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CultureConnect
Frank McCourt
Pulitzer Prize Winning Author
and American "Cultural
Ambassador"
 As part of the State Department's CultureConnect program, American "Cultural
Ambassador," Pulitzer-prize winning author Frank McCourt, visited Israel February 26-29. Mr. McCourt captured the attention and imagination of students, educators, and writers with stories from his "miserable Irish childhood" in Limerick, and his later life as a high school teacher in New York City.
 At a high school in Jerusalem, he exhorted the school's Israeli Jewish students and a group of Israeli Arab students visiting from a high school in nearby Abu Ghosh to consider the uniqueness of their day-to-day personal experiences. "Each one of you is a potential protagonist of your own story, a star of your own film script," he told them. The program took place a few days after a bus bombing in Jerusalem had claimed the life of a student at the school. Mr. McCourt spoke to the students of loss and pain and urged them to look with fresh eyes at their own lives to turn their often harsh realities into artistic expression.  Frank McCourt also drew overflow crowds of young Israelis from diverse backgrounds at his readings at a prestigious teacher-training college and at Jerusalem's most vibrant literary cafe. His visit earned significant and positive coverage in Israel-wide print media and TV, and promoted understanding of the U.S. among his diverse audiences, generating a wave of interest in the State Department's new CultureConnect program. For more information on Frank McCourt and the State Department's other "Cultural Ambassadors," visit: www.cultureconnect.state.gov.
Link to Frank McCourt's "Distinguished American Speaker Series" talk in Tel Aviv.
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