In the spotlight today is Mitch Albom.
Quick Facts:
1. He was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey.
2. He is an American best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician.
3. He achieved national recognition for his sports writing for the Detroit Free Press, being named best sports columnist in the nation a record 13 times by the Associated Press Sports Editors.
4. He has founded three charities in Detroit, Michigan.
5. He has two Master's Degrees from Columbia University, one from the School of Journalism and one from the School of Business.
Albom's breakthrough book is a memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie (1997). Here's what he says about it:
"The last class of my old professor's life took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience... Although no final exam was given, you were expected to produce one long paper on what was learned. That paper is presented here. The last class of my old professor's life had only one student. I was the student."
His follow-up work is a fictional book entitled The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). Here's what he says about it:
"This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might be strange to start a story with an ending. But all ending are beginnings. We just don't know it at the time..."
Albom's next novel, For One More Day (2006), is another best-seller. Here's what he says about it:
“This is a story about a family and, as there is a ghost involved, you might call it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.”
He has also written two sports books, Bo and Fab Five.
In addition, his most memorable columns from the Detroit Free Press are featured in four editions of Live Albom.
Have you read any of Albom's books? Which one is your favorite? Did you know he was a sportswriter?
