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July 23 – July 30, 2009 Edition
Late Frank McCourt Book Sales Soar
NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLINK NEWS/07/24/09–The death of beloved author Frank McCourt on Sunday July 19 has spurred a huge surge in sales of his books on Amazon.com. He is best known for the 1996 memoir, Angela’s Ashes, which earned the Pulitzer and National Book Award.
The famous book soared to a 30 day average of 5,076 when checked this week, and scored within the past seven days an impressive 1,417. The lower the number on Amazon’s ranking scale, the higher the number of books sold. Even at its lowest ebb, Angela’s Ashes ranked 208,490, according to the new ranking site, TtoZ.com.
For 30 years, McCourt taught in the New York City public school system. When he reached his 60s and retired from teaching, the Brooklyn-born, Ireland-raised McCourt decided to write a memoir of his impoverished childhood in Limerick, and about his mother, Angela. The book, his first, became an international bestseller many times over, captivating millions of readers around the world.
Frank subsequently published two other memoirs, all released by Scribner: ‘Tis (2000), and Teacher Man: A Memoir (2005).
Many of his former students became writers, and many kept in touch with him.
A public memorial, being planned for September, says younger brother Malachy McCourt, also an author.
