JT Leroy
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JT Leroy (JT LeRoy, Terminator), a young American author, has written two novels, Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above all Things'' and the novella Harold's End illustrated by Australian artist Cherry Hood. He is currently working on a third novel to be released by Viking Press later this year.
Few hard facts are known about the enigmatic author. He credits his writing to Dr. Terence Owens at the McAuley Institute who encouraged JT to write in-between sessions to maintain continuity of thought and convinced by Dr. Owens that these accounts would help to train a class of prospective social workers. These writings eventually made their way into the collection of short stories Close to the Bone: Memories of Hurt, Rage and Desire (1998). Leroy is notoriously camera-shy and often, perhaps borrowing a page from artist Andy Warhol, sporting a wig and / or glasses when in public. He avoids the media, but it is said that he appreciates his fans, and e-mails them whenever he can.
JT has written for such magazines as 7x7, Zeotrope, McSweeney's, and the online magazine Memorious and newspapers ranging from The New York Times and The London Times to Spin, Vogue and Interview. His work has also appeared in such anthologies as The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003, MTV's Lit Riffs, XXX, Nadav Kander's Beauty's Nothing, and The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes. Leroy wrote the original screenplay for Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003) and is listed as the films Associate Producer. He also wrote the liner notes for Billy Corgan's book of poetry, Blinking With Fists.
The Heart is Deceitful Above all Things was made into film in 2004, directed by Asia Argento, who also starred in the adaptation. It has since been picked up by Palm Pictures and is slated to be released later this year. The film version of Sarah is currently being written by screenwriter Jeffery Hatcher for Secretary (2002) director Stephen Shainberg. JT is also slated to write the screenplay for Jean-Claude Schlim's House of Boys with Bob Graham, currently in pre-production
JT Leroy entered into an email relationship with Garbage singer Shirley Manson in early 2001 after she mentioned reading his book Sarah on her online journal @ Garbage.com. He sent her a manuscript for The Heart Is... and they became friends. At the time Manson was writing and recording the band's third album, what would become BeautifulGarbage and wrote a song loosely based on JT called 'Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)'. Although the song was never released in the US, it was a top ten smash in Australia. Manson and JT never actually met until December 2001 when JT attended a live performance of the band. Shirley Manson later name-checked JT in the title song from the band's fourth effort Bleed Like Me.
JT Leroy lives in San Francisco with Speedie and Astor, members of the rock band Thistle LLC for whom he writes the lyrics.
Sarah First published in America in June 9, 2001 by Bloomsbury. The novel follows 12-year-old Cherry, a boy who wants to be the most famous lot lizard.
The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things Published in America in June 1, 2002 by Bloomsbury. The novel consists of a collection of short stories that focus on the early life of young Jeremiah and his truck stop prostitute mother, Sarah. The novel, semi-autobiographical, tells the tale of a 12-year-old boy very much like Leroy. He grows jealous of the beauty of his mother, and passes himself off as a female "lot lizard" (a prostitute at a truck stop) in order to gain fame from the pimp who runs a truck-stop brothel in West Virgnia, filled entirely with young boys dressed as women. The story itself has many of the elements of The Heart..., but it has much more humor, farcical in its account of Leroy's quest, naming himself Sarah after his mother, to become the greatest "lizard" in the brothel. Much as in his previous work, he comes into bad times and faces expliotation and abuse at the hands of another pimp. Suprisingly less dark than the short story collection, the novel has a distinct mythical/Dickensian feel and relates a story of love of a child's mother, expressed through his imitation of her.
Harold's End Published by Last Gasp in January 30, 2005. The novella follows on a young heroin addict, Oliver and his pet snail, Harold, who is befriended by Larry, an older man with an unusual turn-on.
External links
- JT Leroy's official website (http://www.jtleroy.com/)
- Thistle official site (http://www.thistlehq.com/)
- The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things film official site (http://www.theheartmovie.com/)
- The McAuley Institute at St. Mary's Medical Center (http://www.stmarysmedicalcenter.org/stellent/websites/get_page_cache.asp?ssDocName=048684/)