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Blake Bailey

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Blake Bailey
Born (1963-07-01) July 1, 1963 (age 61)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.[1]
OccupationBiographer
NationalityUnited States
SpouseMary Brinkmeyer

Blake Bailey (born July 1, 1963) is an American writer. Bailey is widely known for his literary biographies of Richard Yates, John Cheever, Charles Jackson, and Philip Roth. He is the editor of the Library of America omnibus editions of Cheever's stories and novels.

Background

Bailey grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and attended high school at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, where he was friends with another future author, Dan Fagin.[2] He was a student at Tulane University, from which he graduated in 1985.

Bailey and his family lost their house and most of their possessions in Hurricane Katrina, an experience he wrote about in a series of articles for Slate.[3]

In 2009-2010, Bailey was Writer in Residence at The College of William and Mary in Virginia.[4] From 2010-2016, he was the Mina Hohenberg Darden Professor of Creative Writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.[5] He was succeeded by Black Elk author Joe Jackson.[5] Bailey is a tennis enthusiast.[6]

Career

After college, Bailey wrote occasional freelance pieces. He taught gifted eighth-graders at Lusher Middle School in New Orleans in the 1990's. In April 2021 it was alleged by former pupils that he had later abused the trust of his former students for sex. [7]

After publishing a long critical profile of Richard Yates, Bailey contracted to write a full-length biography of the novelist, A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates (2003).

In 2005, Bailey was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on his biography, Cheever: A Life, which won the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award among other honors. Bailey also edited a two-volume edition of Cheever's work for the Library of America.

Bailey published his biography of the novelist Charles Jackson, Farther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson (2013), as well as a memoir, The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait (2014).

In an interview with The New York Times published on November 17, 2012, Philip Roth said that Bailey was his official biographer and at work on that project.[8] While Roth was alive, he gave Bailey exclusive access to papers, friends and family, and made himself available for extensive interviews.[9][10] Bailey's 880-page biography of Roth, entitled Philip Roth: The Biography, was published in the United States by W. W. Norton & Company on April 6, 2021[11] and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on April 8, 2021.

Sexual misconduct allegations

In April 2021, Bailey was dropped by his agency, the Story Factory, following allegations of sexual misconduct — allegations Bailey denies.[12][7]

In a statement provided to the Associated Press by W. W. Norton & Company, the publisher announced it had "decided to pause the shipping and promotion of Philip Roth: The Biography pending any further information that may emerge."[13]

Awards and honors

Bibliography

  • A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates. New York: Picador. 2003. ISBN 978-0-312-28721-4. OCLC 51040212.
  • Cheever: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2009. ISBN 978-1-4000-4394-1. OCLC 232980275.
  • Farther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2013. ISBN 978-0-307-27358-1. OCLC 796761402.
  • The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 2014. ISBN 978-0-393-23957-7. OCLC 866251891.
  • Philip Roth: The Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 2021. ISBN 978-0-393-24072-6. OCLC 1155082654.

As editor:

  • John Cheever: Collected Stories & Other Writings (Library of America, 2009)
  • John Cheever: Complete Novels (Library of America, 2009)
  • The Sunnier Side and Other Stories, by Charles Jackson (Vintage/Random House, 2013)

References

  1. ^ "Up Front - Blake Bailey". The New York Times. August 6, 2010.
  2. ^ Ken, Raymond (April 20, 2014). "Oklahoma City native Dan Fagin wins Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  3. ^ Bailey, Blake (September 2, 2005). "My Year of Hurricanes". Slate.
  4. ^ {{cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/as/english/writing/donaldson/past/index.php%7Ctitle = Past Writers in Residence|website = wm.edu|accessdate=April 23, 2021
  5. ^ a b "Author Blake Bailey to Depart Hohenberg Darden Chair in Creative Writing". odu.edu. March 17, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  6. ^ Garner, Dwight (July 27, 2007). "Stray Questions for: Blake Bailey". The New York Times.
  7. ^ a b Vargas, Ramon Antonio (20 April 2021). "Ex-Lusher teacher Blake Bailey accused of abusing ex-students' trust for sex; denies illegal conduct". The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  8. ^ McGrath, Charles (November 17, 2012). "Goodbye, Frustration: Pen Put Aside, Roth Talks". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Bonanos, Christopher (May 29, 2018). "Philip Roth's Biographer Has a Hair-raising Claire Bloom Story to Share". Vulture. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  10. ^ "Blake Bailey Online – Bio". blakebaileyonline.com. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  11. ^ Italie, Hillel. "Blake Bailey's 880-page Philip Roth bio to arrive in April". Associated Press. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  12. ^ D'Zurilla, Christie (20 April 2021). "Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey dropped by agent over 'grooming' allegations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Publisher pauses release of new Philip Roth biography". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  14. ^ Latus, Janine (November 2011). "Precisely, A world-class literary biographer". Distinction.[dead link]
  15. ^ "National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for Publishing Year 2014". National Book Critics Circle. January 19, 2015. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.

External links

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