Frank McCourt: A phoenix from the ashes

Frank McCourt spent three decades as a teacher of English and creative writing in New York City's schools. He always said that those years, while depriving him of the time to write, were what made him a writer. He had long been retired when Angela's Ashes was published in 1996.

The book, an international best-seller many times over and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, recounted McCourt's tragic, impoverished childhood in Ireland. In 1997, then Spotlight editor-in-chief Ian McMaster met Frank McCourt, and they talked about writing and life and Limerick.

"What was it like going back to Limerick?" asked McMaster. "I always went back with mixed feelings," answered McCourt, "because I just felt that bad things had happened to me in Limerick, and I used to feel angry — especially if I saw a priest. But now I think we have made peace with each other, Limerick and I."