Tom Perrotta
Encyclopedia
Thomas R. Perrotta is an Albanian-American
/ Italian-American novelist and screenwriter
best known for his novels Election
(1998) and Little Children
(2004), both of which were made into critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated films. Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film version
of Little Children with Todd Field
, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay
.
, the son of a postman and a secretary, and was raised Roman Catholic
. Perrotta grew up a voracious reader of authors such as O. Henry
, J. R. R. Tolkien
, and John Irving
, and decided early in his life that he wanted to be a writer. He was involved in his high school literary magazine, Pariah, for which he wrote several short stories. Perrotta is deathly allergic to shellfish. Perrotta earned a B.A.
in English
from Yale University
in 1983, and then received an M.A.
in English/Creative Writing from Syracuse University
. While at Syracuse, Perrotta was a pupil of Tobias Wolff
, whom Perrotta later praised for his "comic writing and moral seriousness."
Perrotta married the writer in Mary Granfield 1991. They live with their three children, Nina (b. 1994),Walter (b. 1996) and Luke (b. 1997), in Boston, Massachusetts.
, the story of an intense high-school election inspired by the three-candidate 1992 United States presidential race
, and another was Lucky Winners, which remains unpublished as of 2007 and which Perrotta described in 2004 as "a pretty good novel about a family that falls apart after winning the lottery." In 1994, Perrotta published his first book, a collection of short stories titled Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies which The Washington Post
called "more powerful than any other coming-of-age novel." The same year, Perrotta left Yale and began teaching expository writing at Harvard University
. In 1997 he published The Wishbones, his first novel, which Perrotta has said is basically "about my high school years." The unpublished manuscript of Election was optioned as a screenplay in 1996 by director Alexander Payne
, which then led to interest in publishing it as a book. It arrived in bookstores in March 1998, followed shortly by its film adaptation
, which was released in April 1999 to critical acclaim. The film, which starred Matthew Broderick
and Reese Witherspoon
, helped popularize Perrotta as an author.
Following Election, Perrotta shifted his focus to an older—though just as troubled—cast of characters: first with 2000's Joe College, a comic journey into the dark side of higher education, love, and food service (which the author says is about his college years); and then with 2004's Little Children
, which explored the psychological and romantic depths beneath the surface of suburb
ia.
Bad Haircut was Perrotta's "breakout book," featured on numerous "Best Books of 2004" lists—including those of The New York Times Book Review
, Newsweek
, National Public Radio, and People
magazine—and garnering tremendous praise for Perrotta. The New York Times
dubbed him "an American Chekhov
whose characters even at their most ridiculous seem blessed and ennobled by a luminous human aura," and People called him "the rare writer equally gifted at drawing people's emotional maps...and creating sidesplitting scenes." For his part, Perrotta describes himself as a writer in the "plain-language American tradition" of authors such as Ernest Hemingway
and Raymond Carver
.
In 2006, Perrotta sold New Line Cinema
an original screenplay he co-wrote with Frasier
producer Rob Greenberg
. Titled Barry and Stan Gone Wild, the screenplay is "a shameless comedy [about] a 40-something dermatologist who goes on spring break." In January 2007, Perrotta was on the guest faculty for the third annual Writers in Paradise conference at Eckerd College
in St. Petersburg, Florida
. Perrotta was invited to teach at Eckerd College
by Dennis Lehane
; the two writers had previously taught together at Stonecoast Writers Conference in Maine
.
Perrotta's novel, The Abstinence Teacher
, was published on October 16, 2007. It is, according to the author, "all about sex education and the culture war
s. It's close in spirit to Little Children, I think." It was chosen by the New York Times as a 2007 Notable Book of the Year. As of October 2007, he was working on a film adaptation of the book with Little Miss Sunshine
directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
.
In 2010, 30,000 copies of his short story "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" were distributed as part of the Boston Book Festival
's "One City, One Story" project.
