by Frank McCourt and Malachy McCourt
Brotherhood / text by Tony Hendra; introduction by Frank McCourt
"A lively introduction by Frank McCourt reflects on the civil connection we feel with firefighters...."

And he wrote fiction:
Angela and the baby Jesus / by Frank McCourt
"When my mother, Angela, was six years old, she felt sorry for the Baby Jesus in the Christmas crib at St. Joseph's Church near School House Lane where she lived.... * * * *Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes is a modern classic. Now he has written a captivating Christmas story about Angela as a child -- often cold and hungry herself -- compelled to rescue the Baby Jesus and take him home."

Labels: Frank McCourt, Ireland, Memoirs