Louise Wareham Leonard is an American writer born in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. She has three brothers, one of whom is singer/songwriter Dean Wareham.

Early life

Leonard was an intern at TIME Magazine age 20, while a student at Columbia College, New York, then a magazine writer, mostly in travel. She was also a part-time assistant to

Black liberation theology Black theology, or black liberation theology, refers to a theological perspective which originated among African-American seminarians and scholars, and in some black churches in the United States and later in other parts of the world. It context ...

founder Rev. Prof. James H. Cone at the

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

. In 2011, she co-established a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

aboriginal-owned art center in the

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

town of Mt Magnet in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Author

Her novels and

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

s explore "the search for sanity" (according to Dame Fiona Kidman) in a world of "priapic narcissism" (according to John Newton). ''Since You Ask'' is an "intense and insightful work about a childhood sexual abuse survivor that portrays a complicated character and her multifaceted mind with deep empathy." It won the 1999 James Jones Literary Society First Novel Award. ''52 Men'' centers on Elise McKnight and fifty-two vignettes of her interactions with various men. The ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'' wrote "Although in style and tone 52 Men differs from either Elizabeth Hardwick’s ''Sleepless Nights'' or Renata Adler’s ''Speedboat'', it is, like both of these books, a novel of impressions unified by the author’s sensibility". Other publications by Leonard include ''Blood Is Blood'' and the essay "The German Crowd" (2020). Her work has been published in ''Poetry'', ''Tin House'', TheRumpus.net, ''Art Monthly Australia'' and elsewhere.

Podcast

Leonard also founded, produced and hosted ''52 Men, the Podcast: Women Telling Stories about Men'', a 25 episode series featuring one writer per episode. Authors include

Lynne Tillman Lynne Tillman (born January 1, 1947) is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and teaches at the School of Visual Arts' Art Cri ...

, Mia Funk,

Jane Alison Jane Alison (born 1961) is an Australian author. Early life and education Born in Canberra in 1961, Alison spent two years in Australia as a small child, growing up mainly in the United States as a child of diplomatic parents. She attended pu ...

, Caroline Leavitt, Emily Holleman, Eliza Factor, and Julia Slavin.

Works

* ''Fiery World'' (Amazon Kindle, 2022) * ''Blood is Blood'' (Amazon Kindle, 2022) * ''Since You Ask'' (Akashic Books, New York, 2004) * ''Miss Me A Lot Of'' (Victoria University Press, New Zealand, 2007) * ''52 Men'' (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, 2015) * "The German Crowd" (''Subnivean'', 2020)

Awards and honors

*1986 Columbia College, Columbia University Representative in the Mount Holyoke Poetry Prize, with judges Seamus Heaney and Joseph Brodsky *1986 Columbia College, Columbia University, Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize "given to a senior in Columbia College judged by the Columbia College English Department to have excelled in both critical and creative writing" *1999

James Jones First Novel Award The James Jones Literary Society is an association that honors United States, American author James Jones (author), James Jones by sponsoring a number of literature awards. History The Society was founded in 1991 at Lincoln Trail College, Robinso ...

for a novel in Progress *2006, 2008 Finalist for The New Zealand Prize in Modern Letters *2008

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

Grant *2016 Founding Member of the Academy of New Zealand Literature

References

External links

New Zealand Academy of Literature
https://www.louisesays.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Louise Wareham 1965 births Living people Writers from Wellington City 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Writers from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni 21st-century American women writers Novelists from New York (state) International Institute of Modern Letters alumni