John Grogan is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and
non-fictionNon-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
writerA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. His memoir
Marley & MeMarley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog is a New York Times bestselling autobiographical book by journalist John Grogan, published in 2005, about the thirteen years he and his family shared their life, home, and heart with Marley, a possibly neurotic, and certified "untrainable",...
(2005) was a best-selling book about his family's dog Marley.
Career
He had been a reporter, bureau chief, and columnist for newspapers in
MichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and
FloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
before becoming the
editor in chiefAn editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of
Rodale'sRodale, Inc., is an American publisher of health and wellness magazines, books, and digital properties. Rodale is headquartered in Emmaus, Pennsylvania and also maintains a satellite office in New York City, on Third Avenue....
Organic Gardening magazine.
He was a columnist for
The Philadelphia InquirerThe Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
. The Inquirer published a volume of his best articles in 2007 called,
Bad Dogs Have More Fun. His next memoir,
The Longest Trip Home, was released on Tuesday, October 21, 2008.
Marley & Me
Grogan's memoir
Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog has attracted many readers. The book, published in 2005, hit the
USA Today and the
NY Times bestseller lists.
Marley & Me was a story about a family in the making and the destructive, yet pure-hearted, larger-than-life animal who helped shape it. The story details on Marley and John and Jenny's intrepid journey into parenthood.
Marley & Me has been adapted into a
filmMarley & Me is a 2008 American comedy-drama film directed by David Frankel. The screenplay by Scott Frank and Don Roos is based on the memoir of the same name by John Grogan...
that was released December 25, 2008 starring
Owen WilsonOwen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
and
Jennifer AnistonJennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
. Grogan is a graduate of
Central Michigan UniversityCentral Michigan University is a public research university located in Mount Pleasant in the U.S. state of Michigan...
's Department of Journalism and wrote for the school newspaper,
CM-Life.
Grogan's dog Marley appeared briefly in the movie
The Last Home RunThe Last Home Run is a 1996 film directed by Bob Gosse.It tells the story of Jonathan Lyle, an elderly man in a nursing home who is transformed by a mystic, for five days, into a 12-year-old boy playing Little League Baseball.The Last Home Run also starred Jordi Vilasuso and Vinnette Justine...
.
Personal life
Grogan was born in an Irish Catholic Home in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan, on March 20, 1957. He was the youngest of four, his siblings being Marijo, Michael, and Tim. His father was an engineer for
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, while his mother was a
housewifeHousewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
.
He also attended Central Michigan University where he double majored in Journalism and English.
He lives with his wife, Jenny, and their three children, Patrick, Conor, and Colleen in rural eastern
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
He met his wife, Jenny, while working as a police reporter for the small
Herald-Palladium in the Michigan harbor town of St. Joseph. He has cited
Bill BrysonWilliam McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
,
Alice SeboldAlice Sebold is an American novelist. She has published three books: Lucky , The Lovely Bones and The Almost Moon .-Early life:...
, and
Jim HarrisonJames "Jim" Harrison is an American author known for his poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and writings about food. He has been called "a force of nature", and his work has been compared to that of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway...
among others as his favorite authors.
External links