Thomas French (born January 3, 1958) is an American writer and journalist.

Life

French was born on January 3, 1958 to Hans and Katherine (née Darst) French in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

and was raised in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Indiana. While at Indiana University Bloomington, he was the editor-in-chief of the

Indiana Daily Student The ''Indiana Daily Student'' (''IDS'') is an independent, student-run newspaper published for the community of Indiana University Bloomington, since 1867. The ''IDS'' is free and distributed throughout the campus and city. Circulation During ...

, the recipient of a Poynter scholarship, the winner of the Hearst Competition for Feature Writing, and graduated in 1980. His first marriage was to Linda French (née Rogowski). French has two sons, Nathaniel and Samuel. He married Kelley Benham in 2006. Benham documented the birth of their daughter Juniper, who was born an extreme preemie in the series "Never Let Go," published in the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'', for which she was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Career

Thomas French's career with the ''St. Petersburg Times'' spanned 27 years between 1981 and 2008. He is known for feature writing but he started off on the police and courts beats, as well as general assignments. He is the Riley Endowed Chair in journalism in the Media School at Indiana University Bloomington.

Notable works of journalism

In 1998, the ''Times'' won its sixth

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

. French won for Feature Writing for his piece “Angels and Demons,” the story of the murders of Jo, Michelle and Christe Rogers and the eventual capture of the murderer, Oba Chandler. French wrote the series "South of Heaven," later expanded into a book of narrative nonfiction, about students at the end of the 1980s at Largo High School with the cooperation of LHS journalism teacher Jan Amburgy. He collaborated on "13", a mini-series that ran in the ''St. Petersburg Times'' about middle schoolers at Booker T. Washington Middle Magnet School for International Studies in Tampa. His piece "The Exorcist in Love" is an in-depth investigation into the life and work of Laura Knight (now Laura Knight-Jadczyk). According to ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reporter

Anne Hull Anne Hull (born 1961) is an American journalist and author. She was a national reporter at The Washington Post for nearly two decades. In 2008, the ''Post'' was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, citing the work ...

, French's work has set the standard for a generation of reporters:

He wrote a seminal piece of journalism called 'A Cry In The Night' that dominated our craft for a long time and made a model for the rest of us to follow," Hull said. "He's been my teacher since the day I met him. IU will soon get a glimpse of his passion and ferocious belief that journalism should be fair and truthful but also raucous, subversive, emotional and daring.

His 2010 book about Lowry Park Zoo in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

is called '' Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives''.

Awards

In 1992, Thomas French won the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for his local reporting on a high school. In 1998, French won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. In 2015, French was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.

Works

''A Year in the Life of a High School''''Angels & Demons''''Never Let Go'', written by wife Kelley Benham about the couple's daughter

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Thomas 1958 births Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Indiana University Bloomington alumni Indiana University Bloomington faculty Journalists from Indiana Livingston Award winners for Local Reporting Writers from Indianapolis Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing winners Tampa Bay Times Writers from Columbus, Ohio Journalists from Ohio American male journalists Goucher College faculty and staff