Tama Janowitz


Tama Janowitz is an American novelist and a short story writer. She is especially known for her novel-in-stories Slaves of New York, which was adapted into the movie of the same name by Merchant Ivory in 1989. She is often referenced as one of the main "brat pack" authors, along with Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney.

Early life and education

Tama Janowitz' father was a literature professor at Cornell University, and her parents divorced when she was ten. She and her brother David grew up with her mother in Massachusetts, and, for two years in the late 1960s, in Israel.
Janowitz graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in 1977 and from Hollins College with an M.A. in 1979.
In 1985 she received an M.F.A. from the Columbia University School of the Arts.

Career

Upon settling in New York City, Janowitz started writing about life there, becoming well known in Manhattan literary and social circles. She began socializing with pop artist Andy Warhol through her relationship with artist Ronnie Cutrone.
Janowitz's collection of short stories, Slaves of New York, brought her wider fame in 1986. Publishers Weekly described the book as seven stories featuring a woman named Eleanor, "a diffident young woman who gains entree to the arty milieu of lower Manhattan, which seems to combine elements of Oz and Never-Never-Land with Dante's Inferno." Warhol mentioned in his diary that the characters Eleanor and Stash in the stories are based on Janowitz and Cutrone. The book was adapted into the 1989 film Slaves of New York, which was directed by James Ivory and starring Bernadette Peters. Janowitz wrote the screenplay and also appeared, playing Peters' friend.
Janowitz is often referenced as one of the main "brat pack" authors, along with Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney.
Her memoir, Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction, was published in August 2016 to mixed reviews. In The New York Times Book Review, Ada Calhoun noted Janowitz's deadpan, almost careless way of looking at her own life and the glamor of hanging out with Andy Warhol and dancing at Studio 54. The review also addressed the concern with material goods and financial security that drives many of Janowitz's novels and led her to appear in ads for Amaretto and other products, writing that it "shows that she comes by her obsession with money honestly."

Personal life

Janowitz left Manhattan to live in Brooklyn with her British husband and art-gallery owner, Tim Hunt and their daughter. In 2013 she was living near Ithaca, New York.

Awards

  • 1975: Bread Loaf Writers fellowship
  • 1976; 1977: Janoway Fiction prize
  • 1982: National Endowment Award

Publications

Fiction

Nonfiction