Albanian-American
Albanian Americans are United States citizens of full or partial Albanian ancestry. Although according to data from a 2008 Survey of the United States Government, there are 201,118 Americans of full or partial Albanian descent.-Emigration History:...
/ Italian-American novelist and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
best known for his novels Election
Election (1998 novel)
Election is a 1998 novel by Tom Perrotta. It is a black comedy about a high school history teacher who attempts to sabotage a manipulative, overly-ambitious girl's campaign to become school president...
(1998) and Little Children
Little Children (novel)
Little Children is a 2004 novel by American author Tom Perrotta that interweaves the darkly comedic stories of seven main characters, all of whom live in the same suburban Boston neighborhood during the middle of a hot summer...
(2004), both of which were made into critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated films. Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film version
Little Children (film)
Little Children is a 2006 American drama film directed by Todd Field. It is based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, who along with Field wrote the screenplay. It stars Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, Noah Emmerich, Gregg Edelman, Phyllis Somerville...
of Little Children with Todd Field
Todd Field
William Todd Field, known professionally as Todd Field is an American actor and writer/director. He has received three Academy Award nominations.-Background and personal life:...
, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.
Biography
Perrotta was born in Garwood, New JerseyGarwood, New Jersey
Garwood is a borough in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,226.Garwood was incorporated as a borough on March 19, 1903, from portions of Cranford Township and Westfield Town....
, the son of a postman and a secretary, and was raised Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. Perrotta grew up a voracious reader of authors such as O. Henry
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
, J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, and John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
, and decided early in his life that he wanted to be a writer. He was involved in his high school literary magazine, Pariah, for which he wrote several short stories. Perrotta is deathly allergic to shellfish. Perrotta earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1983, and then received an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in English/Creative Writing from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
. While at Syracuse, Perrotta was a pupil of Tobias Wolff
Tobias Wolff
Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is an American author. He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life , and his short stories. He has also written two novels.-Biography:Wolff was born in 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama...
, whom Perrotta later praised for his "comic writing and moral seriousness."
Perrotta married the writer in Mary Granfield 1991. They live with their three children, Nina (b. 1994),Walter (b. 1996) and Luke (b. 1997), in Boston, Massachusetts.
Career
While teaching Creative Writing at Harvard, Perrotta completed three novels that he had trouble getting published. One was ElectionElection (1998 novel)
Election is a 1998 novel by Tom Perrotta. It is a black comedy about a high school history teacher who attempts to sabotage a manipulative, overly-ambitious girl's campaign to become school president...
, the story of an intense high-school election inspired by the three-candidate 1992 United States presidential race
United States presidential election, 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....
, and another was Lucky Winners, which remains unpublished as of 2007 and which Perrotta described in 2004 as "a pretty good novel about a family that falls apart after winning the lottery." In 1994, Perrotta published his first book, a collection of short stories titled Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies which The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
called "more powerful than any other coming-of-age novel." The same year, Perrotta left Yale and began teaching expository writing at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. In 1997 he published The Wishbones, his first novel, which Perrotta has said is basically "about my high school years." The unpublished manuscript of Election was optioned as a screenplay in 1996 by director Alexander Payne
Alexander Payne
Alexander Payne, born Alexander Constantine Papadopoulos is an American film director and screenwriter. His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society.- Early life :...
, which then led to interest in publishing it as a book. It arrived in bookstores in March 1998, followed shortly by its film adaptation
Election (1999 film)
Election is a 1999 American comedy film adapted from a 1998 novel of the same title by Tom Perrotta. The plot revolves around a three-way election race in high school, and satirizes both suburban high school life and politics...
, which was released in April 1999 to critical acclaim. The film, which starred Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
and Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
, helped popularize Perrotta as an author.
Following Election, Perrotta shifted his focus to an older—though just as troubled—cast of characters: first with 2000's Joe College, a comic journey into the dark side of higher education, love, and food service (which the author says is about his college years); and then with 2004's Little Children
Little Children (novel)
Little Children is a 2004 novel by American author Tom Perrotta that interweaves the darkly comedic stories of seven main characters, all of whom live in the same suburban Boston neighborhood during the middle of a hot summer...
