In yesterday's announcement for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, the committee announced Barbarian Days was chosen "for a finely crafted memoir of a youthful obsession that has propelled the author through a distinguished writing career". Bill has always navigated his own path, and eventually found himself through his devotion of surfing. His win is a validation for him and all who choose to bravely explore their own passions despite missteps and challenges. I am so proud of him for writing his tales of wave-seeking adventures and I am thrilled he has now been recognized by a peer group of scholars, poets, journalists and critics who fully agree he is also a serious writer of surfing. And you don't have to be a surfer or anywhere near water to enjoy this book!
Above: Finnegan surfing Cloudbreak in Fiji in 2005. Photo credit at top goes to Barbarian Days publisher, Penguin Press, via Instagram. The other two photos are credited to William Finnegan. |
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