Mitchell James Kaplan
Script error: No such module "Draft topics". Script error: No such module "AfC topic". Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck".
| Mitchell James Kaplan | |
|---|---|
 Mitchell james kaplan headshot.jpg Mitchell James Kaplan in Ephesus, Turkey | |
| Born | Mitchell James Kaplan Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| 🏫 Education | Yale University |
| 💼 Occupation |
|
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Annie Kaplan |
| 👶 Children | 2 |
| 🏅 Awards |
|
| 🌐 Website | mitchelljameskaplan.com/ |
Mitchell James Kaplan is an American author. He has published three fiction novels: By Fire, By Water, Into the Unbounded Night, and Rhapsody. By Fire, By Water won the 2011 Independent Publishers Award Gold Medal for Historical Fiction. He has also written book reviews and literary commentaries for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Early Life[edit]
Mitchell James Kaplan attended The Cate School, a boarding preparatory high school near Santa Barbara, California,[1] where he won the Scholarship Prize and the Music Prize. He entered Yale University and graduated cum laude four years later, receiving honors in English Literature and the Paine Memorial Prize for the best long-form Senior Essay submitted to the English department.
Following college, Mitchell spent four years in France, where he worked as a translator. [2] His primary clients were film producers who sought co-funding from anglophone investors, and he often worked with the screenwriters and/or the novelists whose work was being adapted, including Elvire Murail, Jean-Pierre Ronssin, and the film critic and director Pascal Kané. Among Mitchell's other clients were Claude Bessy, the Danseuse Etoile of the Ballet of the Opéra de Paris, and the Lebanese film director, Maroun Bagdadi.
Mitchell returned to Los Angeles 1986. There he worked in the film industry for Director Michael Ritchie, actor/producer Kirk Douglas, and others. In addition, Mitchell, along with his wife Annie, worked as script doctors and wrote several screenplays of their own, some of which were sold to major studios. [2]
Career[edit]
Author[edit]
By Fire, By Water[edit]
Mitchelle spent six years writing his first novel, By Fire, By Water, which was published by Other Press in 2010. By Fire, By Water was a Book Club selection of the Jewish Book Council and Mitchell was invited to speak in venues throughout the United States, Mexico, and Italy. He was honored as one of the six up-and-coming authors in the “First Author, First Book” program at the 2010 American Library Association conference in Washington, DC.[3] By Fire, By Water received numerous awards and accolades including the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal for Historical Fiction, the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award Bronze Medal for Historical Fiction, an Eric Hoffer Award Honorable Mention in the General Fiction category, and the Adelina Della Pergola Students' Choice Prize for the Italian edition [4] . It was one of fifteen novels nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award in Historical Fiction[5] and was selected as Book of the Year by "One Book, One Community" organizations in Philadelphia and other cities. In the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Pamela Miller called By Fire, By Water "[a] remarkably learned and heartbreaking romantic novel." In “Haaretz”, Matt Beynon Rees wrote that it "must take its place as one of the most important contemporary historical novels with a Jewish theme." Tirdad Derakshani, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, called By Fire, By Water "a beautiful tapestry... Despite its epic sweep, [it] is also an intimate portrait of a remarkable individual.” [6] Rege Behe, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, called it "a grand novel."
Into the Unbounded Night[edit]
Mitchell’s second novel, Into the Unbounded Night, was published in September 2020 by Regal House.[7] In “The Millions”, Martha Anne Toll called the novel "sweeping and absorbing.” [8] Pamela Miller, in the Minneapolis StarTribune, said: "Kaplan is a gifted storyteller and approaches his story with reverence and nuance. The pursuit of meaning and hope in a dark time is an age-old theme, and yet ever fresh. Into the Unbounded Night is a perfect book to top our reading piles in the coming COVID winter." [9]
Rhapsody[edit]
Mitchell’s third novel, Rhapsody, was published on March 2, 2021, by Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster. [10] It will be prominently reviewed and has already appeared on several “Most Exciting Upcoming Reads” lists. Rhapsody appeared on many “Best of 2021” lists; critics and readers were again enthusiastic: "Kaplan (By Fire, by Water) builds an enchanting world featuring musical giants George Gershwin and Kay Swift... This spellbinding and luminous tale will linger in readers’ minds long after the final page is turned." (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review); “A complex and involving story… It is difficult to imagine living a more incredible first half of a life than Swift’s, and Mitchell James Kaplan’s prose luxuriates in depicting her surprising and wildly artistic world.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette); "Kaplan’s well-researched and well-crafted historical novel recreates the 1920s and ’30s, telling a mesmerizing story that examines their individual and intersecting lives. He explores why, for Gershwin and Swift, 'ordinary results' were not enough." (Yale Alumni Magazine)
Other Professional Activities[edit]
Mitchell plays classical and jazz flute, and combined music with talk while speaking about Rhapsody in many parts of the United States in Autumn, 2021.