, which explored the psychological and romantic depths beneath the surface of suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
ia.
Bad Haircut was Perrotta's "breakout book," featured on numerous "Best Books of 2004" lists—including those of The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, National Public Radio, and People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine—and garnering tremendous praise for Perrotta. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
dubbed him "an American Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
whose characters even at their most ridiculous seem blessed and ennobled by a luminous human aura," and People called him "the rare writer equally gifted at drawing people's emotional maps...and creating sidesplitting scenes." For his part, Perrotta describes himself as a writer in the "plain-language American tradition" of authors such as Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
and Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver
Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century and also a major force in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s....
.
In 2006, Perrotta sold New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
an original screenplay he co-wrote with Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
producer Rob Greenberg
Rob Greenberg
-Producing:*How I Met Your Mother*Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal*Ex Men*Spellbound*Harry's Girl*Bad Haircut*Frasier*Fly by Night-Writing:*Meet Dave *Spellbound...
. Titled Barry and Stan Gone Wild, the screenplay is "a shameless comedy [about] a 40-something dermatologist who goes on spring break." In January 2007, Perrotta was on the guest faculty for the third annual Writers in Paradise conference at Eckerd College
Eckerd College
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...
in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
. Perrotta was invited to teach at Eckerd College
Eckerd College
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...
by Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy...
; the two writers had previously taught together at Stonecoast Writers Conference in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
Perrotta's novel, The Abstinence Teacher
The Abstinence Teacher
The Abstinence Teacher is a 2007 novel by American author Tom Perrotta. It tells the story of Ruth Ramsey, a divorced sexual education teacher who lives in suburban New Jersey and comes into conflict with the town's conservative population...
, was published on October 16, 2007. It is, according to the author, "all about sex education and the culture war
Culture war
The culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal...
s. It's close in spirit to Little Children, I think." It was chosen by the New York Times as a 2007 Notable Book of the Year. As of October 2007, he was working on a film adaptation of the book with Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...
directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are a team of American music video directors, also husband and wife, that received critical acclaim for their feature film directorial debut, Little Miss Sunshine....
.
In 2010, 30,000 copies of his short story "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" were distributed as part of the Boston Book Festival
Boston book festival
The Boston Book Festival is an independent non-profit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the name of its main event. The non-profit was founded in 2009 by Deborah Z...
's "One City, One Story" project.
Novels
- The Wishbones (1997)
- ElectionElection (1998 novel)Election is a 1998 novel by Tom Perrotta. It is a black comedy about a high school history teacher who attempts to sabotage a manipulative, overly-ambitious girl's campaign to become school president...
(1998) - Joe College (2000)
- Little ChildrenLittle Children (novel)Little Children is a 2004 novel by American author Tom Perrotta that interweaves the darkly comedic stories of seven main characters, all of whom live in the same suburban Boston neighborhood during the middle of a hot summer...
(2004) - The Abstinence TeacherThe Abstinence TeacherThe Abstinence Teacher is a 2007 novel by American author Tom Perrotta. It tells the story of Ruth Ramsey, a divorced sexual education teacher who lives in suburban New Jersey and comes into conflict with the town's conservative population...
(2007) - The Leftovers (2011)
Short stories
- "The Weiner Man" (1988)
- "Wild Kingdom" (1988)
- "Forgiveness" (1989–1994)
- "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" (2004)
- "Kiddie Pool" (2006)
Essays
- The Squeamish American (2007)
External links
- Official Web Site
- Audio: Tom Perrotta in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The ForumThe Forum (BBC World Service)The Forum is the BBC World Service's flagship discussion programme. It brings together prominent thinkers from different disciplines and different parts of the world to try and create stimulating discussion, informed by highly distinct academic, artistic and cultural backgrounds.-Format:Each...