Caroline Alexander (author)

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Caroline Alexander
BornMarch 13, 1956
United States
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Caroline Alexander is a British author, classicist and filmmaker. She is the author of the best-selling The Endurance , and The Bounty , and other works of literary non-fiction, such as The Way to Xanadu and The War that Killed Achilles. In 2015, she published a new translation of Homer's Iliad . [1]

Contents

Alexander is also a writer and producer of documentaries such as The Endurance (based upon her book of the same title) and Tiger Tiger. [2]

Personal life and education

Born March 13, 1956, [3] in the United States of British parents, Alexander grew up in North Florida, but travelled widely, living in the West Indies, Italy, England, Ireland, and the Netherlands. She began her classical studies at Florida State University in her senior year of high-school. In 1977, among the first class of female Rhodes Scholars, she attended Somerville College, Oxford, taking her degree in Philosophy and Theology. [4]

Between 1982 and 1985, she established a small department of classics at the University of Malawi, in south-central Africa. Following this, she obtained her doctorate in Classics at Columbia University, as a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities. [5]

Career

Alexander began her career as a freelance writer while in graduate school, and subsequently has published widely on subjects ranging from Antarctic exploration, travels in central Africa, tigers, butterfly poachers, ancient history, lost treasure, Xanadu, and military subjects such as shell shock and blast-induced neurotrauma. She has published two New York Times best-sellers (The Endurance, The Bounty).

Alexander was a Contributing Writer for National Geographic Magazine for many years, and has also written for The New Yorker , Outside and Smithsonian among other publications; her work has appeared in a number of anthologies of literary non-fiction. [6]

Her National Geographic Magazine cover story, “The Invisible War on The Brain,” was praised for exploring the effects of blast-induced trauma on modern soldiers, and nominated for a Kavli Science Journalism Award.

Alexander is a member of the American Philological Association, the Royal Geographical Society, the Explorer's Club, and the Directors Guild of America.

Films
TitleProduction companyCreditsNotes
Tiger, TigerWhite Mountain Films/Kennedy Marshall production George Butler producer/director; Caroline Alexander writer/producer90 minute theatrical documentary and 40 minute IMAX version, following big-cat conservationist Alan Rabinowitz into one of the last tiger habitats, the mangrove forest of the Indian and Bangladesh Sunderbans
The Lord God BirdWhite Mountain Films ProductionGeorge Butler producer/director; Caroline Alexander writer90 minute theatrical documentary about the possible re-discovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker
The Endurance White Mountain Films ProductionGeorge Butler producer/director; Caroline Alexander writer/Executive Producer90 minute theatrical documentary about Shackleton's 1914 expedition. Released in 2001; National Board of Review Best Documentary and numerous other awards; two hour television version nominated for a British Academy Award, 2000.
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure White Mountain Films ProductionGeorge Butler producer/director; Caroline Alexander writer/consultantIMAX film shot on location in the Antarctic. Winner of best Giant Screen Film Award, 2000.
Publications: books
PublisherYearTitleSubjectLanguagesNotes
Ecco Press/Vintage Classics2015The Iliad: A New TranslationRetells the events of the few weeks in the ten-year war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in the city of Ilion. [7] Translated into EnglishFirst English edition of the Iliad that is translated by a woman. [8]
Random House/National Geographic Society2011Lost Gold of the Dark Ages: War, Treasure and the Mystery of the Saxons A history attempting to shed light on one of England's most mysterious periods.Written in EnglishThe book is introduced by one of the experts (Dr. Kevin Leary) who is studying the 1500 pieces of jewelry. [9]
Viking/Faber2009The War that Killed Achilles:  The True Story of the Iliad and the Trojan WarAn interpretation and study of Homer's Iliad.Translated into multiple languages Ken Burns called it "Spectacular and constantly surprising." [10]
Viking/HarperCollins2003The Bounty:  The True Story of the Mutiny on the BountyA historical examination of the story-myth of the mutiny on the Bounty, a small armed transport vessel.Written in EnglishA New York Times bestseller. National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. New York Times top nine books of 2003.
Knopf/Bloomsbury1998The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic ExpeditionTells the story of the explorer Ernest Shackleton's attempt to be the first to cross Antarctica on foot.Translated into multiple languagesA New York Times bestseller
HarperCollins/Bloomsbury1997Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition, 1914–1915Journal of Shackleton's Polar-going catAlso published in German and GreekFrom the perspective of a cat. [11]
Knopf1995Battle's End: A Seminole Football Team RevisitedTutoring Florida State University football players in EnglishWritten in EnglishSeems to have only had a printing in 1995. [12]
Orion 1993/Knopf 19941993/1994The Way to XanaduTravels to the landmarks of  Coleridge's Kubla KhanWritten in EnglishA New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.”  Also published in paperback by Phoenix, 1994.
Knopf/Bloomsbury1989One Dry Season: In the Footsteps of Mary Kingsley in Equatorial AfricaA retracing of Mary Kingsley's travels through of the then French colony Gabon.Written in EnglishA Book of the Month Club selection. Published in paperback by Vintage, 1991; and Phoenix, 1993.

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References

  1. Alexander, Caroline (9 February 2016). "New translation of the Iliad by Caroline Alexander – extract". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  2. "TIGER TIGER". A White Mountain Films Production. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
  3. "Alexander, Caroline, 1956-". United States Library of Congress . Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  4. "Caroline Alexander | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-01.
  5. "Classical Languages Department Visiting Scholar Caroline Alexander". calendar.exeter.edu.
  6. "Caroline Alexander". HarperCollins Publishers: World-Leading Book Publisher. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  7. Noble, Barnes &. "The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  8. Homer; Alexander, translated by Caroline (2016-02-09). "New translation of the Iliad by Caroline Alexander – extract". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  9. Alexander, Caroline (2011-10-18). Lost Gold of the Dark Ages: War, Treasure, and the Mystery of the Saxons. National Geographic Books. ISBN   978-1-4262-0884-3.
  10. Noble, Barnes &. "The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  11. Noble, Barnes &. "Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton's Polar-Bound Cat|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  12. Alexander, Caroline (1995). Battle's End: A Seminole Football Team Revisited. ISBN   0679419012.