Andrea Elliott | |
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| Born | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Employer | The New York Times |
| Notable work | Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City |
| Website | andrea-elliott |
Andrea Elliott is an American journalist and a staff writer forThe New York Times. She is the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in both Journalism (2007) and Letters (2022). She received the 2007Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for a series of articles on an Egyptian-bornimam living inBrooklyn and the 2022Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction forInvisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City, a book about Dasani, a young girl enduring homelessness in New York City.
Elliott was born inWashington, D.C. to a Chilean mother and an American father. Growing up, Elliot was close with her older brother Thomas and younger brother Pablo.[1] She studied comparative literature atOccidental College, where she developed an interest in documentary film. In 1995, Elliott worked in Chile and Argentina as a field producer for "La Tierra en que Vivimos," a natural history television program. She then moved to San Francisco to co-direct and write the documentary "It's All Good," exploring the subculture of aggressive inline skaters inLos Angeles andNew York City. In 1999, Elliott attendedColumbia University'sGraduate School of Journalism, graduating first in her class.[2][3]
Elliott joinedThe Miami Herald as a reporter in 2000, covering crime, courts, immigration and Latin American politics. She leftThe Miami Herald forThe New York Times in May 2003. As a metro reporter forThe Times, she covered the Bronx and then created her own beat – Islam in a post-9/11 America – writing extensively about the backlash against Muslims after theSeptember 11 attacks, domestic radicalization and militant jihad.[2]
In December 2013, Elliott published "Invisible Child," a 28,000-word, five-part series for theTimes on child homelessness in New York City.[4] Elliott expanded the series into a book for Random House as an Emerson Fellow atNew America Foundation.Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City was published in October 2021. It was selected for theNew York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2021" list.[5]
In 2007, Elliott received thePulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for a series of articles on Sheik Reda Shata, an Egyptian-bornimam living inBrooklyn.[6][7][8][9] JournalistJonathan S. Tobin criticized the award because Elliott's reporting failed to mention that it was a sermon preached by Mohammed Moussa (a previous Imam in this mosque) whom she portrayed in sympathetic detail that inspired one of the congregants to perpetrate the1994 Brooklyn Bridge shooting of a bus of Jewish schoolboys; a hate crime.[10]
Elliott is also the recipient of theGeorge Polk Award, theScripps Howard Award, the David Aronson Award and prizes by theOverseas Press Club, theAmerican Society of Newspaper Editors, theSociety of Professional Journalists and theNew York Press Club. Her work has been featured in the collectionsBest Newspaper Writing andIslam for Journalists: A Primer on Covering Muslim American Communities in America.
In May 2014, Elliott received an honorary doctorate fromNiagara University, which cited her “courage, perseverance, and a commitment to fairness for those without a public voice rarely demonstrated among writers today.”
In May 2015, Elliott was awardedColumbia University's Medal for Excellence, awarded to one alumna under 45 every year.[11]
In 2018, Elliott received aWhiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete her bookInvisible Child.[12]
In 2022, Elliot received aPulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for her bookInvisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City.[13]
| 1979–2000 |
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| 2001–2025 |
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