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Lolita Files

{{short description|American novelist}}

{{multiple issues|

{{BLP sources|date=January 2017}}

{{BLP self-published|date=January 2017}}

{{unreliable sources|date=January 2017}}

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{{Infobox person

| name = Lolita Files

| image = Lolita Files Press Photo.jpg

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| birth_place = Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.

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| nationality = American

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| education = University of Florida (BS)

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| occupation = {{hlist |Author |Screenwriter |Producer}}

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| years_active = 1997–present

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| website = {{URL|www.lolitafiles.com/}}

}}

Lolita Files is an American author,{{cite web | last =Files | first =Lolita |url=http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/authors/lolita-files/ |title=Lolita Files at Hachette Book Group | date =27 June 2017 | publisher =Hachette Book Group}}{{cite web | last =Files | first =Lolita |url=http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Lolita-Files/1611625 |title=Lolita Files at Simon & Schuster | publisher =Simon & Schuster}}{{cite web | last =Files | first =Lolita |url=http://www.harpercollins.com/cr-103572/lolita-files |title=Lolita Files at HarperCollins Publishers | publisher =HarperCollins Publishers}} screenwriter, and producer.{{cite web | last =Files | first =Lolita |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3869001/ |title=Lolita Files at The Internet Movie Database | publisher =The Internet Movie Database}} Among her six bestselling novels are book club favorites Scenes from a Sistah{{cite book | last =Files | first =Lolita |title=Scenes from a Sistah at Amazon.com | date =July 1998 | publisher =Grand Central | isbn =0446674427 }} and Child of God.{{cite book | last =Files | first =Lolita |title=Child of God at Amazon.com | date =4 September 2002 | publisher =Simon & Schuster | isbn =0743225910 }} Her sixth novel, sex.lies.murder.fame{{cite book | last =Files | first =Lolita |title=sex.lies.murder.fame at Amazon.com | date =10 January 2006 | publisher =Harper Collins | isbn =0060786809 }} was optioned for film by Carolyn Folks for Entertainment Studios{{cite news | last =Anthony | first =Jason | title =Little, Brown's Big Deal | publisher =Publishers Weekly | date =2007-03-03 | url =http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20070305/1360-little-brown-s-big-deal.html | access-date =2014-10-07 }} with Files adapting the screenplay.

The book Once Upon A Time In Compton, by former Compton Gang Unit Detectives Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd, along with Files, about Brennan and Ladd's years in the gang unit, the rise of Gangsta rap, gang wars, the L.A. riots, the investigations of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and the fall of the Compton Police Department was published on April 25, 2017.

Files has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Florida and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Files lives in Los Angeles, where she writes novels, nonfiction, and writes and produces projects for television, film, and new media.

Early life and education

Lolita Files was born in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to Lillie (née Brackett) (d. 2008) and Arthur James Files, Sr. (d. 1999), She was named by her mother after the Stanley Kubrick film Lolita. She has one older sibling, Arthur James Files, Jr.

An avid reader from an early age, she was heavily immersed in mythology (Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Norse mythology, Arthurian legend), Dante's Divine Comedy, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Her love of Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Zora Neale Hurston, Louise Meriwether, Vladimir Nabokov, Chinua Achebe, Claude Brown, Richard Wright, Gustav Flaubert, and Greek playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Aristophanes would inform and influence much of her work.

Files graduated from Dillard High School with seven scholarships and attended the University of Florida at Gainesville. She briefly worked as a stringer for the student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator, was a member of the University of Florida Gospel Choir,{{cite web|title=University of Florida Gospel Choir|url=http://www.ufgospelchoir.com/|website=University Gospel Choir}} and pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority (Iota Lambda chapter).{{cite web|title=Iota Lambda Ivy Vine|url=http://illustriousaka.com/ivy-vine-|website=The Illustrious Iota Lambda Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.|access-date=9 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016094529/http://illustriousaka.com/ivy-vine-|archive-date=16 October 2014}} In her senior year, she was a Senator representing the College of Journalism and Communications{{cite web|title=University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications|url=http://www.jou.ufl.edu/|website=University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications|access-date=8 October 2014}} in UF's Student Senate.{{cite web|title=University of Florida Student Government: Legislative Branch|url=http://www.sg.ufl.edu/GovernmentBranches/Legislative/SenateRoster|website=University of Florida Student Government: Legislative Branch|access-date=8 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008162253/http://www.sg.ufl.edu/GovernmentBranches/Legislative/SenateRoster|archive-date=8 October 2014}}

Career

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism, Files returned to Fort Lauderdale, working as a marketing manager for a pharmaceutical company and as a regional property coordinator for Great Atlantic Property Management, a real estate management company based out of Newport News, VA with commercial and residential properties that spanned the Eastern Seaboard and parts of the Midwest. Her experience with the world of property management would later inform her first two novels, Scenes from a Sistah (1997), and its followup, Getting To The Good Part{{cite book | last =Files | first =Lolita |title=Getting to the Good Part at Amazon.com | date =15 January 2000 | publisher =Grand Central | isbn =0446675482 }} (1999).

