O'Brien, Mark

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1950
Britons,
English,

Biographical notes:

Biographical Chronology

1949 Born to Helen Agnes Kelly and Walter O'Brien, Boston, Mass. 1951 Brother Kenneth born. 1953 Sister Karen born. 1955 Contracts poliomyelitis and is comatose for thirty days. Spends the next two years in Children's Hospital and Wellesley Convalescent Hospital. 1961 Karen dies of pneumonia. 1963 Has spinal fusion surgery. Sister Rachel born. 1966 O'Brien family moves to Sacramento, Calif. 1968 Receives high school diploma. 1976 Moves to Kaiser Hospital, Vallejo, Calif., for physical therapy in preparation for attending the University of California at Berkeley as part of the Disabled Students Program. Transfers to Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, Calif. 1977 Begins course work at California State University, Hayward in January. 1978 Accepted to U.C. Berkeley in June. Moves into Davidson Hall, a campus dormitory. 1979 Moves to an apartment off-campus. 1980 Acquires first electric wheelchair. 1982 Graduates from U.C. Berkeley with a B.A. in English literature in June. Begins graduate studies at U.C. Berkeley's School of Journalism. Publishes first article, "How I Became A Human Being," in CoEvolution Quarterly. 1983 Leaves graduate school. Begins professional career as a journalist and poet. O'Brien writes for the Pacific News Service and contributes to CoEvolution Quarterly (which later becomes Whole Earth Review), The Disability Rag,The Fessenden Review,Frisko,Margin,Mouth: the voice of disability,San Francisco Chronicle,San Francisco Examiner, and The Sun, among others. 1988 1993 Receives grants from the Ingram Merrill Foundation; concentrates on writing poetry. 1990 Publishes first edition of Breathing: Poems by Mark O'Brien. 1994 Cover story of the July 31 Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine is devoted to O'Brien. Helen O'Brien dies in September. 1995 Works with documentary film maker Jessica Yu. The film, "Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien," premieres in December. 1996 Berkeley City Council declares Mark O'Brien Day on August 3. 1997 "Breathing Lessons" wins an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Documentary Short Subject in March. O'Brien delivers commencement speech for U.C. Berkeley's Department of English in May. 1999 Dies in his home in Berkeley on July 4, from complications of bronchitis.

From the guide to the Mark O'Brien Papers, 1968-1999, n.d., (The Bancroft Library.)

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