Gail Caldwell biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Gail Caldwell
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Gail Caldwell

Gail Caldwell Biography

Gail Caldwell is the former chief book critic for the Boston Globe, where she was a staff writer and critic for more than twenty years. In 2001, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She has written three memoirs, A Strong West Wind, Let's Take the Long Way Home, and New Life, No Instructions.



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Interview

A critic's life can be a happy one, with the right frame of mind. Robert Birnbaum talks to Pulitzer-prize winner Gail Caldwell about a life well read, 19th-century novels, and the changing of hearts.

Reproduced by permission of Robert Birnbaum, first published in 2003.

Gail Caldwell was born in Amarillo, Texas, in 1951, and is chief book critic at The Boston Globe, where she has been on staff since 1985. Caldwell had been a finalist in criticism for both the Pulitzer Prize (three times) and the American Society of Newspaper Editors Award and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for 'for her insightful observations on contemporary life and literature.' In a post-prize interview with Dan Kennedy, Caldwell observes that her intention, is to use her book reviews as a 'framework on which to build something more lasting… to write about the range of human experience, and not just whether to buy this book.' Gail Caldwell lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Clemmie (short for Clementine), her Samoyed canine companion.

This conversation took place at Mt Auburn Cemetery on a breezy late summer afternoon. As is usually the case Rosie, my Labrador was in attendance.


Robert Birnbaum: Are you used to living in Boston?

Gail Caldwell: No, but I ought to be. I have been here 20 years.

...

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Books by this Author

Books by Gail Caldwell at BookBrowse
Bright Precious Thing jacket Let's Take the Long Way Home jacket A Strong West Wind jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Gail Caldwell but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
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    If you enjoyed:
    A Strong West Wind

    Try:
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  • Judy Blunt

    Judy Blunt

    Judy Blunt spent more than thirty years on wheat and cattle ranches in northeastern Montana, before leaving in 1986 to attend the University of Montana. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    A Strong West Wind

    Try:
    Breaking Clean
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