Geraldine Brooks's Blog

ABC Compass follows Pulitzer Prize-winner and beloved Australian author Geraldine Brooks as she goes to Flinders Island, Tasmania, to finally grieve the sudden death of her husband, Tony Horwitz. As a convert to Judaism, she ponders how other religions use rituals to help with healing.

Geraldine Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March. Her novels People of the Book, Caleb’s Crossing, The Secret Chord and Horse all were New York Times Bestsellers. Her first novel, Year of Wonders is an an international bestseller, translated into more than 25 languages and currently optioned for a limited series by Olivia Coleman’s production company. She is also the author of the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire, Foreign Correspondence and The Idea of Home. Her latest book, Memorial Days, was published January 24 in Australia, and February 4 in the United States.

The post ABC Documentary on Geraldine Brooks appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

The book tour events for Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks have been announced. Some venue links are to be confirmed so please check back for details. You can also follow Geraldine on FaceBook.

Tuesday, February 4 – San Francisco, CA
BOOK PASSAGE at Dominican University of California
In Conversation with Michael Lewis
More info here >

Tuesday, February 6 – Kansas City, MO
RAINY DAY BOOKS at Unity Temple
In Conversation with David Von Drehle
More info here >

Sunday, February 9 – Traverse City, MI, NATIONAL WRITER’S SERIES
In Conversation with Jacki Lyden
More info here >

Monday, February 10 – Washington, DC
6TH & I + POLITICS & PROSE
In Conversation with Kara Swisher
More info here >

Wednesday, February 12 – Miami, FL
BOOKS & BOOKS
In Conversation with Mitchell Kaplan
More info here >

Thursday, February 13 – Nashville, TN
PARNASSUS BOOKS
In Conversation with Ann Patchett
Link TK

Thursday, February 20 – Cambridge, MA
PORTER SQUARE BOOKS
In Conversation with Ron Suskind
Link TK

The post Memorial Days Book Tour Dates appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

A heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey towards peace from Geraldine Brooks, the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse.

Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz – just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy – collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.

After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine and Tony settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built was one of meaningful work, good humor, and tenderness, as they spent their days writing and their evenings cooking family dinners or watching the sun set with friends at the beach. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. The demands were immediate and many. Without space to grieve, the sudden loss became a yawning gulf.

Three years later, she booked a flight to a remote island off the coast of Australia with the intention of finally giving herself the time to mourn. In a shack on a pristine, rugged coast she often went days without seeing another person. There, she pondered the various ways in which cultures grieve and what rituals of her own might help to rebuild a life around the void of Tony’s death

A spare and profoundly moving memoir that joins the classics of the genre, Memorial Days is a portrait of a larger-than-life man and a timeless love between souls that exquisitely captures the joy, agony, and mystery of life.

The post Memorial Days appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

Geraldine Brooks has just posted some more tour dates for her book Horse. You can see all Geraldine’s events here.

Horse is Geraldine Brooks‘ New York Times bestseller 

Tuesday, June 13, Traverse City, MI
National Writers Series

Wednesday June 14, Philadelphia PA
Free Library of Philadelphia

Friday, June 16, Scarsdale NY
Scarsdale Public Library

Tuesday, June 20, Dallas TX
The Dallas Museum Of Art–Arts & Letters Live

Wednesday, June 21, Portsmouth NH
The Music Hall

“Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Horse isn’t just an animal story—it’s a moving narrative about race and art.”
—TIME

The post More Tour Dates for Horse Posted! appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Geraldine Brooks, spoke to me about why “truth is stranger than fiction,” letting story drive narrative, and the overheard conversation that led to her latest, “Horse.”

Geraldine Brooks is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel March and the international bestsellers The Secret Chord, Caleb’s Crossing, People of the Book, and Year of Wonders (recently optioned by Olivia Colman).

Her latest novel, Horse, is described as “… a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history.” TIME magazine said of the book, “Horse isn’t just an animal story—it’s a moving narrative about race and art.”

Geraldine has also written acclaimed nonfiction works including Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence. She started out as a reporter in her hometown, Sydney, and went on to cover conflicts as a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Bosnia, Somalia, and the Middle East.

The post How Bestselling Author & Pulitzer-Winner Geraldine Brooks Writes appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

“How is it possible that the bones of a champion racehorse were not too long ago consigned to the dusty attic of the Smithsonian? A horse whose stellar career and long pedigree were little known outside some racing circles? These real-life details intrigued bestselling author Geraldine Brooks. leading her to craft a fictional tale based on the documented history of that top racing horse named Lexington. Brooks’ simply titled novel “Horse” is a tale of the twinned histories of both Lexington and the people who admired her. It is a thrilling narrative stretching across centuries and set against a backdrop of racial turbulence, art history and scientific inquiry.”

“Horse” is our July selection for “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.”

More at GBH News >

The post GBH News: Horse – Under the Radar Podcast appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

From Oprah Magazine “The Pulitzer Prize winner explores the unwritten true tale of America’s most famous racehorse—and uses that story to show how far we need to go in confronting systemic racism.

Don’t let the title fool you; Geraldine Brooks’s Horse is not Black Beauty for grown-ups. Yes, the title character is one of history’s most famous equine celebrities, a foal named Darley, who later became a pop culture phenomenon called Lexington—and was revered as the fastest horse in the world. But first and foremost, Horse is a thrilling story about humanity in all its ugliness and beauty.

Lexington is one of several characters in the book—the rest of them human—based on real-life figures, as Horse is a product of careful research fleshed out with vivid imagination. It’s a technique that has served Brooks well; she earned a Pulitzer Prize for March, which follows the fictional father in Little Women, based in part on the real-life Bronson Alcott. But while the historic detail in the book is impressive, it’s the fictions filling in the blanks where Brooks’s genius truly shines.”

More at Oprah >

The post Geraldine Brooks Probes Racing—and Race—in Her New Historical Novel, Horse appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

New York Times bestseller 

“Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Horse isn’t just an animal story—it’s a moving narrative about race and art.”
—TIME

The post More Praise for Horse appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

In person and virtual events • Jump to Australian events

Thursday, August 25, Buffalo, NY – 5:30 PM
Larkin Square + Talking Leaves Books
More information here

Saturday, September 3, Washington, DC –  12:10 PM EST
Library of Congress – In Person
National Book Festival
In conversation with Marie Arana
More information here

Wednesday, September 21, Saratoga Springs, NY – 7pm
Saratoga Performing Arts Center – In Person
In Conversation with Sarah Maslin Nir
More information here

Friday, September 23, Lenox Ma. 11:30
WIT: Words, Ideas and Thinkers Festival – In Person
In conversation with Roxana Robinson
More information here

Friday, October 14-Sunday, October 16, Nashville, TN
Southern Festival of Books
More information here

Thursday, October 27, Lexington, KY
Kentucky Book Festival Literary Lunch
More information here

Saturday, November 5, Phoenix Arizona – 9:30 AM
Arizona Women’s Board – In Person
43rd Annual Friends of Erma Bombeck Authors Luncheon
More information here

Saturday, November 12, Charleston, SC – mid-afternoon or early evening
Charleston Literary Festival
More information here

The Australian tour for Horse is finished–for now.

The post Geraldine Brooks on tour for HORSE appeared first on Geraldine Brooks Official Author Website.

Geraldine will be posting her upcoming events here. You can also follow her author Facebook page.

The post Events for Geraldine Brooks appeared first on Geraldine Brooks New Site.