Lawrence Naumoff
Lawrence Naumoff is a novelist and instructor in the Creative Writing Program. He is the winner of a Whiting Award, a Thomas Wolfe award and many other literary prizes. His novel, Taller Women, a cautionary tale, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992.
His latest novel A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow is about the Hamlet, North Carolina chicken plant fire of 1991. The fire exits had been locked by the owners to keep the workers from stealing. 26 workers died, and the tragedy captured the attention of the media as well as everyday citizens. A well-known photograph was taken of a set of kicked, soot smudged footprints on the inside of a fire exit door. The novel won the 2005 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for "the best work of fiction by a North Carolina author."
His website is lawrencenaumoff.com.
U.S. publications:
The Night of the Weeping Woman, 1988, Morgan Entrekin/Atlantic Monthly Press.
Rootie Kazootie, 1990, Farrar Straus and Giroux.
Taller Women, a cautionary tale, 1992, Harcourt Brace.
Silk Hope, 1994, Harcourt Brace.
A Plan for Women, 1997, Harcourt Brace.
A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow, 2005, Zuckerman Cannon/Blair.
Foreign publications:
The Night of the Weeping Women, Rootie Kazootie and Taller Women by Collins Publishers, England.
De Nacht van de Huilende Vrouwen, and, Hoed u Voor Langere Vrouwen, published by De Arbeiderespers, Amsterdam.
Mujeres Mas Altas, published by Seix Barral, Barcelona
Frauen Auf Der Uberhol-Spur, published by Econ Taschenbuch Verlag, Dusseldorf.
Dansa i Mansken, published by Wiken, Finland
The Night of the Weeping Women was bought by a Japanese publisher but never came out.
Film activity:
Film version of Silk Hope was a CBS Sunday Night Movie in 1999, starring Farrah Fawcett.
Rootie Kazootie was optioned for years and is currently owned, outright, by the actress Diane Lane.
The Night of the Weeping Women was optioned for 7 years by Mindy Marin of Blue Water Ranch Entertainment.
Awards:
The 2005 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for the novel A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow. This prize, given by the N.C. Literary and Historical Society, is presented for "the best work of fiction by a N.C. author," each year.
Winner of Whiting Writer’s Award, a Thomas Wolfe Memorial Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Discovery Award, Carolina Quarterly Prize, and other prizes.
Short stories and essays appear in various publications and collections.
Praise for Lawrence Naumoff’s books
Rootie Kazootie
“A brilliant comedy of errant romance….Plaintive, madcap, utterly seductive, Naumoff writes about marriage and faithlessness as if he were concocting an eighth Deadly Sin.”
The Washington Post
A Plan for Women
“A provocative novel…When Naumoff exercises his exacting sympathy, understanding and humor on the desperate moments of daily life, he brings such compassion to his characters that their struggles are heroically transformed.”
The New York Times Book Review
The Night of the Weeping Women
“(Naumoff) looks at marriage honestly. What he sees is outrageously—hilariously, tragically—undeniable; and he sets it all down with effortless-looking brilliance.
Reynolds Price
Taller Women
“Taller Women is compellingly radiant meta-fiction about male-female relationships. A scathing indictment of the way things were ‘back then’, i.e., now. A warning written in dazzling prose variously reminiscent of Pinter, Beckett, Robert Coover and Nathanael West.”
Publishers Weekly
Silk Hope, NC
“The book is funny, sad and wise in all the right places.”
The News and Observer
A Southern Tragedy, in Crimson and Yellow
“With meticulous physical descriptions, Naumoff has written not just an historical novel, or a political one, or one of personal lives and tragedies, but all those things at once.”
Haven Kimmel