Alphie McCourt
Biography
Alphie McCourt
The youngest of the McCourt brothers, Alphie McCourt grew up in Limerick, Ireland and immigrated to the U.S. in 1959. Since, he has lived in Canada, California and New York and has spent a good part of his life in the restaurant and bar business. He lives currently with his wife and daughter in Manhattan. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, The Villager (New York), The Limerick Leader and in Irons Magazine.
The McCourt family gained fame through the books of brothers Frank and Malachy and in the two popular documentaries that profiled them. In A LONG STONE'S THROW, the youngest McCourt adds his gifted voice to this literary chorus with a vivid, emotional memoir that starts in his native Limerick. Alone and dispirited after his brothers leave for America, Alphie flees Ireland as soon as he’s able, spending his adolescence in New York, aimless and half drunk. He reconnects with, and eventually marries, the beautiful Lynn, but things are rough: their daughter, Allison, is born with difficulties, business success alternates with business failures, he continues to drink. Finally, after an epiphany on Route 80, McCourt learns to navigate the happy chaos of New York City.
The McCourt family gained fame and notoriety through the books of brothers Frank (ANGELA'S ASHES, TIS, TEACHER MAN and MALACHY (A MONK SWIMMING, SINGING MY HIM SONG), and inthe two popular documentaries that followed. In A LONG STONE' THROW, the youngest brother, Alphie, adds his gifted voice to this literary chorus with a vivd, emotional memoir that begins in Limerick, Ireland. Like his brothers, Alphie details his escape from a miserable childhood in Limerick to the U.S., where the Irish curse, aimless jobs, women, the Army and business ventures lead him to steady ground in, of all places, New York City.
Alphie McCourt
