John Blake Bailey (born July 1, 1963) is an American writer and educator. Bailey is known for his literary biographies of Richard Yates,
John Cheever
John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; ...
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
. He is the editor of the
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
omnibus editions of Cheever's stories and novels. In April 2021, his agency dropped him after several of his former eighth grade students came forward with accounts of rape and sexual abuse committed when they were adults.
Background
Bailey grew up in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
Dan Fagin
Dan Fagin (born February 1, 1963) is an American journalist who specializes in environmental science. He won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his best-selling book '' Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation''. ''Toms River ...
. He was a student at
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
, from which he graduated in 1985.
Bailey and his family lost their house and most of their possessions in
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
, an experience he wrote about in a series of articles for ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
''.
In 2009–2010, Bailey was Writer in Residence at
The College of William and Mary
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
in Virginia. From 2010 to 2016, he was the Mina Hohenberg Darden Professor of Creative Writing at
Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia with ...
in Norfolk, Virginia. He was succeeded by ''Black Elk'' author Joe Jackson. Bailey is a tennis enthusiast.
Career
After college, Bailey wrote occasional freelance pieces. He taught gifted eighth-graders at Lusher Middle School in New Orleans in the 1990s.
After publishing a long critical profile of Richard Yates, Bailey contracted to write a full-length biography of the novelist, ''A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates'' (2003).
In 2005, Bailey was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
to work on his biography, ''Cheever: A Life'', which won the 2009
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
.
Bailey published his biography of the novelist Charles Jackson, ''Farther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson'' (2013), as well as a memoir, ''The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait'' (2014).
In an interview with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published on November 17, 2012,
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
said that Bailey was his official biographer and at work on that project. While Roth was alive, he gave Bailey exclusive access to papers, friends and family, and made himself available for extensive interviews. Bailey's 880-page biography of Roth, entitled '' Philip Roth: The Biography'', was published in the United States by W. W. Norton & Company on April 6, 2021, and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on April 8, 2021.
Sexual misconduct allegations
On April 16, 2021, several former students of Bailey's left comments on a critical review of Bailey's Roth biography, alleging that Bailey had groomed them as students. On April 18, 2021, Bailey was dropped by his agency, the Story Factory, following these allegations of sexual misconduct, which Bailey denied. On April 20, 2021, journalists Ramon Antonio Vargas and Edward Champion first reported on these allegations in detail. Bailey was accused of grooming his former students at Lusher Middle School for sex. One former student, Eve Crawford Peyton, has accused Bailey of raping her when she was 22 years old. On April 27, 2021, he was also accused of "nonconsensual sex" by Valentina Rice, a publishing executive.
On June 10, 2021, in an article published in the Virginian-Pilot, four women at Old Dominion University, where Bailey had previously worked, accused Bailey of sexual assault and harassment. One of the women accused Bailey of “grabbing her crotch in a hot tub, forcibly trying to kiss her on campus, (and) threatening to rape her,” only stopping after she pulled a knife out and held it against his throat, the newspaper reported. Another account in the Virginian-Pilot's report concerned a female author who visited Old Dominion and recounted how Bailey had forcibly kissed her. Two graduate students also described Bailey getting "handsy" and making unwanted advances, as well as making sexually explicit comments to them.
In a statement provided to the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
on April 21 by W. W. Norton & Company, the publisher announced it had "decided to pause the shipping and promotion of ''Philip Roth: The Biography'' pending any further information that may emerge." On April 28, W. W. Norton announced that it is taking the book out of print. Three weeks later, in May 2021,
Skyhorse Publishing
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont.
History
The current president and publisher is founder Tony Lyo ...
announced that it would release a paperback, ebook, and audiobook versions of the biography."Philip Roth Biography Finds a New Publisher", ''New York Times'', May 17, 202 /ref>
Awards and honors
* 2000 Louisiana Humanities Teacher of the Year
*2003
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
for ''Cheever: A Life''
* 2009
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Francis Parkman Prize
The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of American ...
winner for ''Cheever: A Life''
* 2009
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
finalist for ''Cheever: A Life''
* 2009
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Unit ...
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
The Diane Rehm Show
''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nati ...