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{{short description|American biographer}}
'''Meryle Secrest''' (born June Meryle Doman) is an award-winning American biographer, primarily of American artists and art collectors. ▼
▲'''Meryle Secrest''' (born<!-- JuneThe Meryle1930 Doman)year of birth published elsewhere is an awarderror so please make sure a very reliable verifiable source is provided for any birth details. -winning-> is an American biographer, primarily of American artists and art collectors.
==Biography==
Secrest was born in 1930 in [[Bath, England]], and educated there.at the HerCity fatherof wasBath Girls School, a toolcity-run grammar school strong in the arts and dieHumanities.<ref maker,name=sondheim-interview>{{cite herweb mother|url=http://www.sondheim.com/interview/meryle.html a|title=Side factoryby workerSide with Meryle Secrest |last=Janiga |first=Bruce |publisher=Sondheim.com |accessdate=20 August 2018}}</ref><ref name=secrest-2011>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYWrGb9HYVkC |title=Shoot the Widow: Adventures of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject |last=Secrest |first=Meryle |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |year=2007 |isbn=9780307497864 |accessdate=20 August 2018}}</ref> Her family emigrated to Canada, where she began her career as a [[journalist]]. She worked as women's editor for the [[''Hamilton News]]'' in [[Ontario, Canada]]; shortly thereafter she was named "Most Promising Young Writer" by the [[Canadian Women's Press Club]]. InAfter marrying an American in 1964, she began writing for the ''[[The Washington Post]]'',<ref name=sondheim-interview/> doing profile interviews of notable personalities from [[Leonard Bernstein]] to [[Anaïs Nin]].
In 1975, she left the ''Post'' to write books full-time. Since then she has written a number of critically-acclaimed biographies; her subjects have included [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], [[Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen|Joseph Lord Duveen]], [[Stephen Sondheim]], [[Leonard Bernstein]], [[Salvador DaliDalí]], [[Kenneth Clark]], [[Bernard Berenson]], [[Romaine Brooks]], and [[Richard Rodgers]]., and She[[Amedeo hasModigliani]]. also published anHer autobiography is entitled ''Shoot the Widow''.
She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1957 and now lives in [[Washington, D.C. ]]<ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=27553|title=Meryle Secrest - Penguin Random House author page]|website=www.randomhouse.com}}</ref>.
==Books==
*''Between Me and Life: A Biography of Romaine Brooks,'' 1974. ▼
*''Being Bernard Berenson,'' 1979. ▼
*''Kenneth Clark: A Biography,'' 1984. ▼
*''Salvador Dali,'' 1986. ▼
*''Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography,'' 1992. ▼
*''Leonard Bernstein: A Life,'' 1994. ▼
*''Stephen Sondheim: A Life,'' 1998. ▼
*''Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers,'' 2001. ▼
*''Duveen: A Life in Art,'' 2004.▼
*''Shoot the Widow: Adventurers of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject,'' 2007▼
==Awards and recognition==
Secrest's ''Being Bernard Berenson'' was a finalist for the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1980<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1980 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Biography |publisher=Columbia University | location=New York |website= The Pulitzer Prizes| url = http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/meryle-secrest | accessdate= 24 June 2018}}</ref> and for the American Book Awards in 1981. In 1999, she received the George Freedley Memorial Award of the American Library Association for her outstanding contribution to the literature of the theatre. In 2006, she received the Presidential National Humanities Medal from President [[George W. Bush]] at the White House for illuminating the lives of great architects, artists and scholars of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|author=White House—Office of the Press Secretary |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061108.html|location=Washington, DC |date=8 November 2006|publisher=U. S. National Archives and Records Administration |website=The White House |title=President Bush Announces 2006 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Recipients}}</ref>
Secrest's ''Being Bernard Berenson'' was a finalist for the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1980 and for the American Book Awards in 1981. In 2006 she received the National Humanities Medal.
==QuotesBooks==
▲*''Between Me and Life: A Biography of Romaine Brooks,'' 1974. {{OCLC|969614}}
*''[I write biographies] because I wish I had been a creative person and since I'm not a creative person, I'm infinitely fascinated by the process itself. Because after all this is a God-given. But what I want to know is what does it mean to be a creative person and what is the price to be paid and what happens when the moment of creativity comes? And of course one can't ever really know. But that doesn't stop me from asking.''
▲*''Being Bernard Berenson,'' 1979. {{OCLC|4549289}}
▲*''Kenneth Clark: A Biography,'' 1984. {{OCLC|11113241}}
*''The older I get the more sympathy I have for families who discover that some stranger has decided to write about their famous member without, as it were, so much as a by-your-leave. Prurience titillates, the more the better, leading to bigger sales and better royalties for the writer who is, not to put too fine a point on it, making money from others' misfortunes.''
▲*''Salvador DaliDalí,'' 1986.
▲*''Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography,'' 1992. {{OCLC|26613089}}
▲*''Leonard Bernstein: A Life,'' 1994.
▲*''Stephen Sondheim: A Life,'' 1998.
▲*''Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers,'', 2001. {{OCLC|849259450}}
▲*''Duveen: A Life in Art,'', 2004.
▲*''Shoot the Widow: AdventurersAdventures of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject,'', 2007
*''Modigliani: A Life'', 2011
*''Elsa Schiaparelli'', 2014
*''The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti: IBM, the CIA, and the Cold War Conspiracy to Shut Down Production of the World’s First Desktop Computer'', 2019
==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/Secrest.html] Library of Congress bio▼
==External links==
*[http://www.pulitzer.org/index.html] Pulitzer Prize finalists
▲*[httphttps://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authorsauthor/Secrest.html]meryle_secrest Library of Congress bio]
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061108.html] Announcement of National Humanities Medal winners
*[http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2003-07/secrest.html]julyaugust/conversation/chasing-beauty Transcript of an interview] by [[National Endowment for the Humanities|NEH]] chief [[Bruce Cole with Secrest]]
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.secrest|Meryle Secrest Papers]]. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
* {{imdb name|3479141|Meryle Secrest}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secrest, Meryle}}
[[Category:American biographers]]
[[Category:NaturalizedLiving citizens of the United Statespeople]]
[[Category:National Humanities Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:English emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American art historians]]
[[Category:American women art historians]]
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