Author Frank McCourt dies aged 78

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt has died after a long battle with malignant melanoma with meningeal involvement at the age of 78.

McCourt, a former New York school teacher started his writing career late in life, penning his memoir Angela’s Ashes in 1996. Angela’s Ashes was a world wide sensation, selling 4 million copies in 20 languages, and earning McCourt the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1997. The book was also turned into a movie of the same name in 1999.

His three follow up works, Tis (19990, Teacher Man (2005) and Angela and the Baby Jesus (2007) sold well, selling a combined 6 million copies. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Western Ontario and won the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award. Frank McCourt was a member of the National Arts Club and was a recipient of The International Center in New York’s Award of Excellence.

Frank McCourt is survived by his wife Ellen, daughter and several grandchildren.

(img: Wikipedia)