From 1992 to 1996, Files was the National Communications Manager for the Facilities Management division of KinderCare Learning Centers, the nation's largest provider of for-profit child care and early childhood education, then based in Montgomery, AL.

=Writing=

In the fall of 1994, Files overnighted two comedic short stories and fifty pages of Child of God, a dramatic novel she'd been sporadically working on for five years, to literary agency Jay Garon-Brooke Associates, Inc.,{{cite web|title=Pinder Lane & Garon-Brooke Associates Literary & Media Representation|url=http://www.pinderlaneandgaronbrooke.com/|website=Pinder Lane & Garon-Brooke Associates Literary & Media Representation|access-date=8 October 2014}} the agency that represented bestselling author John Grisham. In her query letter, Files stated she had eight more short stories that went with the two she sent.

Nancy Coffey, an agent from Garon-Brooke, called the next morning requesting to see the rest of the material. A week later, Files was signed by the agency. {{blockquote|"Her voice just leapt off the page," Coffey told the Miami Herald. "It was fresh, uplifting and funny."{{cite web|last1=Doup|first1=Liz|title=Sistah A Dream Come True For Author|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2873700022.html#A|website=Encyclopedia.com|publisher=(Miami Herald, March 19, 1997, page D1)|access-date=10 October 2014}}}}

=''Scenes From A Sistah'' and ''Child of God''=

After signing with Garon-Brooke, while working on completing Child of God, Files began writing another novel, Scenes from a Sistah, completing the first draft in seven days. In February 1996, Warner Books purchased Scenes for an advance of $50,000.

{{blockquote|"It's a Cinderella story," says Caryn Karmatz Rudy, Files' editor at Warner Books. "Most often, you hear about people writing and getting a zillion rejections. But Lolita writes this book, sends it to the agency of the most successful writer in the country, and they take it. Then, we publish it. That's not your typical story."{{cite web|last1=Doup|first1=Liz|title=First novel realizes longtime dream for writer Lolita Files|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1696&dat=19970328&id=fvgaAAAAIBAJ&pg=2823,3290882|website=Google News|publisher=(Daily News, March 28, 1997)|access-date=10 October 2014}}}}

In April 1996, Files left Corporate America for a full-time career as a writer. Scenes from a Sistah debuted{{cite web|last1=Winston|first1=Sherri|title=If It's Your Dream, Start Working For It|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-03-26/lifestyle/9703240194_1_dream-chilly-water-room|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015112353/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-03-26/lifestyle/9703240194_1_dream-chilly-water-room|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 15, 2014|website=Sun-Sentinel|access-date=10 October 2014}} a year later in April 1997 and was an instant hit,{{cite web|title=Far-fetched Tale That's Packed With Fun|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-04-23/lifestyle/9704220201_1_black-professionals-black-men-bosses|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015081808/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-04-23/lifestyle/9704220201_1_black-professionals-black-men-bosses|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 15, 2014|website=Sun-Sentinel|access-date=9 October 2014}}{{cite web|title=Customer Reviews: Scenes From A Sistah|url=https://www.amazon.com/Scenes-Sistah-Lolita-Files/product-reviews/0446674427/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_see_all_top?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=byRankDescending|website=Amazon.com|access-date=9 October 2014}} quickly selling out of its first printing and landing on several bestseller lists.

"Child of God" was published in September 2001, after the release of Scenes sequel Getting to the Good Part in 1999 and Blind Ambitions, in 2000.

=''HodgePodge''=

The short stories that helped Files get signed by the Garon-Brooke literary agency were expanded into HodgePodge, a novel including several characters who feature prominently in the Scenes trilogy (Scenes from a Sistah, Getting to the Good Part, and Tastes Like Chicken). To-date, Files has not chosen to publish the book.

