Paul beatty literary agent

Paul Beatty is a poet, author, and editor.

A regular presence on the early slam poetry scene at the Nuyorican Poet's Café, Beatty is the author of two volumes of poetry, Big Bank Take Little Bank (1991), selected by the Village Voice as one of the best books of 1991; and Joker, Joker, Deuce (1994). His first novel, FCPA-supported The White Boy Shuffle (2001), is a multicultural epic and coming-of-age story that satirically tackles issues of race, gender, and sexuality. His other two novels, Slumberland (2009) and Tuff (2011), similarly explore the African-American urban experience.

Beatty's fourth novel, The Sellout (2015) was named the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Beatty is also the editor of Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor (2006). He received an M.A. in Psychology from Boston University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College, where he studied with Allen Ginsberg.

1Paul Beatty was born in Los Angeles in 1962. He likes to be called a Black rather than an African-American writer (see following interview). A poet and novelist, he published two poetry collections and four novels, including Slumberland, which was translated into French under the same title in 2009 and White Boy Shuffle, his first novel, published in the USA in 1996, translated into French and published under the title American Prophet in 2013. Both books received excellent reviews in France. On July 17, 2013, Paul Beatty gave us an interview in the Lower East Side of New York where he has been living for more than 25 years, an opportunity to have him talk about his work, his relation to critical language, African-American writers and scholars, the election of Obama, his experience with slam, his stays in Germany as a sponsored writer and much more.

Frédéric Sylvanise: The White Boy Shuffle takes place in L.A. mainly, in Boston also, and back in L.A. You were born in L.A. yourself. Can you tell me just a few words about this?

Paul Beatty: I was born in L.A.

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