Patricia Morrisroe

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Patricia Morrisroe
BornJanuary 14, 1951 (1951-01-14) (age 73)
Andover, Massachusetts
LanguageEnglish
Alma mater
Notable works
SpouseLee D. Stern

Patricia Morrisroe (born January 14, 1951) is an American journalist and author, best known for writing the biography of Robert Mapplethorpe.[1] Her writing has appeared in The New York Times,[2] Vogue,[3] New York Magazine,[4] and others.

Early life and education[edit]

Patricia Morrisroe was born in Andover, Massachusetts.[5] Her father, Lawrence P. Morrisroe, was a banker,[6] and her mother was Eileen Flynn.[6] She graduated from Tufts University, earning a B.A. in English.

She received an M.A. in Cinema Studies from New York University.

Career[edit]

After graduating, Morrisroe worked for a year as a reporter and film critic at the Eagle-Tribune, a daily newspaper covering Massachusetts and New Hampshire.[7] During the 1980s, she was a contributing editor at New York Magazine, writing over 50 features[4] including several dozen cover stories.[8] Among the most notable were "The Death and Life of Perry Ellis," about the fashion designer's secret battle with AIDS,[9] and "Bess and the Mess," about the political misfortunes of former Miss America Bess Myerson.[10]

Morrisroe has also written profiles for London's Sunday Times Magazine, including an interview with writer Raymond Carver which was included in the book Conversations With Raymond Carver.[11] Her journalism and essays have been published in Vogue,[3] Vanity Fair,[12] the New York Times,[2] Elle Décor, Departures,[13] and Travel & Leisure.[14] Her essay "Swept Away" was included in Nostalgia in Vogue, a 2011 compilation of coming-of-age essays from the Vogue Nostalgia column, alongside other contributions by Joan Didion, Karl Lagerfeld, Nora Ephron, Patti Smith, and others.[15]

In 1988, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe selected Morrisroe to write his biography. She interviewed 300 people for the book and spent six months with Mapplethorpe before he died of HIV/AIDS.[16] Mapplethorpe: A Biography was published by Random House in 1995.[17] Foreign editions were published in the UK, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Japan, and Brazil. Art critic Arthur C. Danto, writing in The Nation, praised it as "utterly admirable ... The clarity and honesty of Morrisroe's portrait are worthy of its subject."[18]

Morrisroe's other non-fiction books include Wide Awake: A Memoir of Insomnia (2010) and 9 1/2 Narrow: My Life in Shoes (2015). Her debut novel, The Woman in the Moonlight, was published in 2020. The book centers on the imagined relationship between Beethoven and Countess Julie Guicciardi,[19] to whom Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 14) was dedicated. As part of the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven's birth in 2020, Morrisroe wrote articles for the New York Times exploring lesser-known figures in the composer's life.[2]

Personal life[edit]

Morrisroe is married to Lee D. Stern. She lives in New York City and Westchester.[20]

Bibliography[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Mapplethorpe: A Biography. Random House. 1995. ISBN 0306807661.
  • Wide Awake: A Memoir of Insomnia. Spiegel & Grau. 2010. ISBN 9780385522243.
  • 9 1/2 Narrow: My Life in Shoes. Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780399589447
  • The Woman in the Moonlight: A Novel. Little A. 2020. ISBN 9781503903753.[21]

Essays and Articles[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mercer, Kobena. "Mapplethorpe: A Biography Patricia Morrisroe | Frieze". Frieze (25).
  2. ^ a b c Morrisroe, Patricia (2020-05-27). "The Woman at the Heart of Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  3. ^ a b Morrisroe, Patricia. "The Good Life: Pleasure Principle | Vogue | FEBRUARY 2013". Vogue | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  4. ^ a b "The Exodus of Creative Young People Out of Manhattan". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  5. ^ Date, Terry (August 6, 2015). "Author recalls life, fashion and shoes while growing up in the Merrimack Valley".
  6. ^ a b "Obituary: Mr. Lawrence P".
  7. ^ "About Us". Eagle-Tribune. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  8. ^ Morrisroe, Patricia (1983-06-06). "Mommy Only". New York Magazine.
  9. ^ "Journalistic Ethics : AIDS Rumors--Do They Belong in News Stories?". Los Angeles Times. 1986-09-03. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  10. ^ "Bess Myerson, Miss America who rose in politics and fell in scandal, dies at 90". Los Angeles Times. 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  11. ^ Carver, Raymond (1990). Conversations with Raymond Carver. Marshall Bruce Gentry, William L. Stull. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 0-87805-448-0. OCLC 21561470.
  12. ^ "VANITY FAIR | Vanity Fair | July 1995". Vanity Fair | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  13. ^ "The Changing of the Fashion Guard". Departures. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  14. ^ "Grandmother's Travel Memories". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  15. ^ MacSweeney, Eve (2011). Nostalgia in Vogue: 2000-2010. Random House Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-8478-3681-9.
  16. ^ Weinreich, Regina (1995-10-08). "Mapplethorpe's Biographer Draws Fire (Published 1995)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  17. ^ Tanabe, Kunio Frances (May 28, 1995). "IN THE DARKROOM OF THE SOUL". The Washington Post.
  18. ^ Danto, Arthur (June 12, 1995). "The Unretouched Life". The Nation.
  19. ^ Vanamee, Norman (2020-09-01). "Author Patricia Morrisroe on Beethoven and the Bored Housewives of 1800s Vienna". Town & Country. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  20. ^ "Patricia Morrisroe Books". www.hachette.com.au.
  21. ^ Vanamee, Norman (September 1, 2020). "Author Patricia Morrisroe on Beethoven and the Bored Housewives of 1800s Vienna". Town & Country.
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