James Lee Burke Biography
James Lee Burke was born in Houston, Texas, in 1936 and grew up on the
Texas-Louisiana gulf coast. He attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute and
later received a B. A. Degree in English and an M. A. from the University of
Missouri in 1958 and 1960 respectively. Over the years he worked as a landman
for Sinclair Oil Company, pipeliner, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, college
English professor, social worker on Skid Row in Los Angeles, clerk for the
Louisiana Employment Service, and instructor in the U. S. Job Corps.
He and his wife Pearl met in graduate school and have been married 43 years,
they have four children: Jim Jr., an assistant U.S. Attorney; Andree, a school
psychologist; Pamala, a T.V. ad producer; and Alafair, a law professor and
novelist whose first novel will be published with Henry Holt in 2003.
Burke's work has been awarded an Edgar twice for Best Crime Novel of the Year.
He has also been a recipient of a Breadloaf and Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEA
grant. Three of his novels, Heaven's Prisoners, Two For Texas and In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead have been made
into motion pictures. His short stories have been published in The Atlantic
Monthly, New Stories From the South, Best American Short Stories, Antioch
Review, Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. His novel The Lost Get-Back
Boogie was rejected 111 times over a period of nine years, and upon publication
by Louisiana State University press was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Today he and his wife live in Missoula, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana.
The Robicheaux series
- The Neon Rain (1987)
- Heaven's Prisoners (1988)
- Black Cherry Blues (1989)
- A Morning for Flamingos (1990)
- A Stained White Radiance (1992)
- In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993)
- Dixie City Jam (1994)
- Burning Angel (1995)
- Cadillac Jukebox (1995)
- Sunset Limited (1998)
- Purple Cane Road (2000)
- Jolie Blon's Bounce (2002)
- Last Car to Elysian Fields (2003)
- Crusader's Cross (2005)
- Pegasus Descending (2006)
- The Tin Roof Blowdown (2007)
- Swan Peak (2008)
- The Glass Rainbow (2010)
- Creole Belle (2012)
This biography was last updated on 07/10/2012.
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