Jeffrey Baker Kwitny
Born in Hollywood on September 8, 1951, I grew up more or less happily in Southern California. Why not? We have the beaches. I surfed. But then in the early 1970s, as the Vietnam War raged on, I was drafted. Having received a conscientious objector designation from the Pasadena draft board, I moved to San Francisco to complete two years of “alternative” (civilian) service.
After completing my service (counselor at the Recreation Center for the Handicapped; guitar teacher for Mother Goose Inc.), I moved to Berkeley to study at the University of California, where I earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature with an emphasis on Milton, Chaucer and Shakespeare. The classics and French literature absorbed my closest attention. My reading of the French symbolists, especially Mallarmé, Verlaine and Rimbaud, as well as novelists Hugo, Zola and Flaubert, has had a particularly lasting impact on my creative life. I later earned an M.A. in English at UC Irvine. My master’s thesis was entitled “Duality of Spirit and Body: Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.“ Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain introduced me to satire as an effective catalyst for social change.
After college I spent about 20 years working in the film industry, writing feature screenplays (“Undercurrent,” “Creature II,” “White Cobra Express”), and television scripts:Warner Bros.’ “Animaniacs,” for which I nabbed a daytime Emmy award; “Histeria!,” a satirical spin on history; “Road Rovers,” a Cartoon Network staple; and “Pinky and the Brain,” produced by WB and Amblin’ Entertainment.”
I took on various production jobs (editing, cinematography, production assistant) to fill in the career blanks.
As director, I helmed two horror flicks, the ultra-low-budget Iced and the surreal frightener Beyond the Door III. I also directed the Houston Film Festival, Gold Jury Prize-winning drama Lightning in a Bottle.
Falling into creative disenchantment, however, I left the movie biz to pursue a career in academia. I taught English courses at two Los Angeles private schools for 21 years.
I’ve since launched a new career—my latest incarnation, if you will—this time as a novelist. My first novel, Desolation Lake, was published in 2019. Falling Stars Over Belgrade followed in 2021. I’m currently working on a new novel, Painted Blind.
I live with my wife, a school nurse, in Southern California. We have three children.
