May 11, 2014: Michiko Kakutani: New York Times: A Memoir From the Eye of a Financial Storm
Kakutani, a Japanese American, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the only child of Yale mathematician Shizuo Kakutani. She received her B.A. in English literature from Yale University in 1976, where she studied under author and Yale writing professor John Hersey, among others. After graduation she initially worked as a reporter for the Washington Post, and then from 1977 to 1979 for Time magazine, where Hersey had worked. In 1979, she joined The New York Times as a reporter. Kakutani has been a literary critic for The New York Times since 1983. She writes book reviews. Her harsh critiques of some prominent authors have garnered both attention and, on occasion, criticism. She has been known to write reviews in the voice of movie or book characters, including Brian Griffin, Austin Powers, Holden Caulfield Elle Woods of Legally Blonde, and Truman Capote's character Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
