Paul Beatty was born in Los Angeles, California in 1962. He received an MFA in creative writing from Brooklyn College and an MA in psychology from Boston University. In 1990, he became the first Grand Poetry Slam Champion of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. One of the prizes for winning was the book deal, which resulted in his first collection of poetry, Big Bank Takes Little Bank. His novels include The White Boy Shuffle, Tuff, and Slumberland. The Sellout won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
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