One Book, One Springfield 2007

One Book, One Springfield

About the Author

Mitch Albom is the author of nine books. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven (September 2003), is the most successful U.S. hardback first novel ever and has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide. Tuesdays With Morrie , (1997), his chronicle of time spent with a beloved but dying college professor, spent four years on the New York Times bestsellers list and is now the most successful memoir ever published. Both books were turned into celebrated television films. The critically-acclaimed Five People You Meet in Heaven aired on ABC in winter, 2004. Oprah Winfrey produced the film version of Tuesdays With Morrie in December 1999. It starred Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. The film garnered four Emmy awards, including best TV film, director, actor and supporting actor.

Albom's latest book, For One More Day , was published September 2006 and has been on the New York Times bestseller list since its publication. It is also in production as a made-for-television movie and will air in December 2007.

An award-winning journalist and radio host, Albom is an established playwright, having authored numerous pieces for the theater and film, including the screenplay for The Five People You Meet in Heaven , and the off-Broadway version of Tuesdays With Morrie (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher) which has seen more than 40 productions nationwide including the current run at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield. He has also written several recent comedies which have been produced and performed in venues across the country.

Albom is a nationally syndicated columnist for the Detroit Free Press and a nationally-syndicated radio host for ABC and WJR-AM. Albom has, for more than a decade, been named top sports columnist in the nation by the Sports Editors of America, the highest honor in the field. A panelist on ESPN's Sports Reporters, Albom also regularly serves as a commentator for that network.

Albom has founded three charities in the metropolitan Detroit area:

The Dream Fund , established in 1989, allows disadvantaged children to become involved with the arts.

A Time To Help , founded in 1998, brings volunteers together once a month to tackle various projects in Detroit, including staffing shelters, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, and operating meals on wheels programs for the elderly.

S.A.Y Detroit , Albom's most recent effort, is an umbrella program to fund shelters and care for the homeless in his city.

He also raises money for literacy projects through a variety of means including his performances with The Rock Bottom Remainders , a band made up of writers which include Stephen King, Dave Barry, Scott Turow, Amy Tan and Ridley Pearson. Albom serves on the boards of various charities and, in 1999, was named National Hospice Organization's Man of the Year. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan.

"A wonderful book, a story of the heart told by a writer with soul."

- The Los Angeles Times