= Off Broadway =

In 1998, Files appeared in the play "Sisters Who Get Everything Without Giving Up Anything" at the Homefront Theatre,{{cite web|title=New York, New Theatre: New Homefront|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/new-york-new-theatre-new-homefront-71585|website=www.playbill.com|access-date=9 October 2014}}{{cite web|title=Playwright Roz Nixon Praises Black Women|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/597447/playwright-roz-nixon-praises-black-women|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017125033/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/597447/playwright-roz-nixon-praises-black-women|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 October 2014|website=Ebsco|access-date=9 October 2014}} playing lead character Rea Montgomery.{{cite book|title=Forever Sisters: Famous Writers Celebrate the Power of Sisterhood with Short Stories, Essays, and Memoirs|isbn = 9780671042165|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bk6T-x7pHEYC&q=%22Lolita%20Files%22%20and%20%22Superchick%22&pg=PA83|access-date=9 October 2014|last1 = O'Keefe|first1 = Claudia|date = April 2000| publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

= Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' vs Files' ''Child of God'' =

SUNY Empire State College offers an eight-week course, "Exploring The Disciplines: Literature (EDU-232072),"{{cite web|title=Exploring The Disciplines: Literature (EDU 232072)|url=http://www8.esc.edu/admin/esc/cdl/cdlcat.nsf/all/E69C56DB30161A0E85256CE800503ABC?opendocument|website=SUNY Empire State College|access-date=8 October 2014}} centered around the examination of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Lolita Files' novel, Child of God.

Per the course description: {{blockquote|"Both texts include a similar story-line: a murder, an incestuous relationship, an uneasy resolution at the end. By exploring these texts written over 300 years apart, students will learn about the types of themes, questions, comparisons and insights that literature has to offer."}}

= ''Who Killed Tupac?'' television docuseries =

Files produced and appears as an investigator for A&E's six-part limited series Who Killed Tupac?{{cite web|title=Who Killed Tupac?|website=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7623616/combined|access-date=19 November 2017}} In the series, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump leads an in-depth investigation into the unsolved murder of hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur.

Personal life

In December 2012, Files took a genealogical DNA test through lineage tracing company African Ancestry.{{cite web|title=African Ancestry|url=http://www.africanancestry.com/home/|website=African Ancestry.com|access-date=8 October 2014}} Results came back revealing a direct link of Files' maternal ancestry{{cite web|title=African Ancestry: How It Works|url=http://www.africanancestry.com/how-it-works/|website=African Ancestry.com|access-date=8 October 2014}} to the Brame and Balanta people of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.

Bibliography

File:Lolita Files speaking in Bakersfield CA (Feb 2013).jpg in February 2013]]

= Novels =

= Short stories =

  • "Roses, Red, Room 416" in the anthology Black Silk - Warner Books, February 2002
  • "Bobby Q's Sauce" in the anthology Twilight Moods - Flowers in Bloom Publishing, September 2002
  • "Standing Room Only" in the anthology Brown Sugar 3: When Opposites Attract - Washington Square Press, January 2004
  • "Appropriate Measures" - The Lo Zone, November 2014

= Novella =

  • "Three For The Road" in the anthology You Only Get Better - Kimani Press, March 2007

= Nonfiction =

Once Upon A Time In Compton (Tim Brennan & Robert Ladd with Lolita Files) - Amazon, April 2017

Filmography

= Producer =

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

  • [http://www.lolitafiles.com Lolita Files' website, "The Lo Zone"]
  • {{IMDb name|3869001}}
  • [https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Lolita+Files Lolita Files at the African American Literature Book Club (AALBC)]
  • [http://www.blackhollywoodlive.com/2017/10/04/lolita-files-interview-bhl-conversations/ Lolita Files Interview on Black Hollywood Live Conversations]
  • [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-02-22-bchat-book-videos_x.htm USA Today: Online Book Videos Bring Words To Life]
  • [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB112932706837069224?mod=at_leisure_main_reviews_days_only The Wall Street Journal: Chick Lit Goes 'Glam']
  • [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012601715.html The Washington Post: Mysteries: Review of sex.lies.murder.fame (Under "Seminal Success")]
  • [http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7432-4525-8 Publishers Weekly Review of Tastes Like Chicken]
  • [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1127797 NPR: All Things Considered: Lolita Files Discusses and Reads from Child of God]
  • [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/02/judged-by-their-back-covers/705fae36-4870-4342-8cd7-64b53b5658fb/ The Washington Post: Judged by Their Back Covers]
  • [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/16/garden/open-a-book-and-there-s-a-sister-inside.html?scp=3&sq=Lolita%20Files&st=cse The New York Times: Open a Book, and There's a Sister Inside]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20141015081808/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-04-23/lifestyle/9704220201_1_black-professionals-black-men-bosses Sun-Sentinel: Far-fetched Tale That's Packed With Fun]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Files, Lolita}}

Category:Living people

Category:African-American screenwriters

Category:20th-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American women short story writers

Category:University of Florida alumni

Category:American women novelists

Category:Writers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:20th-century American short story writers

Category:21st-century American short story writers

Category:Screenwriters from Florida

Category:African-American novelists

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:21st-century African-American women writers

Category:21st-century African-American writers