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Jervey Tervalon
Lecturer
Contact Information
Office: THH 402L
Phone: (213) 821-5563
E-mail:
tervalon@usc.edu
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Biographical Sketch
Jervey Tervalon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but moved to the Jefferson Park/Crenshaw area of Los Angeles, California, with his family as a young boy. He attended the University of California, at Santa Barbara where he graduated with honors with a BA in Literature. He returned to Los Angeles where he taught at Locke High school for five years in what was, arguably one of the worst schools in Los Angeles. He returned to college and received his MFA from UC Irvine where he studied with Thomas Keneally and Oakley Hall. His thesis project became the novel Understand This for which he won the 1994 New Voices Award from Quality Paper Books was based on his experiences teaching at Locke. His novel, Dead above Ground , told in the voice of his mother, about his family in New Orleans and the tragic murder of cousin, spent two months on the LA Times Bestsellers list, as did his novel All the Trouble You Need.
Currently, Tervalon teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California. Tervalon writes about race and education for the Los Angeles Times, and, he has written a series of essays on Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it has wrought on his family for the LA Weekly. He won the Los Angeles Press Club’s award for Signed Commentary for The Slow Death of a Chocolate City published in the LA Weekly 200.
He’s served on the board of PEN USA for the past six years.
Honors, Awards: Disney Screen-writing Fellow, 1992; Quality Paper Book Club's New Voices Award, 1994; Finalist, Discover New Writers/Barnes and Noble Award, 1994; Honorable Mention, Pushcart Prize, 1996; Gold Crown Award from the Pasadena Arts Council, Remsen Bird Artist in Residence, 2001;. Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Excellence in Multicultural Literature, 2001; California Arts Fellowship, 2003. The award for Signed Commentary from the LA Press Club.
Conferences and Other Presentations
Conference Presentations
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"FULL TO OVERFLOWING: LA NOVELISTS ", GUADALAJARA BOOK FESTIVAL , Roundtable/Panel, , GUADALAJARA, Mexico, NEA, Invited, 2008-2009
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"HOMENAJE A JOHN FANTE, CHESTER HIMES AND DANIEL FUCHS ", GUADALAJARA BOOK FESTIVAL , Roundtable/Panel, , GUADALAJARA, Mexico, NEA, Invited, 2008-2009
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"Michael Revisited: A Critical Look at the Phenomenon of Michael Jackson", Roundtable/Panel, , Cal State Los Angeles, Center for the Study of Gender and Sexualities at , Invited, 2008-2009
Publications
Book Review
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Tervalon, J. M.
(2007).
LA WEEKLY. LA WEEKLY. pp. 800 words.
Broadcast Media
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Tervalon, J. M.
(2007, May, 9).
LA WEEKLY. Los Angeles, CA./New Times: May-2007.
Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works
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Essay, "The Slow Death of a Chocolate City," LA Weekly, 12-1-07.
, 2007-2008
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Essay, "When a Black Man Sees Himself Through White Eyes," LA Weekly, 9-4-08., 2007-2008
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Essay, "The Revenge of the Angry Black Artist," A Public Space Magazine, 8-08.
, 2008-2009
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Book Review , 'T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E': A novel by Sanyika Shakur, Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 17, 2008; , 2007-2008
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Book Review, Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, LA Weekly,10/07; , 2007-2008
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Essay, Fabulously, F'ing Weird: Michael Jackson as Video Game Zombie--LA WEEKLY, 7-09, 2008-2009
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Essay, South L.A. Serial Killer: If a Body Falls in an Alley ... - March 5, 2009, LA Weekly, 2009-2010
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Essay, Inauguration Day: The View From Obama's So Cal Alma Mater - January 22, 2009
The swearing in at Occidental College, plus, trying to get the Spider-man comic book featuring our new superhero president
--LA Weekly, 2008-2009
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Essay, • Obama's Inauguration Through the Post-Race Eyes of Clarence Thomas - January 15, 2009
A black man's blues
LA Weekly, 2008-2009
Honors and Awards
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LA Press Club: 50th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards: SIGNED COMMENTARY, 1st Place: Jervey Tervalon, LA Weekly, "The Slow Death of a Chocolate City.", 2008-2009
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