John Pollack is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...

 whose past occupations include Presidential Speechwriter

Speechwriter

A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are used by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors.-Skills and training:...

, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, foreign correspondent

Foreign correspondent

Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...

, and strolling violinist. In 1995, Pollack won the 18th Annual O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships. Pollack is known for building the Cork Boat

Cork Boat (vessel)

Cork Boat is a vessel designed and built by American speechwriter John Pollack and his partner Garth Goldstein. The ship, composed of exactly 165,321 wine corks, took over two years to complete. Over 100 volunteers contributed to the project, and Pollack received numerous donations of materials for...

, a vessel built from 165,321 wine corks, and his 2004 memoir of the same title.

Early life

Born in Ann Arbor, Pollack attended public schools and graduated from Ann Arbor Huron High School, where he lettered in cross country, track and wrestling. In 1988. he graduated with distinction from Stanford University with an AB in American Studies.

Professional life

Pollack began his career as a journalist at The Hartford Courant, and later spent several years in Spain as a foreign correspondent, freelancing for American media and eventually going to work for the Associated Press in its Madrid bureau. On his return to the United States, he went to work on the U.S. Senate campaign of his mother, Lana Pollack, and later for the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village. Eventually, he moved to Washington, DC where he became a speechwriter for the Democratic Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, David E. Bonior

David E. Bonior

David Edward Bonior is an American politician from the US state of Michigan. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, Bonior served as Democratic whip in the House from 1991 to 2002, during which time Democrats were in both the majority and minority , making Bonior the third...

, and later for President Bill Clinton at The White House. He is the author of three books -- The World On a String (1997), Cork Boat (2004), and The Pun Also Rises (April, 2011).

The Cork Boat

One of Pollack's notable projects was his 30-year quest to build what became The Cork Boat, a 22-foot Viking ship made almost entirely of wine corks, which he and his boat-building partner Garth Goldstein eventually took down the Douro River in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. The boat and the journey, made possible through the help of hundreds of volunteers, received significant media attention in Portugal. In 2004, Pollack wrote a memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

 of the experience entitled Cork Boat

Cork Boat (book)

Cork Boat is a memoir, first published in 2004, written by American author John Pollack. It is a first-person account of his experience designing and building the Cork Boat, a vessel made of exactly 165,321 wine corks....

.