O'Brien, Mark

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.)