Kotlowitz was raised in New York City, the son of former New York public television executive and former Harper's Magazine editor Robert Kotlowitz.[6] Kotlowitz received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and is an alumnus of the Ragdale Foundation. His first journalism job was at a small alternative weekly in Lansing, Michigan. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and two children.[citation needed]
Writing
Kotlowitz is the author of four books, including An American Summer, which was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize.[citation needed]
He has been awarded honors for his print and broadcast journalism, books, and films. His journalism honors include two Peabody Awards, two Columbia duPont Awards, an Emmy, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. In 2019, he received the Harold Washington Literary Award. He's been a Distinguished Visitor at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and is the recipient of John LaFarge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice given by New York's Catholic Interracial Council.[citation needed]
Film
Kotlowitz's documentary The Interrupters, co-produced with filmmaker Steve James, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 to widespread critical acclaim. The project was inspired by Kotlowitz's 2008 New York Times Magazine article, "Blocking the Transmission of Violence."[8][9] For the film, Kotlowitz and James received an Emmy, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature, and a Cinema Eye Award; it was selected by numerous publications, including The New Yorker and Entertainment Weekly, as one of the top ten films of 2011. In 2012, it aired on PBS's Frontline as a two-hour special.