Background
Tervalon was born on November 23, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, but moved to Los Angeles, California with his family when a boy. He was the son of Hillary and Lolita Tervalon.
(Jervey Tervalon's novel about young people in South Centr...)
Jervey Tervalon's novel about young people in South Central Los Angeles grows out of his experience teaching in a high school there and his pain at the death of one of his favorite students. Jervey Tervalon's novel about young people in South Central Los Angeles grows out of his experience teaching in a high school there and his pain at the death of one of his favorite students.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520223551/?tag=2022091-20
2000
(That was Mother's life back then: planning one daughter's...)
That was Mother's life back then: planning one daughter's wedding while plotting to kill her other daughter's lover.... For feisty young Lita Du Champ, New Orleans is a place dominated by her hardworking family -- in particular, her strong-willed mother, Helen, who rules with an unshakable sense of propriety. Ever loyal to her mother, and adoring of her beautiful, restless, married sister Adele, Lita works hard to keep the family together as she attempts to establish her own life. But when Adele falls in love with Lucien Faure -- a smooth operator with "the devil's good looks" and a decades-old score to settle with Helen -- Lita unveils her mother's mysterious past to confront the Du Champs' long-buried secrets. Now, Lita finds she has one last and desperate chance to save the future of those she loves. Award-winning author Jervey Tervalon draws from his own heritage -- and the twisting family story that has lived and breathed inside him his whole life -- to create a spellbindingly luminous novel of passion, murder, and vengeance.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671034693/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(On April 29, 1992 the acquittal of the four police office...)
On April 29, 1992 the acquittal of the four police officers charged with beating motorist Rodney King sparked one of the angriest uprisings Los Angeles - and perhaps the country - has ever seen. At the ten-year anniversary, we need to remember what happened to us and why. Geography of Rage: Remembering the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 is a collection of personal reflections ranging from the provocative insights of award-winning writers, journalists, and musicians, to highly personal essays and interviews of neighbors, friends, and fellow Angelenos whose lives were forever affected by the riot and its aftermath.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1893329232/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(In this sequel to his acclaimed "urban masterpiece" (The ...)
In this sequel to his acclaimed "urban masterpiece" (The Philadelphia Inquirer), the national bestseller Dead Above Ground, Jervey Tervalon's unforgettable heroine, Lita Du Champ, is at loose ends, trying to hold house and home together. Ten years after she, her husband, their children, and her twin sisters moved to Los Angeles, the past comes back to haunt her. An unwelcome phone call reveals that Lita's estranged father is on his deathbed and that her aunt has seen Lita's beloved mother -- never mind that the woman has been dead for a decade. Overwhelmed by long-suppressed memories, Lita realizes that she must return to New Orleans to come to terms with her history, but as she makes the journey a growing sense of dread takes root in her soul. She's certain there will be no simple return to the life she led in Los Angeles.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AK367CW/?tag=2022091-20
2004
("The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equ...)
"The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equal to the best fiction being written today." --New York Journal of Books "While The Cocaine Chronicles is a hard, honest, uncompromising read and might not be for the faint of heart, the stories it tells all have to do with a drug that's been around for a while and is not going anywhere. Also, some stories offer a bit of hope, which shine through as invitations to never give up." --Austin Post "The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA." --New York Observer "The Cocaine Chronicles is a pure, jangled hit of urban, gritty, and raw noir. Caution: these stories are addicting." --Harlan Coben, award-winning author of Just One Look "Every story is A+. All contributors are top notch. . . . Should be required reading for writers who want to master the craft of the short story." --Cherry Bleeds Original stories by Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and others. Gary Phillips writes for several mediums from novels to screenplays to comic books, and lives in Los Angeles, California. Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground. He lives in Altadena, California. "The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equal to the best fiction being written today." --New York Journal of Books "While The Cocaine Chronicles is a hard, honest, uncompromising read and might not be for the faint of heart, the stories it tells all have to do with a drug that's been around for a while and is not going anywhere. Also, some stories offer a bit of hope, which shine through as invitations to never give up." --Austin Post "The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA." --New York Observer "The Cocaine Chronicles is a pure, jangled hit of urban, gritty, and raw noir. Caution: these stories are addicting." --Harlan Coben, award-winning author of Just One Look "Every story is A+. All contributors are top notch. . . . Should be required reading for writers who want to master the craft of the short story." --Cherry Bleeds Original stories by Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and others. Gary Phillips writes for several mediums from novels to screenplays to comic books, and lives in Los Angeles, California. Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground. He lives in Altadena, California.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1617750298/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(From award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author ...)
