People like Paul Beatty

Paul Beatty (born June 9, 1962) is an American author and an associate professor of writing at Columbia University. In 2016, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout. It was the first time a writer from the United States was honored with the Man Booker.

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1962, Beatty received an MFA degree in creative writing from Brooklyn College and an MA degree in psychology from Boston University. He is a 1980 graduate of El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California. Beatty is married to filmmaker Althea Wasow, sister of BlackPlanet co-founder Omar Wasow.

In 1990, Beatty was crowned the first ever Grand Poetry Slam Champion of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. One of the prizes for winning the championship title was the book deal that resulted in his first volume of poetry, Big Bank Take Little Bank (1991). This was followed by another book of poetry, Joker, Joker, Deuce (1994), and appearances performing his poetry on MTV and PBS (in the series The United States of Poetry). In 1993, he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.