If you're going to take sombody's time and tell them that you have something to say, then you'd better have something to say."

Mort Rosenblum: Journalist, Writer, Editor, Professor

Books
Coups and Earthquakes (1981)
Mission to Civilize: the French Way
(1988)
Back Home: A Foreign Correspondent Rediscovers America (1989)
Moments of Revolution - Eastern Europe (1990) w/David and Peter Turnley
Squandering Eden: Africa at the Edge (1990)
The Abortion Pill (1991) w/Etienne-Emile Baulieu
Who Stole the News? (1993)
The Secret Life of the Seine (1995)
Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit (1996)
A Goose in Toulouse: and Other Culinary Adventures in France (2000)
Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light (2006)
Escaping Plato's Cave: How America's Blindness to the Rest of the World Threatens Our Survival (2007)
Little Bunch of Madmen: Elements of Global Reporting (2009)

Other
Founding Editor, Dispatches Quarterly (2008 - 2009)
Associated Press: Foreign Correspondent, War Correspondent, Bureau Chief, Chief International Correspondent 1967-79, 1981-2004.
International Herald Tribune: Editor 1979 - 1981
Contributor to Foreign Affairs, Vanity Fair, the New York Review of Books, Le Nouvel Observateur, Travel & Leisure, New York Times Magazine, Bon Appetit and more.

Awards
Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow Fellow –1976 - 1977
Overseas Press Club Award – 1989 (Romania, Czechoslovakia)
H. L. Mencken National Book Award -
date unknown (African famine)
James Beard Foundation Award for Writing on Food for Olives – 1997
AP Managing Editors Annual Award - 2001 (world water issues)
Harry Chapin Award 2001 (water); 2000 (Vietnam); 1990 (Africa)
IACP Award for Literary Food Writing for Chocolate – 2006

In honor of full disclosure: I have known Mort since he and my sister were college sweethearts, married and divorced. I spent time with them in Singapore (where we recited lots of Vachel Lindsay over our gin and tonics), and my family and I stopped in to visit Mort in Paris during our Worldhop adventure.

Mort has lived all over the world in his career as an AP correspondent and bureau chief. He now makes his home on an olive farm in Provence, a boat on the Seine in Paris, and the hills of Tucson, AZ, where George and I caught up with him again.


Although Mort is primarily a journalist, he began writing books over 30 years ago. But it wasn't until he bought an abandoned olive farm in the south of France that he became a food writer as well. His book, Olives, grew out of his desire to learn everything he could about his new vocation as an olive grower. Olives won a James Beard Award and he has continued to write books on food along with his books on reporting and the state of the world today.

Mort is passionate about journalism and the function of good reporting in a free society. To that end, he passes along the craft by teaching at the University of Arizona in Tucson during the winter months.

Interview Movie
(Embedded version below)

MP3 Audio File
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or
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Location:

Tucson, AZ

Run Time:

35:58

Genre:

Nonfiction, Journalism

Website:

Raised:

Tucson, AZ

Youthful Influence:

His two older sisters, who were both journalists.

Favorite Authors:

Good journalists. Paul Theroux, Anthony Shadid.

Literary Habit:

Fast, on deadline, in his office when he can.


We hope you'll enjoy ducking bullets with Mort, learning how journalism is evolving, and being swept away in Mort's search for truth and good writing. A note to teachers: This interview contains adult language.

Mort is a man of many faces, places, and writing talents.

Contact: info@authorsroad.com