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Naomi Wallace
Wallace and raccoon in Kentucky
Born1960 (age 63–64)
Prospect, Kentucky, U.S.
EducationHampshire College (BA)
University of Iowa (MFA)
Children3

Naomi Wallace (born 1960) is an American playwright, screenwriter and poet from Kentucky. She is widely known for her plays, and has received several distinguished awards for her work.

Biography[edit]

Naomi Wallace was born in Prospect, Kentucky, to Henry F. Wallace, a photojournalist and correspondent for Time and Life magazines, and Sonja de Vries, a Dutch justice and human rights worker.[1][2]

Wallace obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College. She then received two master's degrees from the University of Iowa. Currently, she divides her time between Kentucky and the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England (UK), where she lives with her partner, Bruce McLeod.

Jeremy Scahill and Naomi Wallace giving a writing workshop in New Haven, Connecticut.

Wallace has taught English literature, poetry and play writing at her alma maters, Yale University, UCLA, Illinois State University, Merrimack College, American University of Cairo, Vrije University of Amsterdam and other institutions. She has also worked with women in the criminal justice system, and is a member of Showing up for Racial Justice.[3] She has been called "a dedicated advocate for justice and human rights in the U.S. and abroad, and Palestinian rights in the Middle East,"[4] and her writing described as "muscular, devastating, and unwavering."[5]

Activism[edit]

In the mid-2000s, Wallace was briefly detained by the United States Department of Homeland Security after defying the ban on travel to Cuba.[6]

In August 2016, Wallace was one of the Freedom Riders with the Women's Boat to Gaza.[7]


Publications[edit]

Wallace's plays are published in the U.S. by Broadway Play Publishing Inc., Theatre Communications Group, Faber and Faber in the UK, and éditions Théâtrales in France. Wallace's work has been produced in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East.[8][9]

Awards[edit]

Wallace's work has received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize twice, the Joseph Kesselring Prize, the Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, and an Obie Award. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts development grant.[10]

In 2009, One Flea Spare was incorporated into the permanent répertoire of the French National Theatre, the Comédie-Française, and produced there in 2012. Only two American playwrights have ever been added to La Comédie's repertoire in 300 years: the other being Tennessee Williams. The play was translated into French by Dominique Hollier.

In 2012, Wallace was a recipient of the Horton Foote Prize for most promising new American play.[11]

In 2013, she was awarded the inaugural Windham–Campbell Literature Prize established at Yale University.[5][12]

In 2015, Wallace received an Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[13]

Work[edit]

Signature Theatre, the Off-Broadway company that has historically mounted a season of plays, produced three of Wallace's plays in 2014–2015, including the world premiere of Night is a Room.[9]

Plays[edit]

  • In The Heart of America
  • One Flea Spare
  • The Inland Sea
  • Slaughter City
  • The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek
  • The Girl Who Fell Through a Hole in Her Jumper (with Bruce E. J. McLeod; licensed under the title The Girl Who Fell Through a Hole in Her Sweater in the United States)
  • The War Boys
  • Things of Dry Hours
  • Birdy (an adaptation of William Wharton's novel)
  • The Fever Chart: Three Visions of the Middle East
  • Twenty One Positions: A Cartographic Dream of the Middle East (with Lisa Schlesinger and Abdelfattah Abusrour)
  • The Hard Weather Boating Party
  • One Short Sleepe
  • And I and Silence
  • The Liquid Plain
  • Night is a Room
  • Barrel Wave
  • Returning to Haifa (with Ismail Khalid)
  • The Return of Benjamin Lay (with Marcus Rediker)
  • The Breach

Anthologies[edit]

Essays[edit]

Poetry[edit]

  • To Dance A Stony Field (Peterloo Poets Press).

Films[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cummings, Scott T.; Abbitt, Erica Stevens (December 18, 2013). The Theatre of Naomi Wallace: Embodied Dialogues. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137017925. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  2. ^ "A.R.T. - American Repertory Theater - Naomi Wallace". americanrepertorytheater.org. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  3. ^ "Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)". Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  4. ^ "CHASS: IN THE HEART OF AMERICA by Naomi Wallace". Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Windham Campbell Prizes – Naomi Wallace". The Donald Windham-Sandy Campbell Literature Prizes. Yale University. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  6. ^ Lyn Gardner (February 6, 2007). "Enemy within". The Guardian. London.
  7. ^ Catron, Joe. "Women's Boat to Gaza Prepares a New Challenge to Israel's Blockade". Truthout. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  8. ^ "Naomi Wallace". The New York Times. April 8, 2009.
  9. ^ a b "The Fever Chart". The American University in Cairo. Archived from the original on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  10. ^ "Naomi Wallace's Development Process for "The Hard Weather Boating Party"". New Play Blog. New Play Development Program, Arena Stage. March 13, 2009. Archived from the original on October 5, 2010.
  11. ^ "Alumna Naomi Wallace wins Horton Foote Prize | Iowa Now - The University of Iowa". now.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  12. ^ Dorie Baker (March 4, 2013). "Yale awards $1.35 million to nine writers". YaleNews. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
  13. ^ "American Academy of Arts & Letters Awards to Naomi Wallace and Zachary Lazar | Iowa Writers' Workshop | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa". writersworkshop.uiowa.edu. 2015-04-07. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  14. ^ Wallace, Naomi; Khalidi, Ismail (eds.). "Browse Titles - Inside/Outside: Six Plays from Palestine and the Diaspora". Theatre Communications Group. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  15. ^ "Lawn Dogs". May 15, 1998. Retrieved August 12, 2016 – via IMDb.

External links[edit]

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Wallace