Paul Beatty (born June 9, 1962) is an American author and an associate professor of writing at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 2016, he won the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Booker Prize for his novel '' The Sellout''. It was the first time a writer from the United States was honored with the Man Booker.

Early life and education

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1962, Beatty received an MFA degree in creative writing from Brooklyn College and an MA degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

. He is a 1980 graduate of El Camino Real High School in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

. Beatty is married to filmmaker Althea Wasow, sister of

BlackPlanet BlackPlanet is an African-American social networking service for matchmaking and job postings; it also has forums for discussion on political and social issues. BlackPlanet was launched on September 1, 2001 by Omar Wasow, an Internet analyst, wh ...

co-founder Omar Wasow.

Career

In 1990, Beatty was crowned the first ever Grand

Poetry Slam A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. ...

Champion of the

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, or of their descendants (especially those raised or currently living in the N ...

.Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe (2008), ''Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.''

Soft Skull Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent S ...

, p. 45. . One of the prizes for winning the championship title was the book deal that resulted in his first volume of poetry, ''Big Bank Take Little Bank'' (1991).Aptowicz, p. 46. This was followed by another book of poetry, ''Joker, Joker, Deuce'' (1994), and appearances performing his poetry on MTV and PBS (in the series ''The United States of Poetry'').Aptowicz, p. 80. In 1993, he was awarded a grant from the

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

Grants to Artists Award. His first novel, '' The White Boy Shuffle'' (1996), received a positive review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' from reviewer Richard Bernstein, who called the book "a blast of satirical heat from the talented heart of Black American life." His second novel, ''Tuff'' (2000), received a positive notice in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine, where it was described as being "like an extended rap song, its characters recounting struggle and survival with the bravado of hip-hoppers." In 2006, Beatty edited an anthology of African-American humor called ''Hokum'' and wrote an article in ''The New York Times'' on the same subject. His 2008 novel ''Slumberland'' was about an American DJ in Berlin, and reviewer

Patrick Neate Patrick Neate (born 1970) is a British novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and podcaster. Early life Born and raised as a Roman Catholic in South London, he was educated at St. Paul's School and Cambridge University. He spent a gap year i ...

said: "At its best, Beatty's writing is shockingly original, scabrous and very funny." In his 2015 novel '' The Sellout,'' Beatty chronicles an urban farmer who tries to spearhead a revitalization of slavery and segregation in a fictional Los Angeles neighborhood. In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Elisabeth Donnelly described it as "a masterful work that establishes Beatty as the funniest writer in America", while reviewer

Reni Eddo-Lodge Reni Eddo-Lodge (born 25 September 1989) is a British journalist and author, whose writing primarily focuses on feminism and exposing structural racism. She has written for a range of publications, including ''The New York Times'', ''The Guar ...

called it a "whirlwind of a satire", going on to say: "Everything about ''The Sellout''s plot is contradictory. The devices are real enough to be believable, yet surreal enough to raise your eyebrows." The book took more than five years to complete. ''The Sellout'' was awarded the 2015

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".2016 Man Booker Prize. Beatty is the first American to have won the Man Booker Prize, for which all English-language novels became eligible in 2014.

Awards and honors

*2009

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Award for ''Slumberland'' *2015

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

long-list for ''The Sellout''

Works

Poetry

* ''Big Bank Take Little Bank'' (1991). Nuyorican Poets Cafe Press. * ''Joker, Joker, Deuce'' (1994).

Fiction

* '' The White Boy Shuffle'' (1996). * ''Tuff'' (2000). Alfred A. Knopf. * ''Slumberland'' (2008). Bloomsbury USA, * '' The Sellout'' (2015). New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. London:

Oneworld Publications Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey originally to publish accessible non-fiction by experts and academics for the general market."Black Humor"
''The New York Times'', January 22, 2006.

Excerpt from Slumberland at BookBrowse

Interview at Full Stop
June 30, 2015. * Gatti, Tom
"Paul Beatty: 'I invented a Richter scale for racism'"
''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'', November 2, 2016. * Oscar Villalon
"Paul Beatty on Los Angeles Lit, The Sellout, and Life After the Man Booker"
''Zyzzyva'', June 4, 2018, via LitHub. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beatty, Paul 1962 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers Writers from Los Angeles African-American novelists Booker Prize winners Brooklyn College alumni Boston University alumni Columbia University faculty Columbia University people 21st-century American novelists American humorists 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets American male novelists American male poets Anthologists 21st-century American male writers El Camino Real High School alumni Novelists from New York (state) African-American poets 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers