An Interview With Fiction Writer JT Leroy
by Litsa Dremousis
Eleven years ago, JT LeRoy was a teenager living on the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, turning tricks and suffering from dissociative episodes. Today, he is a critically acclaimed author whose first two books, the novel Sarah (Bloomsbury, 2000) and the collection of short stories The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (Bloomsbury, 2001), have been translated into more than a dozen languages—most recently, Turkish. His novella, Harold’s End, illustrated by renowned painter Cherry Hood, with an introduction by Dave Eggers, was recently published by Last Gasp, an independent press in San Francisco.
Film Production Company Sues Laura Albert—or Is it JT LeRoy?
by Staff
The production company that optioned the film rights to the novel Sarah (Bloomsbury, 2000) by JT Leroy (aka Laura Albert) has sued Albert and her company, Underdogs, Inc.
Judge Orders Albert to Pay $350,000 to Film Company
by Staff
On Tuesday, a Manhattan district court judge ordered fiction writer Laura Albert to pay a total of $350,000 in legal fees and other costs to Antidote International Films. Albert, who gained notoriety for publishing and posing as her alter-ego, JT Leroy, had used the fictitious name to sign a film contract and tax forms with Antidote prior to the disclosure of her true identity in 2005. Last month, she was convicted of fraud and ordered to pay $116,000 in damages.
More Memoir Murmurs: Laura Albert's Next Book?
by Staff
The New York Daily News reported yesterday that Laura Albert, the cocreator of JT LeRoy, the fictional author of Sarah (Bloomsbury, 2000) and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (Bloomsbury, 2001), has enlisted New York City literary agent David Kuhn to sell a memoir.
Home » Magazine » Daily News » Jury Finds Laura Albert Guilty of Fraud, Breach of Contract
Jury Finds Laura Albert Guilty of Fraud, Breach of Contract
On Friday, a jury in Manhattan Federal District Court found Laura Albert guilty of fraud and breach of contract for her pseudonymous invention of JT Leroy, the character whose name she used to sign an option contract for the film rights to Sarah (Bloomsbury, 2000). The jury ordered Albert to pay $116,500 to Antidote International Films, Inc., the production company that planned to make a feature film of her novel before the story broke about JT Leroy's true identity in 2005.
The judgment against Albert covers the option contract and damages to Antidote, but not legal feels, which, when determined, could cost Albert hundreds of thousands of dollars more.
A report in the New York TImes on Friday described Albert as wearing a pendant with a legend that read "Write Hard, Die Free" at the hearing where the judgment was read.
