To a writer, winning the Pulitzer Prize in fiction is one of the highest honors you can achieve, said a proud Newbury Township father."It's huge,"…
To a writer, winning the Pulitzer Prize in fiction is one of the highest honors you can achieve, said a proud Newbury Township father.
“It’s huge,” Dick Doerr said.
At 41 years old, Dick’s son, Anthony Doerr, did just that. Formerly of Chester and Newbury townships and now a resident of Boise, Idaho, Anthony is a celebrated author, worldwide.
He penned the story collections “Memory Wall” and “The Shell Collector,” the novel “About Grace” and the memoir “Four Seasons in Rome.”
His book “All the Light We Cannot See” won the $10,000 prize “for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life,” according to the Pulitzer award website, Pulitzer.org/citation/2015.
The website described the book as “an imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the
contradictory power of technology.”
The prize-winning book has sold 1.6 million copies.
Anthony’s body of work has collected numerous other prestigious prizes, both in the U.S. and overseas, including four O. Henry Prizes, three Pushcart Prizes, the Rome Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, the National Magazine Award for fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Story Prize.
His book “The Memory Wall” was named the best short story in England and was awarded $50,000 by the London Times.
Anthony could not be reached for comment because he is in Paris, France, for a celebration of his newest book being published there in French. Since the award was an-nounced last week, he has received thousands of emails, his father said.
Dick said Anthony’s wanderlust began when he attended Bowling Green State University. While a student there, the Chesterland Rotary Club — of which Dick is a member — helped sponsor Anthony in a trip to Lithuania to teach English.
He went on to receive a master’s degree in fine arts from BGSU.
“The club had him come in and speak about that experience,” Dick said. “I think his writing career began then. He collected so many stories from that trip and began writing about them.”
Dick and his wife, Marilyn, Anthony’s mother, moved from Mentor to Chester Townwship in 1973 when Anthony was 2 months old, he said, adding they then moved to Newbury Township in 1987.
Anthony attended Ruffing Mon-tesorri School in Cleveland Heights and then University School in Hunting Valley, both schools where his mother taught for many years.
Dick is the owner of Dynamic Design, a graphic design company on Washington Street in South Russell Village.
