Barry Gifford (born October 18, 1946) is an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and prose influenced by

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...

and

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

writers. Gifford is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two star-crossed protagonists on a perpetual

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by ...

. Published in seven novels between 1990 and 2015, the Sailor and Lula series has been described by Professor

Andrei Codrescu Andrei Codrescu (; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film ''Road Scholar'' and the Ovid Prize for ...

as written in "a great comic realist" style that explores "an unmistakably American universe ..populated by a huge and lovable humanity propelled on a tragic river of excess energy." The first book of the series, '' Wild at Heart'', was adapted by director

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the original screenplay for '' Lost Highway'' (1997) with Lynch. ''Perdita Durango'', the third book in the Sailor and Lula series, was adapted into a 1997 film by Alex de la Iglesia with a script co-written by Gifford. His most recent book, ''Black Sun Rising / La Corazonado'', published by

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpo ...

in 2020, is a Western noir novella that traces the struggle of the first integrated Native American tribe to establish itself in North America. Gifford also writes nonfiction and poetry.

Life and career

Gifford was born in a Chicago hotel room in 1946. His father was Jewish and his mother of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

background. Gifford's father was in organized crime, and he spent his childhood largely in Chicago and New Orleans living in hotels. His childhood, as recounted in his long-running series of autobiographical tales known collectively as the Roy stories, is explored in the 2020 documentary
Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago
'. After college he joined the

Air Force Reserves The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commiss ...

. After a short stint pursuing a possible career in baseball, Gifford focused on writing, both as a journalist and a poet. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gifford's fourth novel, '' Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula'', caught the eye of director David Lynch, who adapted it into the screenplay and movie '' Wild at Heart''. The movie won the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

, the highest honor, at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

in 1990. The film's success boosted interest in Gifford's novels.

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''The Blood of the Parade'' (1967) * ''Coyote Tantras'' (1973) * ''Persimmons: Poems for Paintings'' (1976) * ''The Boy You Have Always Loved'' (1976) * ''A Quinzaine in Return for a Portrait of Mary Sun'' (1977) * ''Lives of the French Impressionist Painters'' (1978) * ''Horse Hauling Timber out of Hokkaido Forest'' (1979) * ''Beautiful Phantoms: Selected Poems 1968–1980'' (1981) * ''Giotto's Circle'' (1987) * ''Ghosts No Horse Can Carry: Collected Poems 1967–1987'' (1989) * ''Flaubert at Key West'' (1994) * ''Replies to Wang Wei'' * ''Imagining Paradise: New and Selected Poems'' (2012) * ''New York, 1960'' (2016)

Essays and short stories

* ''A Boy's Novel'' (1973) * ''Kerouac's Town, photographs by Marshall Clements'' (1973) * ''Francis Goes to the Seashore'' (1982) * ''The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Other Unforgettable Films'' (1988) * ''New Mysteries of Paris'' (1991) * ''Night People'' (1992) * ''American Falls: The Collected Short Stories'' * ''Do the Blind Dream?'' (2005) * ''The Roy Stories'' (2013) * ''The Cuban Club'' (2017) * ''Roy's World'' (2020)

Non-fiction

* ''Jack's Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac'', with Lawrence Lee (1978) * ''Saroyan: A Biography'', with Lawrence Lee (1984) * ''Day at the Races: The Education of a Racetracker'' * ''The Devil Thumbs a Ride & Other Unforgettable Films'' * ''The Neighborhood of Baseball: A Personal History of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

'' * ''Really the Blues (introduction)'' * ''The Phantom Father: A Memoir'' * ''Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir''

Novels and novellas

* ''Landscape With Traveler: The Pillow Book of Francis Reeves'' (1980) * ''Port Tropique'' (1980) * ''Unfortunate Woman'' (1983) * '' Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula'' (1990) – Part 1 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''Sailor's Holiday: The Wild Life of Sailor and Lula'' (1991) – Part 2 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango'' (1992) – Part 3 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''A Good Man to Know: A Semi-Documentary Fictional Memoir'' (1992) * ''Arise and Walk'' (1995) * ''Baby Cat-Face'' (1995) – Sailor and Lula make a brief appearance * ''Sultans of Africa'' – Part 4 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''Consuelo's Kiss'' – Part 5 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''The Sinaloa Story'' (1998) * ''Wyoming'' (2000) * ''Bad Day for the Leopard Man'' – Part 6 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''The Stars Above Veracruz'' (2006) * ''Imagination of the Heart'' (2007) – Part 7 in the Sailor and Lula series * ''Memories from a Sinking Ship'' (2007) - Winner of the 2007

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include ''Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

Foundation Award for Fiction * ''Sailor & Lula: The Complete Novels'' (2010) * ''Sad Stories of the Death of Kings'' (2010) * ''The Up-Down'' (2015) - A coda to the Sailor and Lula stories, documenting the last 25 years in the life of their adult son, Pace Roscoe Ripley * ''Sailor & Lula, Expanded Edition'' (2019) * ''Black Sun Rising / La Corazonado'' (2020)

Graphic novels

* ''Perdita Durango'' (1995)

Other works

*''Read 'em and Weep'' *''Back in America'' *''Bordertown'' (2002) *''My Last Martini'' *''The Rooster Trapped in the Reptile Room: A Barry Gifford Reader'' *''Rosa Blanca'' *''Hotel Room Trilogy'' *''

Immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

'' (co-writer)

Filmography

*'' Wild at Heart'' (novel only) (1990) *''

Hotel Room A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

'' (screenplay, episodes "Blackout" and "Tricks") (1993) *'' Lost Highway'' (screenplay, with

) (1997) *''

Perdita Durango ''Perdita Durango'', released as ''Dance with the Devil'' in the United States, is a 1997 action- crime- horror film directed by Álex de la Iglesia, based on Barry Gifford's 1992 novel ''59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango''. It stars ...

'' (screenplay, with David Trueba, Álex de la Iglesia, and Jorge Guerricaechevarría) (1997) *'' City of Ghosts'' (screenplay with

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...

and Mike Jones) (2002) *'' The Phantom Father'' (2011)

References

External links

Official website

Official Facebook Page
* *
Chicagoist Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Barry 1946 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male biographers American male novelists American male screenwriters Writers from Chicago 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets American male poets 20th-century American biographers 21st-century American biographers Screenwriters from Illinois 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois Historians from Illinois