Mitchell has written book reviews and literary commentaries for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He has been interviewed in Mt Lebanon Magazine, the Pittsburgh City Paper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Miami Herald, the Huffington Post, and other publications.
In 2012, Mitchell started a company, EnviroReporting LLC. In this capacity, he travels around the world evaluating and writing reports about environmentally sensitive sites for industrial clients to help prevent and curtail environmental accidents, unethical work practices, dangerous activities, and other problems that might affect local and global populations.
Personal Life[edit]
Mitchell completed the first draft of his first novel, By Fire, By Water, in his country house in Big Bear, California[2], and succeeding drafts in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. After moving with his family full-time to Big Bear Lake, Mitchell bought a Piper Archer II and obtained his pilot’s license. He also helped found, and was a judge in, the first Big Bear Lake International Film Festival.
Awards & Highlights[edit]
- 2010: Book Club selection of the Jewish Book Council for By Fire, By Water[11]
- 2010: American Library Association's First Author, First Book program honoree
- 2010: Goodreads Choice Award in Historical Fiction Nominee
- 2010: Book of the Year by One Book, One Community organization in Philadelphia
- 2011: New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention
- 2011: Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Gold Medal for Historical Fiction[12]
- 2011: Adelina Della Pergola Students' Choice Prize, Winner (Italian Edition)
- 2011: ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award (BOTYA) Bronze Medal for Historical Fiction
- 2011: Eric Hoffer Award, Honorable Mention[13]
Bibliography[edit]
Fiction[edit]
- By Fire, By Water. Other Press, 2010. ISBN 9781590513521 Search this book on
. By Fire, By Water
- Into the Unbounded Night. Regal House Publishing, 2020. ISBN 9781646030026 Search this book on . Into the Unbounded Night
- Rhapsody. Gallery Books, 2021. ISBN 9781982104009 Search this book on . Rhapsody
Selected Articles[edit]
- “Christopher Columbus' Patron and Financier”. The Daily Beast. October 11, 2010.
- “The Next Page: The endless discovery of Christopher Columbus”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 2, 2011.
- “'God's Jury': Why everybody has come to expect the Inquisition”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 15, 2012.
- “The Next Page: In praise of the massive, sprawling 19th-century novel (or, un-hunchbacking the mind)”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 9, 2012.
- “‘Christ Actually’ asserts that Jesus is human, Jewish and divine”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 14, 2014.
- “Review: 'Bound in the Bond of Life' offers Pittsburgh perspectives on Tree of Life tragedy”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 25, 2020.
Multimedia[edit]
- with Jaynie Royal" Truth in Historical Fiction" A Conspiracy of Lemurs. July 15, 2020.
- with Susanne Dunlap "It's Just Historical: Interview with Mitchell James Kaplan" It's Just Historical. July 15, 2020.
- "Any Saturday" A Conspiracy of Lemurs. February 2, 2021.
- "Roanoke author Mitchell James Kaplan talks newest novel" Richmond Times-Dispatch. March 18, 2021.
- with Dean Karayanis. "George Gershwin and Kay Swift, in Mitchell James Kaplan's Novel "Rhapsody"" History Author Show with Dean Karayanis. August 22, 2021.
References[edit]
- ↑ Ford, Luke (July 15, 2010). "By Fire, By Water" luckford.net.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Boyd, Aila (February 26, 2021). "Local Author Explores Jazz Age in Latest Novel". The Roanoker.
- ↑ "Annual Conference 2010 Preview". American Libraries Magazine June 3, 2010.
- ↑ Marantonio, Mara (April 04, 2012). "XII Premio Letterario ADEI WIZO “Adelina Della Pergola”". Solo Libri.
- ↑ https://www.listchallenges.com/goodreads-choice-awards-2010/list/2
- ↑ Derakhshani, Tirdad (October 7, 2010). 'By Fire, By Water' delves into key moment in Jewish history. The Philadelphia Inquirer
- ↑ "Into the Unbounded Night". Regal House Publishing 2010.
- ↑ Toll, Martha Anne (December 23, 2020). “A Year in Reading: Martha Anne Toll”. The Millions.
- ↑ Hewitt, Chris; Miller, Pamela (November 15, 2020). “REVIEWS: 'The End of the Day,' by Bill Clegg and 'Into the Unbounded Night,' by Mitchell James Kaplan - StarTribune.com”. StarTribune.
- ↑ "Rhapsody". Gallery Books 2021.
- ↑ Schoeneman, Deborah (September 11, 2011). "Review: By Fire, By Water". Jewish Book Council.
- ↑ 2011 MEDALISTS Independent Publisher Book Awards. (2011)
- ↑ Eric Hoffer Award Eric Hoffer Award
External links[edit]
Bound in the Bond of Life, Book Review
Comment on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
Review of "Christ Actually" by James Carroll
Review of "God's Jury" by Cullen Murphy
This article "Mitchell James Kaplan" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Mitchell James Kaplan. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
|
This page exists already on Wikipedia. |
