Lolita Files

Lolita Files
Born (1963-09-25) September 25, 1963
Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
United States
Residence Los Angeles
Nationality African-American
Guinea-Bissau
Education Broadcast Journalism English Literature Secondary Education
Alma mater University of Florida (B.S.)
Alabama State University
Occupation
Years active 1997 - present
Notable work Scenes from a Sistah
Child of God
sex.lies.murder.fame
Website www.lolitafiles.com

Lolita Files (born September 25, 1963) is a contemporary African-American author,[1][2][3] screenwriter, and producer.[4] Among her six bestselling novels are book club favorites Scenes from a Sistah[5] and Child of God.[6] Her sixth novel, sex.lies.murder.fame[7] was optioned for film by Carolyn Folks for Entertainment Studios[8] with Files adapting the screenplay. She also co-wrote the screen adaptation of award-winning novelist/playwright/essayist/poet Pearl Cleage's bestselling book, Babylon Sisters,[9] to be directed by filmmaker, artist and educator Ayoka Chenzira.[10]

The book Once Upon A Time In Compton (Brown Girls Publishing), by former Compton Gang Unit Detectives Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd, along with Files, about Brennan and Ladd's years in the gang unit, the rise of Gangsta rap, gang wars, the L.A. riots, the investigations of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and the fall of the Compton Police Department will be published in Summer 2016.

Files has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Florida, is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and a professional member of PEN.[11]

Files lives in Los Angeles, CA, where she develops projects for television and film.

Biography

Early life

Lolita Files was born in Fort Lauderdale, FL, on September 25, 1963 to Lillie Belle (née Brackett) (d. 2008) and Arthur James Files, Sr. (d. 1999), who'd met as teenagers and married a few years later in 1960 in the Delta town of Anguilla, Mississippi. Seeking to escape the oppression of the Jim Crow South, in 1961, Arthur and Lillie moved to Fort Lauderdale. Arthur's older brother, Louis, had moved there a year earlier and told of greater opportunities for blacks than could be found in Mississippi. On September 14, 1961, not long after getting settled in the beach town they now called home, Lillie gave birth to a son, Arthur James Files, Jr. (d. 2010). Lolita followed two years later. She was named by her mother after the Stanley Kubrick film Lolita (released the prior year in 1962, based on Vladimir Nabokov's classic and controversial novel of the same title). Files' mother neither saw the film nor had read the book, and therefore had no idea of the suggestive meaning "Lolita" had come to have in pop culture because of the book and film. She simply liked the name.

Files was an avid reader from a very early age, obsessed with Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Norse mythology, Arthurian legend, Dante's Divine Comedy, and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and equally rabid in her love of television, film, and music. Enamored of her father's gift for humorous and animated oral storytelling that often found her friends making excuses to come visit just so they could hear his tall tales, Files began to delve into the art form herself via writing. Teachers at every grade level encouraged her. In the tenth grade, Files developed a love of Shakespeare that would subsequently influence much of her writings, both comedic and dramatic. She was also heavily influenced by the works of Toni Morrison, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Zora Neale Hurston, Louise Meriwether, Vladimir Nabokov, Chinua Achebe, Claude Brown, Richard Wright, Gustav Flaubert, and Greek playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripedes, and Aristophanes.

Education and corporate career

In 1981, Files, voted "Most Likely To Succeed," graduated from Dillard High School with high honors and seven scholarships (one of them, a Presidential[12] scholarship, fully covered her college tuition). She attended the University of Florida at Gainesville. As a freshman, she was a stringer for the student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator and a member of the University of Florida Gospel Choir[13] through her sophomore year. In the spring of her sophomore year, in 1983, she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (Iota Lambda[14] chapter) on the line Rare Creations,[15] later serving as Anti-Basileus[16] (Vice-President) of the chapter. In her senior year, Files ran for, and was elected to, the position of Senator representing the College of Journalism and Communications[17] in UF's Student Senate.[18]

It was also during Files' senior year that one of her professors tried to eject her from his advanced expository writing class, believing, based on the quality of her work, that she was a professional writer trying to pass herself off as a student. Upon learning that she was, in fact, just a student, he vehemently urged her to pursue writing as a career, something two of Files' English teachers - Mary Pittman[19] and Debby Ryan - had strongly encouraged and helped foster for the better part of her four years at Dillard High. While many of Files' college friends had always viewed her as rather bookish, most had no idea that being an author was something she seriously intended to realize in the future,[20] even though it was something she casually spoke of on occasion.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism in 1985, Files returned to Fort Lauderdale, working as a marketing manager for a pharmaceutical company, then as a regional property coordinator for Great Atlantic Property Management, a real estate management company based out of Newport News, VA with commercial and residential properties that spanned the Eastern Seaboard and parts of the Midwest. Her experience with the world of property management would later inform her first two novels, Scenes from a Sistah (1997), and its followup, Getting To The Good Part[21] (1999). (A third book in the series, Tastes Like Chicken,[22] was published five years later in 2004.) Because of her passion for literature, Files spent a year (from 1990 to 1991) teaching ninth grade English Lit at Henry H. Filer Middle School[23] in Hialeah, FL.

