Bill Bryson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Bryson 2005
Bill Bryson as Honorary Doctor and Chancellor of Durham University (2005)

William "Bill" McGuire Bryson , OBE , (born December 8, 1951 in Des Moines , Iowa ) is an American journalist and writer . He became famous for his informative and humorous travel reports from Europe, the United States and Australia. Bryson was from 2005 to the end of 2011 Chancellor ( Chancellor , a mainly ceremonial office) of the prestigious British University of Durham , which awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Life

Bryson, son of a family of journalists in Des Moines, studied at Drake University , took a break and first came to England as a backpacker in 1973 . He worked in a Virginia Water, Surrey mental hospital for two years . There he met Cynthia Billen, a nurse in training. After marrying in 1974, he and his wife moved back to the United States to catch up with a degree from Drake University (1975 to 1977). In 1977 he moved back to England. Back in England, he wrote for the Bournemouth Evening Echo for two years . He also worked for the Financial Weekly and later for The Times and The Independent .

In 1995 he moved with his wife and four children from Kirkby Malham, North Yorkshire , to Hanover , New Hampshire, USA . In 2003 he returned to England with his family. He succeeded Peter Ustinov as Chancellor of Durham University in North East England in 2005 and currently lives in Wymondham , Norfolk .

Bryson achieved his international breakthrough as a writer in 1995 with the English book "Ready for the Island" (English: Notes from A Small Island ). This was followed by numerous other titles in the English, American and, most recently, German bestseller lists, which made him one of the most popular non-fiction authors of the present day.

Movie

In 2015, the film Picnic with Bears, a film adaptation of his book of the same name, was published. Bryson is portrayed by Robert Redford and directed by Ken Kwapis .

Awards

Works

Travel literature

  • The Palace Under the Alps and Over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries (1985)
  • The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America (1989) (German: Streets of Remembrance: Journeys through the forgotten America , ISBN 3-442-46380-7 )
  • Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe. (1993) (German: Streifzüge durch das Abendland: Europe for Beginners and Advanced Students , 2001, ISBN 3-442-45073-X or Where, please, are you going to Domodossola? Ullstein, Berlin, 1996. ISBN 3-548-23850-5 )
  • Notes from a Small Island (1995) (German: Reif für die Insel: England for beginners and advanced , ISBN 3-442-46596-6 )
  • A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. (1997) (German: Picnic with Bears , 1999, ISBN 3-442-44395-4 )
  • I'm a Stranger Here Myself ( USA ) / Notes From a Big Country ( UK ) (1999) (German: Streiflichter aus Amerika: The USA for beginners and advanced , ISBN 3-442-45124-8 )
  • In a Sunburned Country (USA) / Down Under (UK) (2000) (German Breakfast with Kangaroos: Australian Adventures , ISBN 3-442-45379-8 )
  • Bill Bryson's African Diary (2003) (German: Mein Afrika-Tagebuch , ISBN 3-936261-19-9 )
  • The Road to Little Dribbling: more Notes from a Small Island (2015) (German: It's teatime, my dear! Wieder reif für die Insel , 2016, ISBN 978-3-442-31397-6 )

Literature on language and science

  • The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way. (1989)
  • Mother Tongue: The English Language. (1991)
  • Made in America: an Informal History of the English Language in the United States. (1994)
  • The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words. (1984), revised edition entitled Troublesome Words. (1997)
  • as editor: Seeing Further. The Story of Science and the Royal Society . Harper Press, ISBN 978-0-00-730256-7 . (2010)

Popular scientific literature

Autobiography

  • The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (2006) (German: My America: Memories of a completely normal childhood , ISBN 978-3-442-30116-4 )

Web links

Commons : Bill Bryson  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ New Fellows 2013 of the Royal Society (royalsociety.org); Retrieved May 7, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Bryson, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bryson, William McGuire
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Des Moines