Katherine Ellison (born August 19, 1957) is an American author. With two colleagues, she won the 1985

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...

for their work reporting on corruption in the Philippines.

Career

Ellison has authored and co-authored seven books, including: "Loving Learning: How Progressive Education Can Save America's Schools," ''Square Peg: My Story and What it Means for Raising Innovators, Visionaries, and Out-of-the-Box Thinkers'', published by Hyperion Voice in March 2013; ''Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention'', Hyperion Voice, 2010, ''The Mommy Brain: How motherhood makes us smarter'' (2005), ''The New Economy of Nature: The quest to make conservation profitable'', ''Imelda: Steel butterfly of the Philippines''. To promote her 2005 book ''The Mommy Brain: How motherhood makes us smarter'', Ellison appeared on ''The CBS Early Show'', ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', and an excerpt from the book was featured in the May edition of ''Self Magazine''. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' featured an interview with Ellison about ''The Mommy Brain'' in the April 25, 2005 edition. ''The New York Times'' published an op-ed by Ellison entitled "Mommy Brain" on May 8, 2005. Ellison's writings have been published in publications such as ''Working Mother'', ConservationMagazine.org, '' Fortune'', ''Monthly Magazine'', and ''Conservation in Practice''. Her consulting work includes speechwriting for Google.org and

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneur ...

; editing and writing for

David and Lucile Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's death ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, the Native Conservancy and Stanford University. She writes a monthly column for '' Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment'' and is a member of the North 24th Writers. She also wrote an essay in the book ''Read, Reason, Write'' 8th edition.

Awards

Working for the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' in 1985, Ellison along with Lewis M. Simmons and

Pete Carey Pete Carey is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Carey worked at the Mercury News California from 1967 to 2016 as a projects reporter and investigative correspondent, covering the defense industry, the rise of Silicon Valley, the fina ...

wrote about how

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...

had looted the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

treasury and clandestinely purchased properties in the United States. They were jointly awarded the

, citing "their June 1985 series that documented massive transfers of wealth abroad by President Marcos and his associates and had a direct impact on subsequent political developments in the Philippines and the United States." She has won other journalism prizes including the

National Association of Hispanic Journalists The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic and Latino journalists in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was established in 1984. NAHJ has approxim ...

first-place award, in 1997, for coverage of problems with privatizations in Mexico and Argentina; the

Inter American Press Association The Inter American Press Association (IAPA; Spanish: ''Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa'', SIP) is a press advocacy group representing major media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It is made up of more than 1,300 ...

first-place award for feature-writing, won in both 1994 and 1995, for stories on politics and culture in South America; the

Latin American Studies Association The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest association for scholars of Latin American studies. Founded in 1966, it has over 12,000 members, 45 percent of whom reside outside the United States (36 percent in Latin America and the C ...

Media Award, in 1994, for several years of excellence in regional coverage; the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

Award, in 1989, for human rights reporting in Mexico and Nicaragua; the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

and the

Investigative Reporters and Editors Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training ...

Award, in 1986, for coverage of the Philippines.

Personal life

Ellison lives in

San Anselmo, California San Anselmo () is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. San Anselmo is located west of San Rafael, at an elevation of 46 feet (14 m). It is located about north of San Francisco. The town is bordered by San Rafael ...

and is married to Jack Epstein, foreign editor at the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

''. They have two sons, Joey and Joshua Epstein. In 2007, then-48-year-old Ellison and her then-12-year-old son "Buzz," were diagnosed with

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

and had a tumultuous relationship which Ellison describes in her memoir "Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention" (2010).

References

External links

*
"On the Fly with Katherine Ellison" – An Interview with Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, Katherine 1957 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People from San Anselmo, California American non-fiction writers American women journalists Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners Writers from Minnesota Journalists from California The Mercury News people 21st-century American women