Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky (born 7 December 1948 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American journalist and writer of general interest non-fiction. He is especially known for titles on eclectic topics, such as cod or salt.

Kurlansky attended Butler University, where he harbored an early interest in theatre and earned a BA in 1970. However, his interest faded and he began to work as a journalist in the 1970s. During the '70s he worked as a correspondent in Western Europe for the Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and eventually the Paris-based International Herald Tribune. He moved to Mexico in 1982 where he continued to do journalism. He wrote his first book, A Continent of Islands, in 1992 and went on to write several books throughout the 1990s. His 1997 book Cod was an international bestseller and was translated into more than 15 languages. His work and contribution to Basque identity and culture is recognized in the Basque hall of fame.

Kurlansky as a teenager called Emile Zola his "hero", and in 2009 Kurlansky translated one of Zola's novels The Belly of Paris whose theme is the food markets of Paris.^[1]

Bibliography

Nonfiction

• A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny (1992), Addison-Wesley Publishing. ISBN 0-201-52396-5
• A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry (1995), ISBN 0-201-60898-7
• Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997), ISBN 0-8027-1326-2
• The Basque History of the World (1999), ISBN 0-8027-1349-1
• Salt: A World History (2002), ISBN 0-8027-1373-4
• 1968: The Year that Rocked the World (2004), ISBN 0-345-45581-9
• The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell (2006), ISBN 0-345-47638-7
• Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006), ISBN 0-679-64335-4
• The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town (2008), ISBN 0-345-48727-3
• The Food of a Younger Land (2009), ISBN 1594488657
• The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris (2010), ISBN 1594487502

Fiction

• The White Man in the Tree, and Other Stories (2000), ISBN 0-671-03605-X
• Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue: A Novel of Pastry, Guilt, and Music (2005), ISBN 0-345-44818-9
• Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts (2010), ISBN 1594484880

Children's Books

• The Cod's Tale (2001), ISBN 0-399-23476-4
• The Girl Who Swam to Euskadi (2005), ISBN 1-877802-54-9
• The Story of Salt (2006), ISBN 0-399-23998-7
• Battle Fatigue (2011), ISBN 978-0802722645

Editor

• Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing From Around the World and Throughout History (2002), ISBN 0-345-45710-2

Translator

• The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola, Mark Kurlansky as translator. The Modern Library, 2009. ISBN 978-0812974225

Notes