Laura Albert
| Laura Victoria Albert | |
|---|---|
Laura Albert in her study
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| Born |
November 2, 1965 Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Pen name | JT LeRoy, Emily Frasier, Speedie, Laura Victoria, Gluttenberg |
| Occupation | Author |
| Genre | Fiction |
Laura Victoria Albert (born November 2, 1965) is the American author of writings that include works credited to the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar", saying she was able to write things as LeRoy that she could not have said as Laura Albert. Albert was born and raised in Brooklyn. She has also used the names Emily Frasier and Speedie, and published other works as Laura Victoria and Gluttenberg. Albert was sued for fraud when she signed a film option contract with her pseudonym; a jury found against her. The damages to be paid to the film company were settled out of court.
During her youth, Albert was associated with the punk rock and, for a time, skinhead movements. She worked for several years as a phone sex operator, and reviewing sex sites and products on the Web. During the 1990s, she achieved some degree of fame as a freelance sexpert, under the alias Laura Victoria. At the same time, she started writing stories - using the pen name Terminator - in the voice of a young boy telling about his difficult childhood and life in the streets. Baby Doll, JT LeRoy’s first published story, appeared under the byline "Terminator" in a September 1997 anthology.
Albert published three books under the JT LeRoy pseudonym– Sarah (2000), The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2001), and Harold's End (2004).
According to the New Republic, Sarah was the second book Albert wrote but the first one published. The narrator is an adolescent among a group of lot lizards, teen male prostitutes at truck stops. Each wears a signature raccoon penis bone necklace. The narrator aspires to be like his mother, Sarah, to move higher in the ranks of prostitutes. The book is by JT LeRoy but LeRoy’s character is never directly named. The nom de lizard is 'Cherry Vanilla' or, more regularly he is called Sarah, after his mother. The writing is evocative of a folksy magical realism, vivid, colorful phrases to describe the unconventional and gritty reality of a young gender fluid boy.
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