Draft:Patricia O'Brien (journalist)

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Patricia O'Brien (pseudonym Kate Alcott) (born May 25, 1936) is an American political reporter, columnist, and author. She is the author of twelve books, including two New York Times Bestsellers: Her non-fiction book "I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives," co-authored with her close friend and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman,[1] and her Novel "The Dressmaker," written under her pseudonym Kate Alcott.[2]

Early life

O'Brien was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Martin H. O’Brien, owned O’Bie of California, a textile company in Los Angeles. Her mother, Anna G. O’Brien, was a stay-at-home parent.[3]

Career

O'Brien earned her undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Oregon in 1966, at age thirty and the mother to four children.[4]

Journalism

O'Brien began her journalism career writing obituaries for the South Bend Tribune in South Bend, Indiana.[4] She began working for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1970, first as a reporter, then as a columnist and editorial writer.[4] In 1973, she was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University where she met her life-long friend and collaborator Ellen Goodman.

From 1976 to 1987, O'Brien was a political correspondent and columnist for Knight-Ridder newspapers in Washington, D.C., where she covered the Reagan administration, United States Congress, and the 1984 political campaigns of Gary Hart and Geraldine Ferraro.[4][5] In 1987, she served as press secretary for Governor Michael Dukakis during the first half of his presidential campaign.[4]

In 1988, O'Brien was awarded a Freedom Forum Fellowship at Columbia University.[4] She was The Baltimore Sun's Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Journalism in 1989 and has also taught at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. In 1999, O'Brien and Goodman took part in the first Writers in Residence program at Harvard and Radcliffe, a semester-long program that provides the two schools with the opportunity to learn from the experience of renowned essayists, journalists, authors and poets.[4]

In 2003, O'Brien was inducted into the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications' Hall of Achievement.[4]

Author

O'Brien's early novels were mainly capers set in and around Washington, D.C. with women's friendship as a central theme. She drew inspiration from the charters of Nancy Drew and her sidekick Bess.[6] O'Brien's second non-fiction book, "I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives," also centered on female friendship; namely, the real-life friendship between O'Brien and co-author Ellen Goodman.

After publishing her first five novels under her own name, O'Brien began writing under the pseudonym Kate Alcott.[7] Her New York Times bestselling novel The Dressmaker was her first book published as Kate Alcott.[2] O'Brien published three more novels as Kate Alcott, all historical fiction.

Personal life

O'Brien and her first husband, John Koval, married in 1956. They were married for seventeen years and had four daughters together.[8]

In 1988, O'Brien married writer and Democratic political strategist Frank Mankiewicz.[9] They lived together at the Wyoming Apartments[7] in Washington, D.C. until Mankiewicz's death in 2014.[9]

O'Brien married her third husband, William Hodding Carter III, on November 9, 2019, at the Walter Lippmann House in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The met in October 2018 while they were both attending the 80th anniversary of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.[3] O'Brien had been a Nieman fellow in 1974 and Carter in 1966.[3] Carter died on May 11, 2023.[10]

Books

Fiction

As Patricia O'Brien

  • The Candidate's Wife (1992)
  • The Ladies' Lunch (1994)
  • Good Intentions (1997)
  • The Glory Cloak (2004)
  • Harriet and Isabella (2008)

As Kate Alcott

  • The Dressmaker (2012)
  • The Daring Ladies of Lowell (2014)
  • A Touch of Stardust (2015)
  • The Hollywood Daughter (2017)

Non-Fiction

  • The Woman Alone. Quadrangle (1973)
  • I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives (2000), by Patricia O'Brien and Ellen Goodman

References

  1. "Girl Talk". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  2. "https://www.wqxr.org/people/patricia-obrien/". WQXR. Retrieved 2026-06-11. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  3. Mallozzi, Vincent M. (2019-11-09). "Two Journalists Walk Into a Reunion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  4. "Patricia O'Brien '66 | Journalism and Communication". journalism.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  5. "https://www.wqxr.org/people/patricia-obrien/". WQXR. Retrieved 2026-06-11. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  6. Mason, Deborah (1994-08-28). "Daed in the Water". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  7. Bosman, Julie (2012-02-22). "Book Is Judged by the Name on Its Cover". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  8. "John Koval Obituary - Princeton, NJ (1935-2025)". Chicago Tribune. 2025-06-08. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  9. McFadden, Robert D. (2014-10-24). "Frank Mankiewicz, 90, Press Aide to Robert Kennedy and NPR Chief, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  10. McFadden, Robert D. (2023-05-12). "Hodding Carter III, Crusading Editor and Jimmy Carter Aide, Dies at 88". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-11.