I Was Looking for a Street.
I am proud to announce the debut publishing effort from Family, done with our good friends at PictureBox Inc, an incredible book from one of our all time favorite writers, Charles Willeford. Press release below.
I Was Looking for a Street by Charles Willeford
Introduction by Luc Sante
Willeford's spare, laconic, unflinching memoir is one of his essential books --
one of the essential books in the American vernacular, let's say."
–Jonathan Lethem
I'm proud to say I knew the man who wrote this book. It is pure writing,
never pretentious or forced, never melodramatic, but honest storytelling of
the highest order. This is how to do it, if anyone wants to know: how to
write simple prose from a young boy's point of view and hold the reader
spellbound. – Elmore Leonard
PictureBox and Family are pleased to announce the release of Charles Willeford’s I Was
Looking for a Street. This memoir tells the story of the author's childhood and
adolescence as an orphan, as he moves from railroad yards to hobo tent cities, to soup
kitchens and deserts around Los Angeles and across the United States. The ensuing tale is
at once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the
writer as a young man of seemingly little promise but great spirit. Written late in
Willeford’s career, this book is the work of a writer at the height of his powers, looking
back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in his clear and powerful prose the great
American adventure of his youth.
A former professional boxer, actor, horse trainer and radio announcer, Charles Willeford
(1919–1988) is best known for his Miami-based crime novels featuring hardboiled
detective Hoke Moseley, including Miami Blues and Sideswipe. His career as a writer
began in the late 1940s, but it was his 1972 novel Cockfighter (later adapted for the
screen by Monte Hellman) that announced his name to a wider audience. His other books
include The Burnt Orange Heresy, Pick-Up, and Something About a Soldier.
I Was Looking for a Street is the first in a series of PictureBox / Family reissues of the
work of Willeford.
PictureBox / Family
Paperback, 168 pages, $15.95
Available May 1, 2010
And look out for an excerpt of I was Looking for a Street in the April issue of Vice Magazine.
posted by sammy at 12:46 PM
2 comments
I am proud to announce the debut publishing effort from Family, done with our good friends at PictureBox Inc, an incredible book from one of our all time favorite writers, Charles Willeford. Press release below.I Was Looking for a Street by Charles Willeford
Introduction by Luc Sante
Willeford's spare, laconic, unflinching memoir is one of his essential books --
one of the essential books in the American vernacular, let's say."
–Jonathan Lethem
I'm proud to say I knew the man who wrote this book. It is pure writing,
never pretentious or forced, never melodramatic, but honest storytelling of
the highest order. This is how to do it, if anyone wants to know: how to
write simple prose from a young boy's point of view and hold the reader
spellbound. – Elmore Leonard
PictureBox and Family are pleased to announce the release of Charles Willeford’s I Was
Looking for a Street. This memoir tells the story of the author's childhood and
adolescence as an orphan, as he moves from railroad yards to hobo tent cities, to soup
kitchens and deserts around Los Angeles and across the United States. The ensuing tale is
at once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the
writer as a young man of seemingly little promise but great spirit. Written late in
Willeford’s career, this book is the work of a writer at the height of his powers, looking
back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in his clear and powerful prose the great
American adventure of his youth.
A former professional boxer, actor, horse trainer and radio announcer, Charles Willeford
(1919–1988) is best known for his Miami-based crime novels featuring hardboiled
detective Hoke Moseley, including Miami Blues and Sideswipe. His career as a writer
began in the late 1940s, but it was his 1972 novel Cockfighter (later adapted for the
screen by Monte Hellman) that announced his name to a wider audience. His other books
include The Burnt Orange Heresy, Pick-Up, and Something About a Soldier.
I Was Looking for a Street is the first in a series of PictureBox / Family reissues of the
work of Willeford.
PictureBox / Family
Paperback, 168 pages, $15.95
Available May 1, 2010
And look out for an excerpt of I was Looking for a Street in the April issue of Vice Magazine.
posted by sammy at 12:46 PM
2 comments
Wow--that's a really surprising but excellent choice.
Looking forward to this.
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