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Brent Hartinger
(1964 - living) U.S.A.

Brent Hartinger

Writer

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Hartinger attended Catholic grade school and high school. Hartinger began writing at an early age by publishing his own newspaper called The Weekly Worm in the third grade, though it was not until after college that he made the decision to write full-time. His work has been wide-ranging, including novels, plays, articles, essays, newspaper columns, and even greeting card copy.

He graduated from high school in June 1983, received his B.A. in psychology and political science from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington in 1986, completing a four-year program in three years. He also completed the coursework for a master's degree in psychology at the same university.

As with many authors, success for Hartinger did not come early or easily. He spent fifteen years trying to get a novel published while supporting himself as a freelance writer and teen counselor. He even worked as an extra in the movie Come See the Paradise (1991).

Brent Hartinger has been writing books for fifteen years, but didn't sell any of them until the summer of 2001. Since then, he has sold nine novels.

Also a playwright, Mr. Hartinger has seen his work produced at theaters across the country, including Off-Off Broadway at Wings Theatre in New York. His play version of his novel Geography Club premiered at Seattle's FringeACT Festival of New Plays in 2004.

As a screenwriter, Mr. Hartinger has won many awards, including the $5000 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival Screenwriting in the Sun Award. He has several scripts under option and in the process of studio or network development.

Mr. Hartinger livesin Tacoma, Washington, with another novelist, Michael Jensen, his partner since 1992. He has counseled dozens of teenagers, both as co-facilitator of Oasis, a 200-member gay teen support organization he helped found, and as a counselor at a group home for troubled young people. He is a co-founder of AS IF! Authors Support Intellectual Freedom, a group of Young Adult authors supporting intellectual freedom.

He is currently spearheading The Real Story, an online and print safer sex campaign aimed at gay male teens and twentysomethings, which involves characters from Geography Club and other popular teen novels.

Mr. Hartinger speaks frequently on the subjects of writing, social tolerance, and personal motivation, at schools, bookstores, conferences, churches, and civic groups; he appeared at 60 such events last year. He is a member of the faculty of Vermont College's MFA program. At one time, Hartinger taught creative writing at Tacoma School of the Arts.

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His work includes:

  • Geography Club (2003)
  • The Last Chance Texaco (2004)
  • The Order of the Poison Oak (2005)
  • Grand & Humble (2006)
  • Dreamquest (2006)
  • The Fifth Season (2007)
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