Susan Sheehan
Susan Sheehan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Susanna Maria Sachsel August 24, 1937 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | February 17, 2026 (aged 88) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Notable works | Is There No Place on Earth for Me? |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (1983) |
| Spouse |
Forrest Black II
(m. 1959, divorced)[1] |
| Children | 2 |
Susanna Maria Sheehan (née Sachsel; August 24, 1937 – February 17, 2026) was an American writer.
Life and career
Born in Vienna, Austria, on August 24, 1937,[2] she won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for her book Is There No Place on Earth for Me?[3] The book details the experiences of a young New York City woman diagnosed with schizophrenia.[2] Portions of the book were published in The New Yorker, for which she has written frequently since 1961 as a staff writer.[2] Her work as a contributing writer has also appeared in The New York Times and Architectural Digest.[4]
In 1986, Sheehan published in The New Yorker "A Missing Plane," a three-part series about the U.S. Army's attempt to identify the remains of the victims of a 1944 airplane crash.[5]
Her husband was the journalist Neil Sheehan, whom she urged to copy what became known as the Pentagon Papers for the Times with her help,[6] and who also won a Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction [2] for A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam in 1989.[3] Sheehan and her husband lived in Washington, D.C.[4] She died in Washington, DC, on February 17, 2026, at the age of 88.[1]
Works
Her other works include:
- 1967 Ten Vietnamese
- 1976 A welfare mother
- 1978 A prison and a prisoner
- 1984 Kate Quinton's days
- 1986 A missing plane
- 1993 Life for Me Ain't Been No Crystal Stair[2]
- 2002 The Banana Sculptor, the Purple Lady, and the All-Night Swimmer: Hobbies, Collecting, and Other Passionate Pursuits (co-written with Howard Means)
Further reading
- Warren, James (1990-04-15). "The remarkable Sheehans: 2 Pulitzer prize winners, a good marriage, some tortuous times". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
- Warren, James (1993-09-26). "She Needs Her Space". Chicago Tribune.
References
- ^ a b c Gabriel, Trip (February 22, 2026). "Susan Sheehan, Chronicler of Lives on the Margins, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C. (1999). "Profiles of the winners: General nonfiction". Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 268–269. ISBN 1-57356-111-8.
- ^ a b "Pulitzer Prize Winners: General Nonfiction". The Pulitzer Prizes -- Columbia University. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
- ^ a b "Susan Sheehan Books, Author Bio, Book Review & More at Alibris Marketplace". Alibris. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/19/books/a-cloud-with-a-rock-in-it.html
- ^ Sanger, David E.; Scott, Janny; Harlan, Jennifer; Gallagher, Brian (June 9, 2021). "'We're Going to Publish': An Oral History of the Pentagon Papers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2023.