Today in Literary History: Elmore Leonard

On this day in 1925 Elmore Leonard was born in New Orleans.

Straight out of college he got a job at an advertising agency, so he would get up and write every morning at 5 a.m. before going into the office. He published some pulp Westerns, and then started writing crime fiction, and went on to write 43 books. Many of them have been turned into movies, including his novels Get Shorty (1990), Be Cool (1999), and Rum Punch (1992), which Quentin Tarantino made into the film Jackie Brown.

 

Interview with Don Swaim
"Elmore Leonard, author of books such as Rum Punch, Bandits, Hombre, Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, Freaky Deaky and Killshot, talks with Don Swaim in this 1985 interview. The pair discuss Leonard's re-release of his book Dutch Treat, which coincidently was Leonard's nickname while growing up. They also discuss some of his other publications, how he goes about his research, and why he quit drinking heavily." (29 minutes)

For more literary history, visit Daybook.