Lucy Grealy (1963-2002) was born in Dublin, Ireland. She moved to Spring
Valley, New York, with her family when she was four years old. When she was
nine she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma. Surgery to remove a tumor also resulted in the removal of part of her
jaw, leaving her disfigured and fated to endless reconstruction operations. She
underwent years of chemotherapy and radiation, and multiple plastic surgery
operations almost up to the time of her death. As a teenager in Spring Valley,
she endured insults and ostracism but at Sarah Lawrence College in the
mid-1980s, she discovered poetry as a vehicle for her pent-up emotions and after
earning her BA, went on to earn a Masters in Fine Arts in Poetry from the Iowa
Writers Workshop. Her poetry appeared in a number of
magazines, including The Paris Review and The London Times Literary Supplement.
After living abroad for several years (West Berlin, London and Aberdeen), during
which time she underwent further plastic surgery, she
returned to the states in 1991 to take on a Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe
College in Cambridge, Mass., and then went on to be a fellow at the Fine Arts
Work Center in Provincetown. She also taught at the New School for Social
Research's MFA in the Creative Writing Program, and also at Bennington College
in Vermont.
Her autobiography grew out of an essay published in Harper's in 1993, which won
a National Magazine Award. Her second book, a collection of essays titled
As Seen on TV, was published in 2000.
She died of an accidental drug overdose in 2002.
This bio was last updated on 07/27/2010. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's a tough task. So, please help us - if the information about this author is out of date or inaccurate, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and publishers: If you wish to make changes to a bio, send the complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
Raft of Stars
by Andrew J. Graff
A timeless story of loss, hope, and adventure set against the vividly rendered landscape of the Upper Midwest.
Reader ReviewsThe Widow Queen
by Elzbieta Cherezinska
The epic story of an 11th century Polish queen whose life and name were all but forgotten until now.
Reader ReviewsA New York Times Notable Book of 2020
"Stunning.… A timely family saga with faith and forgiveness at its core."
―Marie Claire
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.