Author Frank McCourt to Teach Nationwide Cyber Lesson on Creative Writing

Posted on May 4, 1998

Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes, will teach a writing seminar tomorrow that will be beamed to two million students in more than 4,000 schools nationwide. The schools subscribe to EMG, Simon & Schuster's in-school distance learning TV network, which broadcasts instructional programming throughout the school day.

McCourt, who taught in New York City public schools for 27 years before writing his stunning memoir, will speak about the creative writing process with eighth graders at Lincoln Academy (P.S. 191) in Manhattan, while also taking questions from students in North Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming. The interactive broadcast is scheduled for Tues., May 5, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT.

The interactive writing seminar will be moderated by standup comedian and VH1 on-air personality John Fugelsang. Fugelsang hosted a cyber-lesson in 1996 with Simon & Schuster author Mary Higgins Clark.

Angela's Ashes was published by Scribner in late 1996, and soon became and New York Times No. 1 best seller. The book, which has been on the Times Best Sellers list for the past 86 weeks, won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. Angela's Ashes is now in its 60th printing with 2.1 million copies in print. McCourt is currently writing the sequel, 'Tis.