Tama Janowitz

Tama Janowitz

Tama Janowitz (born April 12, 1957 San Francisco, California) is an American novelist and a short story writer.^[1] She is often referenced as one of the main "brat pack" authors, along with Bret Easton Ellis, Mark Lindquist and Jay McInerney.^[2]

Life

Her parents, a psychiatrist father, Julian Janowitz, and literature professor mother, Phyllis Janowitz, divorced when she was ten. She grew up with her mother in Massachusetts.^[3]

She graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in 1977, and from Hollins College with a M.A. in 1979.^[4]

She studied at the Columbia University School of the Arts and started writing about life in New York City, where she had settled down. She socialized with Andy Warhol^[5] and became well known in New York's literary and social circles. Her 1986 collection of short stories, Slaves of New York brought her wider fame.^[5] Slaves of New York was adapted into a 1989 film directed by James Ivory and starring Bernadette Peters. Janowitz wrote the screenplay and also appeared, playing Peters' friend.

Janowitz has published seven novels, one collection of stories and one work of non-fiction. She lived in Brooklyn with her husband, Tim Hunt, and their daughter.^[6] She lives in Ithaca, New York.^[7]

Awards

• 1975 Bread Loaf Writers fellowship
• 1976; 1977 Janoway Fiction prize
• 1982 National Endowment award ^[8]

Fiction

• American Dad, Crown, 1981, ISBN 978-0-517-56573-5; Picador, 1988, ISBN 9780330302678
• Slaves of New York Crown Publishers, 1986, ISBN 978-0-517-56107-2
• A Cannibal in Manhattan Washington Square Press, July 1988, ISBN 978-0-671-66598-2
• The Male Cross-Dresser Support Group, Crown Publishers, 1992, ISBN 978-0-517-58698-3; Simon and Schuster, 1994, ISBN 978-0-671-87150-5
• By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee Crown Publishers, 1996, ISBN 978-0-517-70298-7
• A Certain Age Doubleday, 1999; Anchor Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0-385-49611-7
• Hear that?, Illustrator Tracy Dockray, SeaStar Books, 2001, ISBN 978-1-58717-074-4
• Peyton Amberg, Bloomsbury, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7475-6138-5; Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 978-0-312-31845-1
• They Is Us, The Friday Project Limited, 2008, ISBN 9781906321123

Nonfiction

• Janowitz, Tama (November 12, 2007). "The Real Thing". The New York Times.
• Area Code 212, Bloomsbury, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7475-5828-6; Macmillan, 2005, ISBN 978-0-312-32063-8
• Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction; Dey Street Books, 19 April 2016 (ISBN 978-0062391322)^[9]

References

1. JRank - biography
2. Wyatt, Edward (August 7, 2005). "Bret Easton Ellis: The Man in the Mirror". New York Times.
3. "She'll Take Manhattan", New York Magazine, July 14, 1986
4. "Tama Janowitz Biography". Biography.jrank.org. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
5. Random House - author profile
6. Grigoriadis, Vanessa (1999-08-09). "Tama Janowitz, Unchained". Nymag.com. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
7. Batya Ungar-Sargon (October 10, 2013). "Something Really Bad Is Always Happening to Former Literary ‘It Girl’ Tama Janowitz". Tablet Magazine.
8. "Tama Janowitz Biography". Biography.jrank.org. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
9. http://www.harpercollins.com/9780062391339/scream

External links

• "My Lunch with Tama", Random House Bold Type, 08 1999, Laura L. Buchwald
• "She'll Take Manhattan", New York Magazine, July 14, 1986
• Audio Interview with Tama Janowitz