October 2007 Archives

Bennett Madison was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, Maryland.  His high school years were marred by his poor performance on everything except posterboard presentations-- at which he excelled-- and several ongoing conflicts with unpleasant teachers, all of whom should know exactly who they are.

Although he was denied an actual diploma due to his failure to turn in his textbooks (they were lost!), he managed to technically graduate despite a failing grade in Calculus, and moved on to Sarah Lawrence College where his commitment to  academic excellence again proved lackluster.  Much to the dismay of his parents, he was surprised to find out shortly before graduation day that he had forgotten to complete the required courses, had lost a bunch of library books, and would not be graduating with his class.  Luck did not intervene this time, and Bennett was forced to leave his semi-beloved gentleman-friend to a glamorous life of parties and fashion shows in New York City while he pathetically moved back in with his parents and worked at a bookstore where he was often admonished for wearing inappropriately low-cut t-shirts.  Things were looking rough!

Handily, he was able to scrape together a proposal for a mystery series about a girl detective named Lulu Dark, which he sold to Penguin's Razorbill.  Deciding that his ship had come in, Bennett moved to New York city and spent the following year living the famous author lifestyle.  This involved lying around on the couch all day eating Burger King and watching Starting Over on the television.  Although life coach Iyanla Vanzant had many important words of wisdom to offer, they failed to move Bennett to action, and he was by all accounts was broke, pathetic and smelly.  His roommates were annoyed with him, as was the erstwhile gentleman-friend, who finally got fed up and moved to Canada to marry a somewhat famous fashion designer in an elaborate gay ceremony.  O HUMILIATION!

Things finally began to improve for Bennett upon the publication of his first book, LULU DARK CAN SEE THROUGH WALLS and its sequel, LULU DARK AND THE SUMMER OF THE FOX.  He became more responsible, stopped watching Starting Over (it was cancelled) and got an off-and-on job as a receptionist at an environmental nonprofit, where he learned that although answering telephones is a special skill of his, ordering office supplies is not.  He met a sweet, handsome guy and moved into his place in the East Village across the street from a really trashy nightclub.

Bennett is now out of the girl detective game for good.  His next young adult novel, THE BLONDE OF THE JOKE, will be published by HarperCollins in fall 2009.  It's about teenage shoplifters searching for the Holy Grail at a suburban shopping mall.  Make sure to buy it so he doesn't have to move in with his parents again!

(photo by Thomas Dozol)