Les Standiford
Les Standiford is a historian and author and has since 1985 been the Director of the Florida International University Creative Writing Program.[1] Although his most recent works have been narrative non-fiction historical pieces in the style of David McCullough, his John Deal novels set him firmly in the Miami School of Crime Fiction whose progenitors are Charles Willeford[2] and John D. McDonald, and which include Elmore Leonard, Jeff Lindsey, Carl Hiaasen, James W. Hall, Paul Levine and Barbara Parker.
Standiford's students have included successful novelists Dennis Lehane, Barbara Parker, Vicki Hendricks, Ginny Rorby, and Neil Plakcy. While Chairman of the Creative Writing Program at University of Texas El Paso, "Standiford gave Raymond Carver his first job in 1976, when Carver was recovering from his infamous alcoholic crash and burn."[3]
Standiford has been awarded the Frank O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Fiction, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and belongs to the Associated Writing Programs, Mystery Writers of America, and the Writers Guild.[4]
Standiford's wife, Kimberly Kurzwell-Standiford, is a psychotherapist and Executive Director of Lauren's Light, a non-profit NGO helping families with young children where a parent has cancer. The Standifords live in Miami, Florida and have two children, Hannah and Jeremy. A second son, Alexander, died in 2009.
Historical narrative non-fiction
- Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction that Changed America. (with Joe Matthews) 2011[5]
- The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. 2008[6]
- Washington Burning: How a Frenchman's Vision for Our Nation's Capital Survived Congress, the Founding Fathers, and the Invading British Army. 2008[7]
- Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America. 2005[8]
- Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean. 2003[9]
- Coral Gables, The City Beautiful Story 1998
Novels
The John Deal Miami crime novels[10]
- Done Deal 1993
- Raw Deal 1994
- Deal to Die For 1995
- Deal on Ice 1997
- Presidential Deal 1998
- Black Mountain 2000
- Deal WIth the Dead 2001
- Bone Key 2002
- Havana Run 2003
Other novels
- Spill 1991
Screenplays
- "Bones of Coral," with James W. Hall, based on the novel by James W. Hall, purchased ny MGM-Pathe, but never produced
- "Virus," 1996 based on Standiford's 1991 novel Spill, starring Brian Bosworth directed by Allan A. Goldstein, shown on Showtime after its theatrical release[11]
Short stories and articles
"Standiford's short stories and articles have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including The Kansas Quarterly, Writer's Digest, Fodor's Guide, Smoke Magazine, The Key West Reader, Confrontation, Three American Literatures (Modern Language Association), Perfect Lies: A Century of Classic Golf Fiction, and Communion: Contemporary Fiction Writers Reread the Bible. He has been a regular reviewer for The Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, New York Newsday, and The New York Daily News."[4]
Other
- Miami, City of Dreams 1997, Text for Photo Collection by Alan S. Maltz
- Naked Came The Manatee 1998, contributor to collective novel, with Dave Barry, Edna Buchanan, Elmore Leonard, others.
- The Putt At The End of The World 2000, collective novel, Contributing Editor, with Dave Barry, James W. Hall, others
- Opening Day 2001, e-book
- Miami Noir Editor, 2006, short story collection
Two stories from the Miami Noir collection were selected as Best American Mystery Stories of 2007.Carl Hiaasen, editor
Education
Standiford attended the Air Force Academy, Columbia University School of Law, and holds a B.A. in Psychology from Muskingum College in Ohio and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. He is a former screenwriting fellow and graduate of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles."[12]
References
- ↑ "FIU Creative Writing". Florida International University.
- ↑ Fisher, Marshall Jon (May 2000). "The Unlikely Father of Miami Crime Fiction". Atlantic Monthly.
- ↑ Robertson, Brewster. "Les Standiford: A Handyman Special". Publishers Weekly.
- 1 2 "Les Standiford Biography".
- ↑ Da SIlva, Bruce. "Book Review: Bringing Adam Home". Associated Press/Clumbus Dispatch.
- ↑ Harrison, Kathryn (2008-12-02). "Book Review The Man Who Invented Christmas". New York TImes.
- ↑ "Book Review, Washington Burning". Kirkus Reviews.
- ↑ Finn, Robert. "Book Review Washington Burning". BookReporter.
- ↑ Kim, Wook (15 November 2002). "Book Review Last Train to Paradise". EW.com.
- ↑ "Les Standiford". Books & Bytes.
- ↑ "Virus (1996)". IMDb.
- ↑ "Les Standiford". Fresh Fiction.