Marjorie Williams facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marjorie Williams
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Williams in the early 1990s
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| Born | January 13, 1958 Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | January 16, 2005 (aged 47) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C., U.S. 38°56′50″N 77°00′37″W / 38.94736°N 77.01028°W |
| Occupation | Writer, reporter, columnist |
| Education | Harvard University (dropped out) |
| Notable works | The Woman at the Washington Zoo (published posthumously) |
| Spouse |
Timothy Noah
(m. 1990) |
| Children | 2 |
Marjorie Williams (born January 13, 1958 – died January 16, 2005) was an American writer and reporter. She was also a columnist for magazines like Vanity Fair and the newspaper The Washington Post. She often wrote about American society and important political figures.
Contents
Life and Career
Marjorie Williams was born in Princeton, New Jersey. Her mother was a scientist who later stayed home, and her father worked in publishing.
Early Life and Education
Marjorie went to Harvard University for two years. She then left college and moved to New York. There, she started working in the publishing world.
Becoming a Journalist
Even though she was good at publishing, Marjorie really wanted to be a journalist. In 1986, she got a job as an editor at The Washington Post newspaper. A year later, she became a reporter for the paper's "Style" section.
Writing About Important People
Marjorie was very good at writing articles about important political people. Her stories quickly became popular. She also started writing for Vanity Fair magazine. She wrote about many famous people, like former President Bill Clinton, former First Lady Barbara Bush, and General Colin Powell. She also wrote about her own life and experiences.
Marjorie was part of an online book club for Slate magazine. In this club, writers would talk online about new books. She also wrote book reviews for the Washington Monthly magazine.
Columnist and Later Years
In 2000, Marjorie became an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. This meant she wrote articles sharing her views on different topics. About a year and a half later, she was diagnosed with liver cancer. Even though doctors thought she only had a few months, she lived for over three years.
Her last column for The Washington Post was written in November 2004. It was about her young daughter's Halloween costume. In 2011, this column was named one of the top 15 newspaper columns in American history.
Marjorie Williams passed away on January 16, 2005, just three days after her 47th birthday. She was survived by her husband, Timothy Noah, her two children, her stepmother, and three sisters. Her ashes were buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Books After Her Death
After Marjorie died, two collections of her writings were published. Her husband, Timothy Noah, edited the first book. It was called The Woman at the Washington Zoo and came out in November 2005. This book won awards, including the PEN American Center's Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. It also won a National Magazine Award for an essay inside the book about her experiences with cancer.
A second collection of her writings, called Reputation: Portraits in Power, was published in October 2008.
