Mary Jordan (journalist)

Mary Catherine Jordan (born November 10, 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, best-selling author and National Correspondent for the Washington Post.[1]

Mary Jordan
Born (1960-11-10) November 10, 1960
Cleveland
Occupationjournalist
NationalityAmerican
EducationSaint Joseph Academy
Alma materGeorgetown University,
Columbia University
Genrenon-fiction
Notable awardsPulitzer Prize for International Reporting

For 14 years she was a foreign correspondent and she has written from nearly 40 countries. With her husband, Post journalist Kevin Sullivan, Jordan ran the newspaper's bureaus in Tokyo, Mexico City and London. Jordan also was the founding editor and head of content for Washington Post Live, which organizes political debates, conferences and news events for the media company.

Jordan and Sullivan are the authors of the Number #1 Bestselling book, Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, that was released in April, 2015.[2] Hope is written with Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, two of the women who were kidnapped and held for a decade in Cleveland, Jordan's hometown.

Jordan also interviews some of the world's most accomplished people for the popular “What it Takes” podcast created by the nonprofit Academy of Achievement.[3] Among those she has spoken with as part of this free podcast series,[4] include singing legend Julie Andrews, artificial intelligence innovator Demis Hassabis, and Irish novelist John Banville.

Early life and career

Jordan, a daughter of Irish immigrants, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. For her high school experience, she attended Saint Joseph Academy in Cleveland, Ohio (Class of 1979). She graduated from Georgetown University in 1983 and earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1984.[5] In 1989–90, Jordan was awarded a Nieman Fellowship by Harvard University.[6]

For a year at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, she studied W. B. Yeats and other Irish poets. She was given her first job in the newspaper business by Irish author and editor Tim Pat Coogan, who hired her to write a column in The Irish Press. She enrolled in Japanese language classes at Georgetown University before moving to Tokyo for four years and studied Spanish on a post-graduate fellowship at Stanford University before moving to Mexico for five years.

In 2018, Jordan was a national correspondent for the Washington Post writing about politics and the Trump administration and appearing on ABC, BBC, and other TV networks. She covered the 2016 campaign, writing in-depth political stories and profiles. Jordan was also the founding editor and moderator for Washington Post Live, which hosted forums including "The 40th Anniversary of Watergate" in June 2012 that featured key Watergate figures including former White House counsel John Dean, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, and reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. It was held at the Watergate hotel.

She has interviewed many newsmakers all over the world including singer and songwriter Paul McCartney, Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Benjamin Arellano Felix, one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins. She has written extensively about injustices and discrimination against women including the exceedingly low conviction rate of rape in Britain[7] and the many girls in India denied schooling solely because they were not born male.[8]

Career recognition and awards

Jordan and Sullivan won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their Post series on the "horrific conditions in Mexico's criminal justice system and how they affect the daily lives of people," as the Pulitzer Board described.[9] Along with four Post photographers, Jordan and Sullivan were also finalists for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their series of stories on the difficulties women face around the world. The Pulitzer jury called the series a "sensitive examination of how females in the developing world are often oppressed from birth to death, a reporting project marked by indelible portraits of women and girls and enhanced by multimedia presentations."[10]

Jordan and Sullivan authored The Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail (The Penguin Press, 2005).[11] In 2006, the book won the Christopher Award, which "salutes media that affirm the highest values of the human spirit."[12]

Together with Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, two of the women kidnapped and held for nearly a decade by Ariel Castro in Cleveland, Jordan and Sullivan wrote the bestselling book Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, published by Viking in April 2015.[13]

Jordan has also won numerous other awards including the George Polk Award,[14] and accolades from the Overseas Press Club of America[15] and the Society of Professional Journalists.[16]

In 2016, Jordan was the winner of the Washington Post’s Eugene Meyer Award for her exceptional contributions to the paper.[17]

Jordan was part of the team that reported Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power, a Washington Post biography of Donald Trump published by Scribner in 2016.

Jordan was a contributing writer to Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters and Artists Who Helped Build America, edited by Mark Bailey and published by Algonquin Books in 2018.

Works

Bibliography
  • Amanda Berry; Gina DeJesus; Mary Jordan; Kevin Sullivan (27 April 2015). Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-698-17895-3.
  • Michael Kranish; Marc Fisher (23 August 2016). Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power. Scribner. ISBN 978-1616205171. isbn:1501155784.
  • Mark Bailey (6 March 2018). Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters and Artists Who Helped Build America. Algonquin Books. ISBN 978-1616205171.

Appearances and interviews

Selected works from 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning stories

Selected works from Pulitzer Prize-finalist series on the difficulties facing women

Other selected works

Poynter Institute interview with Sullivan and Jordan
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References
  1. The Washington Post. Washington Post National: Staff – Mary Jordan.
  2. New York Times Best Sellers. "Hardcover Non-fiction" Category.
  3. Academy of Achievement. Director & Our Team. "Interviewers".
  4. Academy of Achievement. "What It Takes".
  5. "Mary Jordan Nov. 9". Washington Post Live. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30.
  6. "Mary Jordan's Nieman Fellowship Nov. 9". Nieman Foundation.
  7. The Washington Post. "A British Diplomat's Mission Of Rescue".
  8. The Washington Post. "This Is the Destiny of Girls".
  9. The Pulitzer Prize. "The 2003 Pulitzer Prize winners: International Reporting".
  10. The Pulitzer Prize. "2009 Finalists".
  11. Jordan, Mary, and Kevin Sullivan. The Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.
  12. The Christopher Awards 2006 Winners.
  13. "After a decade of terror, Cleveland captives on their scars — and futures". USA Today. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  14. Long Island University George Polk Awards. "1998 George Polk Award Winners".
  15. Overseas Press Club of America. "The Madeline Dane Ross Award of 1998".
  16. The Society of Professional Journalists. "Sigma Delta Chi Awards".
  17. The Washington Post. "The Washington Post honored News, Editorial, Production, Engineering staff at 34th annual Eugene Meyer Awards".
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