D.B.C. Pierre
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D.B.C. Pierre (born 1961 in Australia) is a writer.
Born Peter Warren Finlay, the "DBC" part of his nom-de-plume (normally so written, without punctuation) stands for "Dirty But Clean".
Pierre was awarded the Booker Prize for fiction on 14 October 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little. He is the third Australian to be so honored, although he has told the British press that he prefers to consider himself a Mexican.
He was brought up in Mexico City in the bosom of a wealthy family. He enjoyed a comfortable and privileged childhood, but his situation took a turn for the worse when his father fell ill in his sixteenth year and, shortly afterwards, President José López Portillo issued a decree nationalizing the country's banking system. Pierre has called this event, which cost his family its fortune, "the beginning of his problems".
Of the ensuing years, by his own admission, nine were spent in a drug-induced haze. He was involved in schemes of dubious legality and scanter profitability, including one aimed at locating the lost gold of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma. He has also confessed to once selling a house on behalf of his best friend, but then neglecting to hand over the proceeds in order to finance his drug habit.
For most of the 1990s, he lived as a recluse – in his own words, "repolarizing and deconstructing himself" while listening to Russian orchestral music. He found work as a graphic designer and, in 2000, relocated to Ireland, where he edited his debut novel.
The Booker Prize comes with a monetary award of GBP 50,000. Upon being notified of his victory, Pierre said that the money would go one third of the way toward paying off his debts.
Published works
- Vernon God Little (2003)
Quotations
- Freak, dickhead, arsehole, dumb, farting machine, awkward and bumbling. – DBC Pierre describing himself the day after winning the Booker Prize. [1] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1063775,00.html)
- Mexico, with its contrasts, its crushing poverty and sparkling wealth, its institutionalised corruption and cultural wisdom, its love of life and its embracing of death, undoubtedly set me on a path toward the deep end, philosophically and emotionally speaking. – DBC Pierre. [2] (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?userid=QC74vZHBNS&cid=1186054#bio)
External links
- How did I get here? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1063775,00.html) – article on DBC Pierre (The Guardian)
- Strong first impression (http://www.powells.com/authors/pierre.html) – interview with DBC Pierre (Powell's City of Books)da:DBC Pierre