James Hannaham (born 1968[1]) is a writer, performer, and visual artist. His novel Delicious Foods (2015), which deals with human trafficking, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and was named one of Publishers Weekly's top ten books of the year. The New York Times called it an “ambitious, sweeping novel of American captivity and exploitation.”[2]
James Hannaham | |
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| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) The Bronx, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Genre | Novel, short story |
| Notable awards | |
| Spouse | Brendan Moroney |
| Website | |
| jameshannaham | |
Career
editHe studied art at Yale University and in 1992 began working in the art department of The Village Voice as well as writing for the paper.[3] Later he studied creative writing at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas.
His debut novel, God Says No (2009), was a Lambda Literary Award finalist.[4] He has published fiction in One Story, Fence, StoryQuarterly, and BOMB. He reviews theater and art for 4Columns.[5]
He cofounded the New York City–based performance group Elevator Repair Service and worked with them 1992–2002. His text-based artworks often satirize the theoretical jargon that is used to describe visual art;[6] his 2014 gallery show "Card Tricks" consisted of descriptive placards for fictive artworks, with titles such as "Planet" and "Nothing."[7]
In 2020 his work Everything Is Normal, Everything Is Normal, Everything Is Fine, Everything Is Fine was judged Best in Show at a national juried exhibition of artist books and text-based visual works, Biblio Spectaculum.[8]
Hannaham is a professor in the writing program at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.[9] His most recent published work is the 2022 novel Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta.[10]
Personal life
edit
Hannaham was born in The Bronx and grew up in Yonkers, New York, where his mother was an investigative journalist. Hannaham has joked about being the reason his parents divorced shortly after his birth.[11] His early experience was marked by the legal battle to end segregation in the Yonkers schools, which his mother covered for the radio.[12] His cousin is the artist Kara Walker, who illustrated the cover of Delicious Foods.[13] He is gay.[14] Hannaham is married to Brendan Moroney,[15] also from Yonkers. They met in 2004 and wed in 2015 in Brooklyn.[citation needed]
Writing
editProse
edit- —— (2009). God Says No. McSweeney's Publishing. ISBN 9781934781401.
- —— (2015). Delicious Foods. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316284943.
- —— (2021). Pilot Imposter. Soft Skull Press. ISBN 9781593767013.
- —— (2022). Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316285278.
References
edit- ^ "Recensies over: James Hannaham - Aardse Vruchten - Zin.nl". Zin.nl (in Dutch). 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
- ^ "100 Notable Books of 2015". The New York Times. 2015-11-27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ "The Village Voice: An Art Directors' History". SPD.ORG: Grids. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
- ^ Dinh, Viet (2010-06-24). "'God Says No' by James Hannaham". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ "James Hannaham | The School of The New York Times". The School of The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ "Pushcart XL: James Hannaham, "Artist's Statement" (non-fiction) from Gigantic #6". A Just Recompense. 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ Klee, Miles (2014-04-29). "James Hannaham gallery show masterfully trolls the art world". Retrieved 2018-04-20.
- ^ "Biblio Spectaculum". Main Street Arts. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Pratt People: James Hannaham". pratt.edu. Pratt Institute. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
- ^ Linzy, Kalup (7 September 2022). "James Hannaham Connects the Dots Between the Tragic and the Absurd". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
- ^ Seriously Entertaining: James Hannaham on "Between the Lines", 28 September 2022, retrieved 2023-02-16
- ^ Hannaham, James (2015-03-20). "Why I Became a Southern Writer". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ "James Hannaham: A Safe Distance". Guernica. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ "Gay author James Hannaham wins PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction". 17 April 2016.
- ^ Hannaham, James (July 24, 2020). "One Interracial Gay Couple Tries to Travel Fearlessly — and Sometimes Finds Acceptance in Surprising Places". Travel + Leisure.