NO CAREER IN MODERN AMERICAN LETTERS has been at once so brilliant, varied, controversial and productive as that of Norman Mailer. Among the most influential writers of the second half of the 20th century, Mailer achieved fame at an early age with his first book, The Naked and the Dead (1948), and by the time he won his second Pulitzer Prize for The Executioner’s Song in 1980 he was often referred to as the American Tolstoy. Few writers matched Mailer’s intelligence and intensity. And none have written on such a high level in so many genres and on such varied subjects. Mailer wrote a dozen novels, twenty works of nonfiction, a few stage plays, screenplays, and television miniseries, hundreds of essays, two books of poetry, and a collection of short stories. Novelist Joan Didion said of his work, “There was no voice like his;” calling him “a great and obsessed stylist.” Time magazine acknowledged, “For a heady period, no major public event in U.S. life seemed quite complete until Mailer had observed himself observing it.”
MAILER BEGAN HIS WRITING CAREER as a student at Harvard in 1939. After graduating in 1943, Mailer reported for duty in the army. In January 1945 Mailer landed on the Philippine island of Luzon, where he began taking notes that would become the basis for his novel The Naked and the Dead.
On May 2, 1946, he was discharged from the army and he began writing his novel in a bungalow on a deserted expanse of beach outside Provincetown on Cape Cod. For the next six decades Mailer would regularly return to Provincetown to write. He wrote some or all of 30 books there, becoming a part of the town’s cultural heritage. Provincetown had become for him what Key West and Cuba had become for Hemingway. In 1990 Mailer made Provincetown his permanent home, becoming what the locals call a “year- rounder.”
The Norman Mailer Writers Center and The Norman Mailer Writers Colony, a non-profit organization for educational purposes, has been established to honor Norman Mailer. Mailer had a lifelong interest and commitment to writers and writing programs and the Mailer house in Provincetown will serve as the Center's and Colony’s headquarters for students, fellows, writers and scholars from all over the world. Mailer understood the importance of the written word and devoted his life to it. He attended writer’s conferences, he met with young writers, and he encouraged them to be the best writers they could be. “Let us never assume,” he said, “there is not more and more, and more and more, and then more to write about.” The vision of the Center and Colony is as wide and as varied as Mailer’s vision as a writer.
The Center's Board of Directors are:
LAWRENCE SCHILLER; President and Co-Founder
TINA BROWN; Journalist, magazine editor and columnist
WILLIAM KENNEDY, Writer
JOHN MAILER, Writer
MICHAEL MAILER, Motion Picture Producer
COLUM McCANN, Writer
SAM RADIN; Attorney-at-law
SPAS ROUSSEV; Publisher and Investor / Southeastern Europe
The Center has established an Writers Council to serve as advisors on all academic matters.
JOAN DIDION, National Book Award winner
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, Pulitzer Prize winner
GÜNTER GRASS, 1999 Nobel Laureate
WILLIAM KENNEDY, Pulitzer Prize winner
SALMAN RUSHDIE, Booker Prize winner
GAY TALESE, George Polk Award winner
An Asia Council for International travel study programs advises the Board of Directors.
DA CHEN, Fiction
DAVID HENRY HWANG, Playwright
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON, Memoirs and Fiction
AMITAVA KUMAR, Nonfiction
SUKETU MEHTA, Journalism
ANCHEE MIN, Memoirs and Fiction
Further, the Center has established an Advisory Council to consult with the Board on administrative
activities of the Center and the Writers Colony.
NORRIS CHURCH MAILER; Co-Founder and Co-executor of the Mailer Estate
THOMAS STALEY; Director of the Harry Ransom Center
J. MICHAEL LENNON; Mailer’s authorized biographer
NICHOLAS FOULKES; Writer, columnist and magazine editor
It was the dream of Mailer and his wife Norris that their home not be lost to history. It is located on the water, along the curve of shore of Provincetown Harbor. Boston is two and a half hours away by car and is also accessible by ferry and plane. Mailer’s third-floor study, where he wrote many of his major works since 1975, looks out on Provincetown. It remains as he left it, with the books, notes and research materials that he was using as he worked on his next project.
THE NORMAN MAILER CENTER AND WRITERS COLONY will help keep alive the endangered, serious writer; bring writers together for workshops, seminars, lectures, readings, and conferences; provide a space for individual growth; offer fellowships, stipends, and scholarships for those in need; produce a new literary publication; reach out to the community and make visiting writers available to schools and organizations; and offer residency for visiting professionals.
The Center and Colony has established The Norman Mailer National Writing Awards in collaboration with the National Council of Teachers of English for all high school, community college, college students and high school teachers to encourage the passion, skill and commitment that Norman Mailer exhibited during his 60-year writing career. These awards and the Mailer Prize for lifetime achievement in writing, journalism and publishing will be presented each year in New York City beginning in October, 2009.
In support of the educational mission of the Center and Colony, the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the James A. Michener Center for Writers will aid in the administration of the Colony's summer Fellowship Programs for emerging writers. During the fall, winter and spring, the Center and Colony will host the writers retreat program for mid-career and distinguished writers from throughout the world. During the summer months, the Colony will offer workshops in various areas of creative writing, poetry, screenplay and play writing. These workshops will be open to students and writers through an application process. The instructors will be established teachers, writers and editors. In addition, the Center has established a program of collaborative events with local nonprofit institutions, including the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Fine Arts Work Center, the Provincetown International Film Festival, and The Norman Mailer Society.
THE NORMAN MAILER CENTER AND WRITERS COLONY is designed to facilitate a balance between a focus on individual work and a forum for discussion among writers. In the evening occasional readings and presentations will be an elective part of the stimulating and supportive environment. These readings and discussions will allow Colonists to become acquainted with and inspired by one another’s work. Friendships established among writers- in- residence often lead to collaborations and connections beyond the colony. Distinguished writers and scholars will be housed at the Mailer house, while those attending the Colony will stay in nearby condominiums.
TO MAKE THE VISION REAL, The Norman Mailer Center needs to be supported by an endowment of $12-$14 million, which will be used to purchase the Mailer house in Provincetown and sustain Center's operations.
The Board of Directors invite the participation of those who seek to support the arts and understand the significance of The Norman Mailer Center and the Norman Mailer Writers Colony. All inquiries should be addressed to:
LAWRENCE SCHILLER, President and Co-Founder
THE NORMAN MAILER CENTER AND WRITERS COLONY
1115 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10010
646 374 3939 • M:(818) 445-6652 • LSCHILLER@NMWCOLONY.ORG
WWW.NMCFW.ORG
A non-profit organization for educational purposes.