Dan Fante

Fante: A Family's Legacy of Writing, Drinking and Surviving (HarperCollins)

Novelist and poet Dan Fante will discuss and sign his new family memoir Fante, covering the lives of his Italian-born grandfather, his famous-writer father John Fante (Ask the Dust), and his own life, writing, and personal struggles. "If writing is fighting, then Dan Fante goes fifteen rounds and stays standing. This is a fascinating story about two hard-edged men, survival and the passion to live and to write."--Michael Connelly Dan Fante is the son of novelist John Fante. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. At nineteen he hitchhiked across the country, eventually ending up in New York City where he was a cab driver for seven years and held a hundred other jobs in order to survive. Fante battled with alcoholism for many years and was arrested many times for his numerous stupidities. After getting sober, and in hope of remaining permanently indignant, Fante took up writing novels in his mid-forties. Today Dan Fante is sober and lives in Los Angeles with his wife Ayrin and his six-year old son Michelangelo Giovanni Fante. Fante is the author of the novels 86’d, Chump Change, Mooch, Spitting Off Tall Buildings, the short story collection Short Dog; two books of poetry, and the plays “The Boiler Room” and “Don Giovanni.” He continues to write every day.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 2, 2011.