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| Victor LaValle | |
|---|---|
| Name | Victor LaValle |
| Birth date | 1972 |
| Birth place | New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, essayist, professor |
| Nationality | American |
| Notable works | The Devil in America; Big Machine; The Changeling |
| Awards | PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize; Shirley Jackson Award; World Fantasy Award |
Victor LaValle
Victor LaValle is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose work spans literary fiction, horror, and speculative narratives. He has taught at institutions such as Columbia University, Yale University, and Hunter College and has published novels, collections, and essays that engage with themes of family, mental illness, and social justice. His writing has appeared in outlets including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper's Magazine.
LaValle was born in New York City and raised in the neighborhoods of Queens and the Bronx, where influences included New York Public Library branches, neighborhood bookstores, and the cultural scenes of Manhattan and Brooklyn. He attended the State University of New York at Cortland for undergraduate study and later earned an M.F.A. from Columbia University, where he studied alongside peers and teachers connected to the literary communities of the United States and international programs. His formative years intersected with the cultural landscapes of Harlem, the Bronx, and Queens, and with institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and regional writing workshops.
LaValle began publishing short fiction in literary magazines and anthologies before releasing his debut novel, which positioned him within conversations alongside authors associated with contemporary American fiction, horror, and speculative traditions. He has been a contributor to periodicals including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The Paris Review, and Granta, and his work has been included in anthologies alongside pieces by Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Zadie Smith, and Junot Díaz. LaValle has held teaching posts at Columbia University, Yale University, Hunter College, and other programs, and participated in writers' residencies linked to organizations like MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has served as a juror and panelist for awards and festivals connected to PEN America, the National Book Foundation, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the World Fantasy Convention.
LaValle's novels and collections explore intersections of social history, family dynamics, and speculative dread, drawing on traditions traceable to authors such as Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Octavia Butler, and Franz Kafka. Major books include his early novel Big Machine, the critically acclaimed The Changeling, and The Devil in America, each engaging with themes of parenthood, myth, mental health, and race in the United States. His short-story collections and essays have been compared to work by Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Jorge Luis Borges, and Angela Carter for their melding of realism and fantastical elements. Recurring themes include the legacy of violence in American history, representations of masculinity and fatherhood in African American literature, and the medical and criminal justice systems as they relate to mental illness and incarceration, subjects resonant with debates in venues like The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.
LaValle's honors include the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, the World Fantasy Award, and recognition from the National Book Foundation and the American Library Association. He has received fellowships and grants from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacArthur-related arts programs through residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo. His work has been longlisted or shortlisted for prizes that also honor writers like Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward, Jhumpa Lahiri, and George Saunders.
LaValle resides in New York City and has spoken publicly about influences from family members, urban upbringing, and his reading of both contemporary and canonical writers including Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, and Gabriel García Márquez. He has discussed intersections between his literary practice and civic concerns raised in movements and institutions such as Black Lives Matter, the American Civil Liberties Union, and community arts organizations in the Bronx and Queens. LaValle balances teaching, public speaking engagements at venues like the New School and Fordham University, and participation in literary festivals including the Brooklyn Book Festival and the PEN World Voices Festival.
Several of LaValle's works and stories have attracted adaptation interest from television and film producers connected to studios and streaming platforms such as HBO, Hulu, Amazon Studios, and Netflix, and his fiction has been optioned or developed in collaboration with producers, directors, and showrunners with credits linked to mainstream and independent cinema. He has appeared in interviews and panels on networks and programs including NPR, PBS NewsHour, Late Night programs, and literary podcasts affiliated with The New York Times and The New Yorker. LaValle's work has also been discussed in academic symposia at institutions such as Columbia University, Yale University, and Oxford University.
Category:American novelists Category:Writers from New York City Category:Living people