Mira Bartók

Mira Bartók (née Herr; born 1959) is an American author. Her memoir The Memory Palace received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir/Autobiography and her novel The Wonderling is being adapted into a film.

Early life Myra Herr was born in 1959 to mother Norma Herr. By the age of four, her father Paul Herr divorced her mother, who had begun showing signs of mental illness. As Herr grew older with her sister Rachel, Norma was diagnosed with schizophrenia and attacked her daughters consistently. By the time the girls were around 30, Herr and her sister left Norma in their hometown and changed their names and address. Until her mother's death in 2007, Bartók only communicated with her through letters sent through post office boxes. She later enrolled in the Master's of Fine Arts program at University of Massachusetts Amherst and graduated in 1998. The following year, she suffered a brain injury causing memory loss when her car was hit by a truck on the New York Thruway. As a result of the injury, she was unable to complete freelance work and nearly became homeless. She began applying for grants from arts foundations and she received enough funding to sustain her until she began to recover.

Career In 2007, Bartók and her sister were informed that their mother was dying of cancer and they returned to Cleveland to be with her. Following her mother's death, Bartók began to write her memoir but had trouble with her memory due to her previous accident. While struggling to write, she read of Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci who taught that one should use imagery to assist in their memory recall. Using this technique, she was able to pen her memoir that was soon published through Simon and Schuster in 2011.

While working on her second novel The Wonderling, she sold the rights to Fox 2000 Pictures to be developed into a film under director Stephen Daldry.

Personal life Bartók is married to Doug Plavin and they share a dog.