Dennis Lehane
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Dennis Lehane (born 1966) is an American author. He wrote several novels, including the New York Times-bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award winning film, also called Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon. The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award and won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel.
Biography
Lehane was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and continues to live in the Boston area, which provides the setting for most of his books. He is a graduate of Boston College High School, [Eckerd College], and the nationally recognized graduate program in creative writing at Florida International University. His first book, A Drink Before the War (1994), which introduced the recurring characters Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, won the 1995 Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel.
- Lehane teaches fiction writing and serves as a member of the board of directors for a low-residency MFA program sponsored by Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He has also taught advanced fiction writing at Harvard University, and his classes fill up rather quickly.
- He also teaches a Winter Term course at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida. In 2006, the course was called 'Writing the Genre/Crossover Novel' and was part of "Writers in Paradise" section. It is unclear whether he will remain to teach for another year.
- Lehane's first play, Coronado [link], debuted in New York in December 2005. The play will have its regional premiere at American Stage in St. Petersburg in April 2006.
- Lehane was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Eckerd College in May 2005 and was appointed to Eckerd's Board of Trustees later that year.
- A movie adaptation of the fourth Kenzie-Gennaro book, Gone, Baby, Gone, has been announced with possible release in 2006 and is being directed by Ben Affleck, who also wrote the screenplay.[link] Shutter Island has also been optioned by a film company and will become a major motion picture.
- Lehane has recently been working as a writer for the HBO drama series The Wire.
Works
The Kenzie-Gennaro novels
- A Drink Before the War (1994)
- Darkness, Take My Hand (1996)
- Sacred (1997)
- Gone, Baby, Gone (1998)
- Prayers for Rain (1999)
Other works
- Mystic River (2001)
- Shutter Island (2003)
- Coronado: Stories (forthcoming, 2006)
External links
- [Official Site]
- [Interview with Dennis Lehane]
- [Interview with Dennis Lehane 2001]
- [Interview with Dennis Lehane 2003]
- [Fantastic Fiction Profile]
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