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  • I'm a writer, journalist, and the editor of The Gambit, the alt-weekly newspaper in New Orleans.

    Journalism: My work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Globe & Mail (Canada), The Times- Picayune (New Orleans), The Oregonian, and Willamette Week, as well as in magazines including Details, Vogue, Publishers Weekly, and Portland Monthly.

    Publishing: Tight Shot, my first novel, was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Its sequel, Hot Shot, was roundly ignored by everyone, but was a far better book. I'm also a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

    Stage: I was a member of the Groundlings and Circle Repertory West in Los Angeles, and am a playwright (see "Stage" in the right-hand rail).

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February 21, 2008

Nancy Rommelmann on "JT Leroy"

14sqcover Score another one for Nancy Rommelmann; her cover story in this morning's LA Weekly, a profile of the woman behind the JT Leroy literary hoax, is about the best feature reporting I've read so far this year.

"The Lies and Follies of Laura Albert, aka JT Leroy" is the name of the story, and it explains, in great detail and with a good deal of psychological insight, how a fortyish woman could pull off posing as a teenage author-savant for the better part of a decade, stroked and coddled by a cadre of Hollywood and publishing lickspittles and sycophants. A terrific (and terrifically creepy) piece of work.

11:27 AM in Journalism, Non-fiction, Oregon, Publishing |

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Comments

Kate

Terrific article. Disturbing. It makes me wonder why Laura Albert isn't in intense therapy. Borderline personality disorder? I'm being an armchair therapist here, but it sounds like a long history of a pathological liar who believes her own hype.

And no, I've never read any LeRoy.

Posted by: Kate | February 22, 2008 at 02:27 PM

Ranger Bob

Ooh, boy...more juicy details! This story fascinated me when it first broke: the spectacle of all those poseurs dancing like trout on the end of Laura Albert's monofilament line. I mean, it was hardly surprising that Ayelet Waldman became best phone buds with JT Leroy, but that the list grew so long? My, my.

That photo of Albert dressed in hipster finery, showing her kid how to flip off the camera, cracks me up too, though not, I'm sure, in the way she intended. She comes off just like one of those 40-something divorcees you read about who moves from buying beer for her teenagers's pals to giving them blowjobs on the rec room couch. "I'm sorry , Your Honor- I'm not a bad person; I was just trying too hard to be a cool mom for my son."

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