Rick Bragg

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist

Rick Bragg

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist

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Biography

Rick Bragg is a journalist and writer known for non-fiction books, especially those about his family in Alabama. He is the author of over a dozen books, including the best-selling Ava’s Man and All Over but the Shoutin’. Rick has worked for numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, St. Petersburg Times and the New York Times, in which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 recognizing his work there.

He taught writing at Harvard University, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Boston University, and others. Rick lives in Alabama and writes a monthly column for Southern Living magazine. He is currently a writing professor at The University of Alabama’s Journalism program in its College of Communication and Information Sciences.

Bragg says he learned to tell stories by listening to the masters, the people of the foothills of the Appalachians. They talked of the sadness, poverty, cruelty, kindness, hope, hopelessness, faith, anger and joy of their everyday lives, and painted pictures on the very haze of the early evening when work faded into story-telling. These stories are the backbone of his third book, Ava’s Man, the tale of a whiskey man, poacher, roofer and folk legend who was his mother’s father and the grandfather he never saw.

All Over but the Shoutin’ was Bragg’s first book, the story of a mother who absorbed the cruelties of an alcoholic husband haunted by his service in the Korean War, and showed how she devoted her life to the endless cotton fields to make a living for her three sons. The book, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, won several awards and was selected as one of the best books of the year by several news organizations and leader groups. More important than the fact that it made The New York Times bestseller list, says Bragg, is the fact that the book became an anthem for the working people and poor people of the modern-day South.

A native of Alabama, Bragg worked at several newspapers before joining The New York Times in 1994. He covered the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jonesboro killings, the Susan Smith trial and more as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. He later became Miami Bureau Chief for the Times just in time for Elian Gonzalez’s arrival and the international battle for the little boy. He recently retired from the Times in May 2003. Bragg has twice won the prestigious American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award, and more than 50 other writing awards in his 20-year career, and has given back to his profession by teaching writing in colleges and newsrooms.

Bragg is also the author of The Prince of Frogtown, Somebody Told Me, a critically acclaimed collection of his newspaper stories, and I am A Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.

Speaker Videos

All Over but the Shoutin'

Speech Topics

All Over But the Shoutin’

Somebody Told Me: Stories of a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist

Journalism Today

Testimonials

"What a joy to read that our mutual friend, Rick Bragg, will be in print again and with such a great story. He spoke here in Flint, Michigan last April and my husband and I share all the sentiments you express about him. He was THE most well-received and loved speaker we have ever had in our series and I just wanted to kidnap him. In addition to his obvious writing and speaking abilities, I found him to be a most kind, sensitive, and aware person... beneath the fun, teasing, and humor."

- Earthlink

"As usual, your speaker was fabulous! Rick took in his surroundings and digested them. Then, instead of speaking to the downside of all of the 'survival' images he has experienced, he moved past the first segment of our event which was quite serious, and lightened things up quite a bit. He had the entire full house of about 750 people in stitches. What a way to end our season, with smiles on our faces all while in appreciation of the spirit of survival as it relates to the 'Potential and Power of the Human Spirit.' He was so delightful, I think the lot of us would have chosen to put him in our back pockets and take him home with us. My husband, who never laughs really, couldn't get over him, talking incessantly about each and every tidbit Rick gave us. He was so generous to everyone, engaging, and appropriate. He not only knows how to read a crowd, he can then write about them in their very presence!"

- Madison (WI) Civics Club

"What a fun event. On behalf of our appreciative Library Commission, we thank Rick for bringing the flavor of the characters that inhabited his hometown to our community. His wit (we’re still laughing about the possum tale), style, and heart filled the room and our minds with a comfortable warmth that made for an enjoyable evening. The atmosphere he created was akin to being with an old friend, which is what we now consider him."

- Library Commission, Town of Manalapan

"It was all that we hoped for and even more. The crowd numbered right around 700—almost full capacity. Many books sold, many books autographed. Rick had that audience eating out of his hand. Kalamazoo loves Rick Bragg! And for me personally, it was like the reunion of long lost cousins. You know, I’d had this horrible stress-induced nightmare about a month ago in which Rick came to town and was a complete a**, and I just followed him around apologizing. He was so warm and generous, really the standard by which all other authors will be judged. He said he’d love to come back when the novel is published and I know we’d love to have him."

- Kalamazoo Public Library, MI