From 1992 to 1996, Files was the National Communications Manager for the Facilities Management division of KinderCare Learning Centers, the nation's largest provider of for-profit child care and early childhood education, then based in Montgomery, AL. During her time in Montgomery, in addition to managing a large staff in KinderCare's corporate office and traveling extensively to visit centers around the country, Files took postgraduate courses in Secondary Education at Alabama State University.

In 1993, Files was nominated by an executive at KinderCare for membership in Leadership Montgomery,[24] a highly regarded civic organization made up of individuals prominent in their respective fields within the city (judges, top attorneys, lawmakers, law enforcement officers, physicians, healthcare officials, educators, financial experts, social service administrators, business owners, artistic directors, etc.). The organization focuses on developing them as leaders representing "the ethnic, age, and gender diversity" of the city, creating a dynamic where enough decision-makers know each other and can facilitate cooperation and efficiency across various sectors for the overall betterment of the community. Each year a new group is selected from applications submitted and nominations by current members. Those chosen go through an intensive nine-month leadership curriculum that provides the opportunity to "network and get to know each other on a personal level" through exposure to issues that impact the city. Files was a member of Class X[25] and, at the time, was the youngest person selected to be a part of the organization.

Writing

Files had set a personal deadline of being actively on the path to being published by age thirty. Thirty came and went, and even though she had several writing projects in progress and had received positive responses about them from trusted friends and colleagues, she hadn't taken steps towards getting representation.

In the fall of 1994, after researching New York literary agencies, Files naïvely decided she wanted to be repped by the one that had the hottest writer at the time, John Grisham, on their roster. On Thursday, September 29, 1994 - four days after turning thirty-one - Files sent a bright yellow, prepaid DHL overnight envelope to literary agency Jay Garon-Brooke Associates, Inc.[26] Inside the envelope was two comedic short stories written as first-person narrative in the voice of an upwardly mobile black man named Rick Hodges. Files also sent fifty pages of Child of God, a dramatic novel she'd been working on sporadically since 1989. In the accompanying query letter, she explained there were a total of ten short stories about the character Rick. There were not; not at the time, anyway. Files had read that it often took several weeks for literary agencies to respond to queries, during which time she expected to have the other eight short stories written.

An agent from Garon-Brooke called the very next morning. She called Files' home number, her office at KinderCare, her pager, and her cellphone, leaving messages on all in an urgent attempt to reach her. Files, alarmed by the immediate response, nervously returned the call. This had happened way too fast. Her fears were quickly calmed. The agent loved Files' stories. She felt the Rick Hodges character was "hilarious" and "accessible." Could Files possibly overnight the other eight short stories about Rick so she could have them by Monday to read? It was Friday, September 30, 1994. Files, not wanting to miss the opportunity, asked: "Is Tuesday okay?" Tuesday was fine, she was told. Just as Files was about to hang up, the agent said, "Congratulations. No one ever gets through to us like this."

The agent, Nancy Coffey, had seen the bright yellow DHL envelope in the break room and picked it up. It was an unusual color for an overnight package. The sender's name, "Lolita Files," piqued her curiosity even further. She took the envelope into her office, read the contents, and had to see the rest of the material.

"Her voice just leapt off the page," Coffey told the Miami Herald. "It was fresh, uplifting and funny."[27]

After the phone call, Files hopped in her car and sped from her office, purchased a case of Pepsi, and, over the course of that Friday night, Saturday, and the first part of Sunday morning - without any sleep in between - she wrote the other eight short stories while drinking Pepsi and dancing to her catalog of music by Minneapolis artist Prince. Around 1pm on Sunday, October 2, 1994, she printed out the completed stories and overnighted them to Garon-Brooke the following day. Three days later, on Thursday, October 6, 1994, Files received a call at her office from Coffey and several others at Garon-Brooke on speakerphone asking if she would "do them the honor of being their client."

