Alex Kotlowitz is the author of the recently published The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death and America's Dilemma (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday). The New York Times wrote: "Of all the many books written about race in America in the past couple of years, none has been quite like The Other Side of the River.... It is the difference between the two towns, one white, one black, that anchors this story, give it its soul, and makes it important, essential even, for the rest of us to contemplate." The book received The Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize for Non-Fiction.

He also is the author of the bestselling There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. The book, which was published in 1991, was the recipient of numerous awards including the Helen B. Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Carl Sandburg Award and a Christopher Award. The New York Public Library selected There Are No Children Here as one of the 150 most important books of the century. In the fall of 1993, it was adapted for television as an ABC Movie-of-the-Week starring Oprah Winfrey.

Mr. Kotlowitz currently writes for The New Yorker and teaches writing at Northwestern University. His articles have also appeared in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Rolling Stone and The New Republic. Mr. Kotlowitz regularly gives public lectures, including recent appearances at Harvard, Notre Dame, the University of Georgia and Michigan State University.

Mr. Kotlowitz, who has been a Distinguished Visitor at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, worked as a staff writer at The Wall Street Journal from 1984 to 1993, writing on urban affairs and social policy. Prior to joining the Journal, he freelanced for five years, contributing to the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, National Public Radio and various magazines. His journalism honors include the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. He is the recipient of two honorary degrees and the John LaFarge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice given by New York's Catholic Interracial Council.

Mr. Kotlowitz, whose first journalism job was with The Lansing Star, a weekly in Lansing, Michigan, also worked as a community organizer in Atlanta in the mid-1970s.

A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Mr. Kotlowitz grew up in New York City. He currently lives with his family just outside Chicago.


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