Here are 7 Author Shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an author whose work you’ve not yet read.
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This Week’s Author Shoutouts:
Laurell K. Hamilton
An Author Shoutout to Laurell K. Hamilton, born in Heber Springs, Alabama, who deserves recognition as an esteemed author. Her notable works revolve around the character Anita Blake, a necromancer, animist, vampire hunter, and advisor to law enforcement in matters involving the supernatural. Additionally, Hamilton has penned the captivating Merry Gentry series, which depicts a faerie princess residing in the real world and working as a private investigator.
Some readers have been alienated by the shift in her writing style from dark crime thriller to supernatural erotica, but her works continue to enjoy immense popularity. Presently, she resides in close proximity to St. Louis, Missouri.
Richard Matheson
An Author Shoutout to Richard Matheson, born in Allendale, New Jersey. His notable literary contributions include renowned works like I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, and What Dreams May Come. In addition to his written works, Matheson also made notable contributions to television, such as writing the Star Trek episode The Enemy Within and several episodes of The Twilight Zone, including the fan-favorite Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.
He was honored with lifetime achievement accolades by both the World Fantasy Convention and the Horror Writers Association. Additionally, he was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010. His demise occurred in 2013 when he was 87 years old.
Chuck Palahniuk
Novelist and essayist Chuck Palahniuk, hailing from Pasco, Washington, deserves an Author Shoutout. Although often categorized as a horror writer, he prefers to describe his works, particularly his early ones, as transgressional fiction. Notably, his renowned creation, Fight Club (the novel that inspired the film), was conceived as a response to his publisher’s rejection of a previous book due to its deemed excessive unsettling nature.
He intentionally crafted Fight Club to be even more unsettling, and was taken aback when the publisher consented to publishing it.
Edna St. Vincent Millay
An Author Shoutout to poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, born in Rockland, Maine, who deserves recognition. At a young age, she gained fame by writing the poem Renascence for a contest, even though it only placed 4th despite being clearly superior. Millay, an early feminist, fearlessly incorporated images of female sexuality in her works and openly embraced her own bisexuality.
The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver, which she authored, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Additionally, she was honored with the Frost Medal in 1943 for her significant contributions to American poetry. Sadly, she passed away from a heart attack at the age of 58 in 1950.
W.E.B. Du Bois
An Author Shoutout to W. E. B. Du Bois, born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, who deserves recognition as an exceptional figure. He played a vital role as a black leader and civil rights activist, co-founding the NAACP. Du Bois not only actively fought for civil rights but also left a significant literary legacy. His notable works include The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of essays that greatly influenced African American literature, and his novel Black Reconstruction in America, published in 1935, which challenged the prevailing notion that blacks were solely responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction Era.
His autobiography titled Dusk of Dawn, published in 1940, is widely considered as an early scientific treatise in the realm of American sociology. In addition to this seminal work, he authored two more autobiographies that incorporated insightful essays touching on sociology, politics, and history. His passing occurred in 1963, when he was 95 years old.
Laila Lalami
An Author Shoutout to Laila Lalami, originally from Rabat, Morocco, who relocated to the US in 1992. She obtained a PhD in linguistics from the University of Southern California. Her novel, The Moor’s Account, received recognition as it was longlisted for the Man Booker Award in 2015 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book also won the Langum Prize for Historical Fiction and the American Book Award. Furthermore, her 2019 publication, The Other Americans, achieved success by becoming a bestseller according to the Los Angeles Times and being a finalist for the National Book Award. Lalami was honored with the Joyce Carol Oates Prize for this work.
She has had her essays and criticism published in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the New York Times.
Anthony Burgess
An Author Shoutout to novelist Anthony Burgess, born in Manchester, England, who is renowned for his dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange. In addition to this notable work, Burgess authored more than 30 novels and wrote numerous librettos and screenplays, including Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth mini-series. He also distinguished himself as a literary critic and linguist, translating adaptations of Cyrano de Bergerac and Oedipus, the King. Burgess’s linguistic expertise is evident in his creation of distinctive language styles, such as the hooligan slang in A Clockwork Orange and the prehistoric language in Quest for Fire.
Despite his numerous accomplishments, his true desire was to be recognized as a composer, having created more than 250 musical compositions. He passed away at the age of 76 in 1993.
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