Commercial and literary styles

After signing with Garon-Brooke, Files immediately began to focus on completing Child of God, which she wanted to be her debut novel. It was dark and literary, a nod to the writers she loved who'd been such big influences for her, particularly Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, Dostoyevsky, Hurston, and Flaubert, and her fascination with the fall of the House of Atreus in Greek mythology. In August 1995, taking advantage of a large amount of unused vacation time, Files went on an extended visit to her hometown of Fort Lauderdale. Her plan was to get a significant amount of the first draft of Child of God written. At one point, she wrote a particularly dark scene; so dark, it bothered her. She closed the document on her computer, deciding she needed a break from the intense material. As a way of trying to cleanse her mental palate, she thought it might be good to try to write something short and funny. She opened a new document on her laptop and stared at the blank title page. She always came up with the title before she did any further writing. She typed the words, Scenes from a Sistah on the blank page. There was no heavy thought behind it, aside from her love of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's television series, Scenes from a Marriage, which she'd watched on PBS when she was twelve. She also just liked the sound of all those "s"'s. It was a good, sibilant beginning. She started typing. Rick Hodges and some of the characters from the short stories that had gotten Files signed made an appearance, but this story was told first-person by a driven career woman named Armistice "Misty" Fine, chronicling the adventures of her and her outspoken, hyperbolic, exotic-dancing, trust fund bestie, Teresa "Reesy" Snowden.

Seven days later, Files had a first draft of a full-length book. She didn't take what she'd written seriously. She half-jokingly sent the manuscript to her agent with the note, "I don't know what this is. It just popped out."

Her agent loved the manuscript and had Files fine-tune it in the fall of 1995 in preparation to go out with it to publishers at the beginning of 1996. Files was mortified. This was a lighthearted book, something she'd pushed out with little effort. She worried that, if this voice - her comedic one - hit the market first, it would be difficult for people to take her seriously when she wanted to publish Child of God, which she'd been laboring over for years and was quite heavy in subject matter and tone. She polished the manuscript for Scenes. During the same period, in October 1995, she completed the first draft of Child of God.

On February 14, 1996, Files' agent held an auction, sending out the manuscript of Scenes from a Sistah to several publishers for them to bid on the work. On February 22, 1996, Files received a call at her office at KinderCare that Warner Books had purchased Scenes for an advance of $50,000.

"It's a Cinderella story," says Caryn Karmatz Rudy, Files' editor at Warner Books. "Most often, you hear about people writing and getting a zillion rejections. But Lolita writes this book, sends it to the agency of the most successful writer in the country, and they take it. Then, we publish it. That's not your typical story."[28]

In April 1996, Files left Corporate America for a full-time career as a writer. Scenes from a Sistah debuted[29] a year later in April 1997 and was an instant hit,[30][31] selling out of its first printing by the second day of Files' book tour and landing on several bestseller lists.

Four years later, in September 2001 (after the release of Scenes sequel Getting to the Good Part in 1999 and Files' take on the cutthroat world of Hollywood and the television industry,[32] Blind Ambitions, in 2000), Child of God was published to critical and popular acclaim.[33][34][35] More than a decade later, it remains a perennial book club favorite.[36][37][38]

Rick Hodges and HodgePodge

The ten short stories featuring the character Rick Hodges that got Files signed by the Garon-Brooke literary agency were woven together into a novel called HodgePodge. Rick Hodges, his best friend Dandre Hilliard, and several of the characters from those stories feature prominently in the Misty/Reesy trilogy (Scenes from a Sistah, Getting to the Good Part, and Tastes Like Chicken). As of 2014, however, twenty years later, Files still hasn't elected to publish HodgePodge.

Off Broadway

In December 1997, Files was in New York at the annual Kwanzaa Fest[39] at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center for an appearance and booksigning at the Authors Pavilion with hip-hop artist Chuck D of Public Enemy and author Omar Tyree. She had just finished a radio interview with WBLS, which was covering the event, when a woman approached Files asking if she was an actress. Files told the woman that she wasn't. The woman introduced herself as playwright Roz Nixon,[40] saying she loved Files' look and personality and that, after watching Files do the radio interview, thought she'd be perfect for the lead in her new Off-Broadway play. She wanted to send Files a copy of the script to see if she'd consider the part. Files gave Nixon a business card with her manager's contact information, not expecting to hear anything further, but Nixon was serious. She sent Files' manager the script for a play called Sisters Who Get Everything Without Giving Up Anything. Files read it, liked it, and decided to do the part.

The play[41] debuted in February 1998 at the Homefront Theatre[42] at 236 West 54th Street (Broadway and 54th). Files starred as the lead character, Rea Montgomery,[43] an over-the-top Southern belle who wrote self-help books showing women how to get everything they wanted from men without having to compromise their morality. The women Rea coached basked in their femininity and men adored them for it.

Shakespeare's Hamlet vs Files' Child of God

SUNY Empire State College offers an eight-week course, "Exploring The Disciplines: Literature (EDU-232072),"[44] centered around the examination of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Lolita Files' novel, Child of God.

