A year-round book festival dedicated to great conversations with today's best writers.
Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom is an internationally renowned and best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician. His books have collectively sold over 28 million copies worldwide; have been published in forty-one territories and in forty-two languages around the world; and have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically-acclaimed television movies.
Albom grew up wanting to be a cartoonist before switching to music. He taught himself to play piano, and played in bands. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1979 at Brandeis University, majoring in sociology, but stayed true to his dream of a life in music, and upon graduation he worked for several years as a performer in Europe andAmerica.
While living in New York, he took an interest in journalism and returned to school, earning a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, followed by an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. During this time, he paid his tuition partly through work as a piano player.
Albom eventually turned full-time to his writing, working as a freelance sports journalist in New York for publications such as Sports Illustrated, GEO, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He moved to Detroit in 1985, where he became a nationally-acclaimed sports journalist at the Detroit Free Press and one of the best-known media figures in that city’s history, working in newspapers, radio and television. He currently hosts a daily radio talk show and appears regularly on ESPN Sports Reporters and SportsCenter.
In 1995, he re-encountered Morrie Schwartz, a former college professor who was dying of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His visits with Schwartz would lead to the book ”Tuesdays with Morrie,” which moved Albom away from sports and began his career as an internationally recognized author.
“Tuesdays with Morrie” spent four years on the New York Times Bestseller list and is now the most successful memoir ever published. His first novel, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” is the most successful US hardcover first adult novel ever. ”For One More Day” debuted at No.1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and spent nine months on the list. His most recent, “Have a Little Faith,” was released in September 2009 and selected by Oprah.com as the best nonfiction book of 2009.
All three of Albom’s best sellers have been turned into successful TV movies. Albom also wrote the screenplay for both ”For One More Day” and ”The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” and is an established playwright, having authored numerous pieces for the theater.
Albom has founded five charities, many in the metropolitan Detroit area: The Dream Fund, A Time To Help, and S.A.Y Detroit, an umbrella organization for charities dedicated to improving the lives of the neediest, including the S.A.Y. Detroit Family Health Clinic. A Hole in the Roof Foundation helps faith groups of every denomination who care for the homeless repair the spaces in which they carry out their work. Have Faith Haiti Mission is dedicated to the safety, education, health and spiritual development of Haiti’s impoverished children and orphans.
Albom also raises money for literacy projects through a variety of means including his performances with The Rock Bottom Remainders, a band made up of writers which includes Stephen King, Dave Barry, Scott Turow, Amy Tan and Ridley Pearson.
Albom was a special guest with the National Writers Series in May 2011. He appeared with Doug Stanton for a rollicking evening of humor and inspiration. On behalf of the National Writers Series, Stanton presented Albom with a $1,000 donation to Albom’s Have Faith Haiti Mission.
Mitch Albom on Interlochen Public Radio: Listen Here.
