Victor LaValle

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name = Victor LaValle


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birthdate = 1972
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occupation = Author
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Victor LaValle (born February 3, 1972) is an American author who was raised in the Flushing and Rosedale neighborhoods of Queens, New York. He is the author of a short-story collection, Slapboxing with Jesus and a novel, The Ecstatic. LaValle writes fiction primarily, though he has also written essays and book reviews for GQ, Essence Magazine, The Fader, and The Washington Post, among others.

"Slapboxing with Jesus" was published in 1999 by Vintage Books. The eleven interconnected stories deal mostly with the lives of young black and Latino men living in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. The collection went on to receive wide critical praise. It won the author a PEN/Open Book Award and the Key to Jamaica, Queens.

"The Ecstatic" was published in 2002 by Crown Publishing Group. The novel continues the story of Anthony James, a character from LaValle's collection of stories. Anthony is a morbidly obese college dropout who may also be experiencing the first signs of schizophrenia. The novel follows the exploits of his family, who are trying their best to save Anthony, but who might be in need of a little saving themselves. The subject matter is dark, and even shocking, but a gallows humor runs throughout. This book received even wider critical acclaim, earning comparisons to writers such as Ken Kesey, Chester Himes, and John Kennedy Toole. In 2003 the novel was a finalist for both the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award.

LaValle graduated with a degree in English from Cornell University and a Master of Fine Arts Program of Creative Writing at Columbia University.

He has been the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College in Oakland, California and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Columbia University.

Awards & Nominations

* 2006 United States Artists Ford Fellowship
* 2004 Whiting Writers' Award
* 2003 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, Finalist ("The Ecstatic")
* 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award, Finalist ("The Ecstatic")
* 2002 PEN/Open Book Award, Winner ("Slapboxing with Jesus")
* 2000 Breadloaf Writer's Fellowship
* 1998 Fine Arts Work Center, Fiction Fellow

External links

* [http://media.www.fsunews.com/media/storage/paper920/news/2003/01/06/ArtsAndEntertainment/From-Fat.To.Phat.An.Authors.Journey-2363260.shtml Profile of Victor LaValle.]
* [http://www.nerve.com/personalEssays/LaValle/bigTime/ Personal essay about LaValle's sexual adventures as an obese man.]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/02/06/RV15969.DTL Review of "Slapboxing with Jesus".]
* [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A180982 Review of "The Ecstatic".]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63756-2004Sep30.html LaValle reviews two story collections for Washington Post.]
* [http://www.hobartpulp.com/website/october/NarrativeVoice.pdf Extensive interview about "Narrative Voice" and writing craft.]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5613311 Victor LaValle discusses Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe.]
* [http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/Public/EncounterUSAFellows/index.cfm United States Artists Videos]