Per the course description:

"Both texts include a similar story-line: a murder, an incestuous relationship, an uneasy resolution at the end. By exploring these texts written over 300 years apart, students will learn about the types of themes, questions, comparisons and insights that literature has to offer."

Maternal ancestry

In December 2012, at the urging of actor and activist Isaiah Washington, Files took a genealogical DNA test through lineage tracing company African Ancestry.[45] Results came back revealing a direct link of Files' maternal ancestry[46] to the Brame and Balanta people of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.

Bibliography

Files speaking in Bakersfield, CA in February 2013

Novels

Short stories

Novella

Nonfiction

Once Upon A Time In Compton (Tim Brennan & Robert Ladd with Lolita Files) - Brown Girls Publishing, Summer 2016

Producing

References

  1. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Lolita Files at Hachette Book Group". Hachette Book Group.
  2. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Lolita Files at Simon & Schuster". Simon & Schuster.
  3. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Lolita Files at HarperCollins Publishers". HarperCollins Publishers.
  4. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Lolita Files at The Internet Movie Database". The Internet Movie Database.
  5. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Scenes from a Sistah at Amazon.com". Amazon.com.
  6. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Child of God at Amazon.com". Amazon.com.
  7. ↑ Files, Lolita. "sex.lies.murder.fame at Amazon.com". Amazon.com.
  8. ↑ Anthony, Jason (2007-03-03). "Little, Brown's Big Deal". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  9. ↑ Cleage, Pearl. "Babylon Sisters at Amazon.com". Amazon.com.
  10. ↑ Chenzira, Ayoka. "Red Carnelian Films". Red Carnelian Films. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  11. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Lolita Files at PEN America". PEN America.
  12. ↑ "Scholarships". University of Florida: Admissions. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  13. ↑ "University of Florida Gospel Choir". University Gospel Choir.
  14. ↑ "Iota Lambda Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.". Iota Lambda Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  15. ↑ "Iota Lambda Ivy Vine". The Illustrious Iota Lambda Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "Quick Facts" (PDF). Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  17. ↑ "University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications". University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  18. ↑ "University of Florida Student Government: Legislative Branch". University of Florida Student Government: Legislative Branch. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  19. ↑ Pittman-Jones, Mary. "Leadership Team". American International School In Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  20. ↑ Hooper, Ernest. "To write was right for college cards chum". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  21. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Getting to the Good Part at Amazon.com". Amazon.com.
  22. ↑ Files, Lolita. "Tastes Like Chicken at Amazon.com". Amazon.com.
  23. ↑ "Henry H. Filer Middle School". Henry H. Filer Middle School. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  24. ↑ "Leadership Montgomery". Leadership Montgomery. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  25. ↑ "Leadership Montgomery Class X". Leadership Montgomery. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  26. ↑ "Pinder Lane & Garon-Brooke Associates Literary & Media Representation". Pinder Lane & Garon-Brooke Associates Literary & Media Representation. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  27. ↑ Doup, Liz. "Sistah A Dream Come True For Author". Encyclopedia.com. (Miami Herald, March 19, 1997, page D1). Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  28. ↑ Doup, Liz. "First novel realizes longtime dream for writer Lolita Files". Google News. (Daily News, March 28, 1997). Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  29. ↑ Winston, Sherri. "If It's Your Dream, Start Working For It". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  30. ↑ "Far-fetched Tale That's Packed With Fun". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  31. ↑ "Customer Reviews: Scenes From A Sistah". Amazon.com. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  32. ↑ "Blind Ambitions". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  33. ↑ "Child of God". Amazon.com. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  34. ↑ "Child of God". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  35. ↑ "Child of God: A Novel". BookFlavor. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  36. ↑ "Black Issues Book Review: The Best of 2002". The Free Library. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  37. ↑ "Local Library Events". The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  38. ↑ "Child of God". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  39. ↑ "Event". Daily News.com. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  40. ↑ Nixon, Roz. "Roz Nixon Entertainment". Roz Nixon Entertainment. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  41. ↑ "Playwright Roz Nixon Praises Black Women". Ebsco. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  42. ↑ "New York, New Theatre: New Homefront". www.playbill.com. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  43. ↑ Forever Sisters: Famous Writers Celebrate the Power of Sisterhood with Short Stories, Essays, and Memoirs. Google Books. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  44. ↑ "Exploring The Disciplines: Literature (EDU 232072)". SUNY Empire State College. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  45. ↑ "African Ancestry". African Ancestry.com. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  46. ↑ "African Ancestry: How It Works". African Ancestry.com. Retrieved 8 October 2014.

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