Donald E. Westlake
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| Pseudonym(s): | John B. Allen, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, Morgan J. Cunningham, Richard Stark, Edwin West, among others |
|---|---|
| Born: | July 12, 1933 Brooklyn, New York |
| Occupation(s): | novelist |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Genre(s): | crime fiction |
Donald Edwin Westlake (born July 12, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York) is a prolific American writer and novelist, with over a hundred books to his credit. He specializes in crime fiction, especially comic capers with an occasional foray into science fiction. He is a three-time Edgar Award winner, one of only two writers (the other is Joe Gores) to win Edgars in three different categories (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, "Too Many Crooks"; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named Westlake a Grand Master, the highest honor bestowed by the society.
Westlake attended Harpur College in Binghamton, New York, and left early. He spent two years in the USAF. He is married to Abigail Westlake (also known as Abby Adams Westlake and Abby Adams), a writer of non-fiction. Her two published books are An Uncommon Scold and The Gardener's Gripe Book. The couple live in Upstate New York. Abby Westlake is a well-regarded gardener and Westlake garden is frequently opened for public viewing in summer.[1]
In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake publishes under several pseudonyms, including John B. Allen, Curt Clark, Tucker Coe, Timothy J. Culver, Morgan J. Cunningham, Samuel Holt, Sheldon Lord (with Lawrence Block), Allan Marshall, Richard Stark, and Edwin West.
Donald Westlake is known for the great ingenuity of his plots and the audacity of his gimmicks. His writing and dialogue are lively. His main characters are fully rounded, believable, and clever. Westlake's most famous characters include the hard-boiled criminal Parker (appearing in fiction under the Richard Stark pseudonym) and Parker's comic flip-side John Dortmunder, the hard-luck criminal genius who originally began as Parker getting caught in a comic situation in the novel The Hot Rock.
Most of Donald Westlake's novels are set in New York City. In each of the Dortmunder novels, there is typically a detailed shortcut somewhere through the city.
Several of Westlake's novels have been made into motion pictures, including Point Blank in 1967 with Lee Marvin, The Hot Rock in 1972 with Robert Redford, Cops and Robbers (1973), Payback in 1999 with Mel Gibson, and What's the Worst That Could Happen? in 2001 with Martin Lawrence. Westlake himself is a screenwriter; his script for The Grifters, adapted from the novel of the same name by Jim Thompson, was nominated for an Academy Award.
Donald Westlake's newest book, Ask the Parrot, a Parker novel written under his "Richard Stark" byline, is scheduled for publication by Mysterious Press in November, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Official webpage
- Web site devoted to the Parker novels written as Richard Stark
- Better bibliography
- Annotated booklist
- 1990 Audio Interview with Donald Westlake by Don Swaim
