Maria Dahvana Headley

Maria Dahvana Headley

Maria Dahvana Headley (born June 21, 1977 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American writer.

She graduated from Vallivue High School in Caldwell, Idaho, in 1995, and attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Dramatic Writing Program from 1996-2000.

Headley is married to Robert Schenkkan, a playwright and screenwriter, who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1992 for his play, The Kentucky Cycle.

A playwright herself, Headley's play Drive Me and Last of the Breed have been produced at Boise Contemporary Theater in Boise, Idaho.^[1]

Headley is a 2006 MacDowell Colony Fellow, and has attended The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The Sundance Playwright's Lab, The Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices workshop, Brave New Works, and the WordBridge Playwright's Lab. She has received awards from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (N.F.A.A), and WordSmitten Media, Inc. (WordSmitten.com), among others, and her fiction has been anthologized in Susie Bright's Best American Erotica 2005 and The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica Volume 4. She has been a featured author at Bumbershoot, Wordstock, and the Texas Book Festival.

Headley is a founding member of the Memoirists Collective, a writer's group consisting of the authors Danielle Trussoni, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, and Hillary Carlip. The Collective's stated goal is to "identify and nurture new talent in nonfiction, as well as to encourage collaborative and creative promotion".^{[citation needed]}

Queen of Kings

In early 2010, Dutton purchased Headley's debut novel Queen of Kings, which is said^{[by whom?]} to explore "the transcendent powers of love even beyond death, entwining the true story of Antony and Cleopatra and Rome's invasion of Alexandria with a narrative in which the Queen of Egypt sacrifices her soul to save her fallen husband and in return is transformed into an immortal goddess bent on the destruction of the Roman Empire".^{[citation needed]} It was purchased as part of a trilogy deal. The hardcover is slated for release in 2011.^[2][3]

The Year of Yes

In 2006, Hyperion published her memoir, The Year of Yes, an account of the year Headley spent saying yes to dates with anyone who asked her out. The Year of Yes has been optioned for the screen by Paramount Pictures and the Jinks/Cohen Company (producers of American Beauty, and Big Fish, among other films),^[4] and has been or will be translated into Korean, German, Dutch, Italian, Hebrew, and Chinese, as well as appearing in an additional English-language edition in the UK and world marketplace through HarperCollins Thorsons Element imprint.^[5] The Year of Yes is a 2006 Finalist in The Books for a Better Life Award.^[6]

The Year of Yes was released in hardcover in January 2006, and in paperback in January 2007.

References

1. ^ Atkins, Amy. "A New Breed of Playwright: Author Maria Dahvana Headley debuts play at BCT", Boise Weekly, March 19, 2008.
2. ^ http://www.mariadahvanaheadley.moonfruit.com/#/news/4540534047
3. ^ http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/cgi-bin/dealSearch.pl?v=3&deal_terms=%22queen+of+kings%22&category=&date_range=1year
4. ^ Gardner, Chris. "'Yes' men for Par pic: Jinks and Cohen will produce Headley adaptation", Variety, March 6, 2006.
5. ^ Maria Headley - HarperCollins
6. ^ "Books for a Better Life Finalists and Winners", National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Further reading

• Cheney, Matthew. "A Conversation with Maria Dahvana Headley", The Mumpsimus, December 27, 2005.
• Headley, Maria Dahvana. Author Archive: "Maria Dahvana Headley". PowellsBooks.Blog.
• Henderson, Susan. "Maria Dahvana Headley". LitPark, January 10, 2007.
• Miller, Brian. "Affirmative Action: How a local author dramatically improved her odds of finding a man", Seattle Weekly, February 16, 2006.
• Robinson, Tasha. "The Year of Yes", A.V. Club, February 8, 2006.
• Sachs, Andrea. "A Year in the Underbelly of Sex in the City", Time, February 10, 2006.

External links

• Official website
• Greetings, New World - The Year of Yes - official book website

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Name	Headley, Maria
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Date of birth	June 21, 1977
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