From award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author Jervey Tervalon comes a highly clever, twisting tale of suspense involving drugs, perverse sex, and poisonous celebrity worship, in which a man trying to rebuild his life becomes entangled in dangerous and deadly circumstances. Once upon a time, Gibson was a successful chef with a popular restaurant and a beautiful loving wife. He was also a drug addict with a habit that nearly destroyed him. Fresh out of rehab, he’s now using his skills to feed his fellow halfway house residents budget gourmet meals—a talent that attracts two shady women who offer him a job cooking for a music superstar named Monster. Though Gibson doesn’t have a good feeling about his seeming good fortune, he needs a job. Arriving on Monster’s compound, Gibson senses that trouble is still on his tail. First, he’s asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. Then he meets the compound’s gardener, who warns him not to go outside at night—and tells him that to stay alive he must see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. It is advice that proves all too true when Gibson discovers a dead body near his bungalow a few nights later. Suddenly, all hell is breaking loose . . . and Gibson is at the center. Now he has to figure out how to escape this terrifying nightmare . . . and whether he can.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062316206/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(Jervey Tervalon delivered "a marvelous read" (USA TODAY) ...)
Jervey Tervalon delivered "a marvelous read" (USA TODAY) in Dead Above Ground, his national bestselling novel of a troubled Southern family. Now his literary landscape shifts to the West Coast, in this compelling portrayal of a young black university professor living life on his own terms—a life entangled in the complex relationships with the women who desire him. All Jordan Davis wants is a smooth ride, speeding his Triumph along the 101, living the beautiful life among the beautiful people of Santa Barbara. But trouble seems to find him at every turn in the road. There's Trisha, the seductive twenty-two-year-old virgin from the glamorous foothills...Mary, the angry white girl whose defiance is a definite turn-on...and Daphne, an exotic, forbidden student, and keeper of shadowy secrets. They all want to define him, limit him, turn him into what they want him to be. But for Jordan, the ultimate question is what does he want out of life -- and can a man truly create a destiny that isn't defined by his race or his past?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0776Y8SQX/?tag=2022091-20
(Serving Monster is the story of Gibson, the personal chef...)
Serving Monster is the story of Gibson, the personal chef of an immensely talented, but deeply strange icon of popular culture, Monster Stiles. While working for Monster, Gibson realizes that not all is what it seems at the Lair, Monster’s isolated and beautiful retreat. At great cost to himself, what Gibson discovers at the heart of the Lair, will reveal more about the startling truth of Monster than anyone could ever imagine. Quotes on the work of Jervey Tervalon Los Angeles Times: The city [of New Orleans] shimmers to life through the perfect pitch of the people who inhabit the tale. The Times-Picayune: (New Orleans) Tragic, violent, but ultimately transcendent, Dead Above Ground draws the reader in and never lets go. The Philadelphia Inquirer: An urban masterpiece, a gritty, haunting West Side Story-esque ghetto epic of stunning violence yet overpowering beauty. Quarterly Black Review of Books: Tervalon's prose is both unrelenting and nonjudgmental....[He] reminds us that sad tales and lost souls may tear our hearts apart, but they don't stop life from continually renewing itself. Los Angeles Times All the Trouble You Need is a page-turner. Drama develops at a tantalizing clip. Los Angeles Magazine The twisting plots and drawing room intrigues are captivating. Henry Louis Gates Jr. A powerful new voice in American fiction. Los Angeles Times: Lita is fierce....You'd know her if you met her. And that is one of the highest compliments a reader can give a writer. Kirkus Reviews: A return visit to the monstrously twisted family of Dead Above Ground....Hair raising and hellish. Black Issues Book Review: Tervalon's writing is crisp and concise, sweet and tart like a ripe Fuji apple. [His] work has grown richer....
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004V0VW0C/?tag=2022091-20
Tervalon was born on November 23, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, but moved to Los Angeles, California with his family when a boy. He was the son of Hillary and Lolita Tervalon.
Both parents encouraged Jervey to read and to enter college when the time came. Tervalon obtained Bachelor's degree from the University of California in Santa Barbara in 1980. After that he moved to the University of California in Irvine, where he received Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing.
At the beginning of his career Tervalon went to teach English at a disadvantaged high school in Los Angeles. The things he saw there touched him deeply, and he was especially affected by the murder of a good student who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tervalon left high school teaching to return to college in pursuit of a degree in creative writing. While there he began writing a novel inspired by his experiences and observations as a teacher. The book served as his master’s thesis and was published to much acclaim in 1994 under the title Understand This.
Understand This has met with a great deal of praise from critics. Bob Sipchen in the Los Angeles Times Book Review applauded the novel’s differences from more typical stories of African-American, urban poor affected by violence.
His most current publication is "Golden: The Education of a Young Pootbutt,"in Slake Magazine, published in July 2010.
Currently Tervalon is the Executive Director of “Literature for Life,” an educational advocacy organization, and Creative Director of The Pasadena LitFest.
Nowadays he also teaches at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara.
(From award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author ...)
2014(In this sequel to his acclaimed "urban masterpiece" (The ...)
2004(On April 29, 1992 the acquittal of the four police office...)
2002(Jervey Tervalon's novel about young people in South Centr...)
2000(Serving Monster is the story of Gibson, the personal chef...)
(Jervey Tervalon delivered "a marvelous read" (USA TODAY) ...)
(That was Mother's life back then: planning one daughter's...)
2001(A fictional account of the lives of African American teen...)
1998("The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equ...)
2011Quotations: “I’m trying to create a body of work focused on black life in south Los Angeles—and in the United States.”
Tervalon married Gina Harris, and they have 2 daughters.