Laura Albert
Encyclopedia
Laura Victoria Albert is the author of writings credited to the fictional teenage persona of JT LeRoy
, a long-running literary hoax
in which LeRoy was presented to the public and publishers as a transgender, sexually questioning, abused, former homeless drug addict and male prostitute. Albert was raised in Brooklyn
, and she and her former partner Geoffrey Knoop have a young son. She has also used the names Emily Frasier and Speedie.
In a New York
magazine article in October 2005, Stephen Beachy
suggested that LeRoy was a literary hoax
created by Albert. Beachy suggested that Albert was not only LeRoy's friend Emily Frasier, but also Speedie, LeRoy's street-hustling friend, as well as LeRoy himself. Albert has since confirmed that she is the writer behind the LeRoy books.
Investigation showed that the advance for LeRoy's first novel, Sarah, was paid to Laura Albert's sister, JoAnna Albert, and that further payments to LeRoy were made to a Nevada corporation, Underdogs Inc., whose president is Carolyn F. Albert, Laura Albert's mother.
The New York Times published an article about Disneyland Paris
with the JT LeRoy byline in the Sunday magazine T:Travel supplement in September 2005. After the publication of the New York article, the Times found that expense receipts included an Air France
itinerary for three people instead of the four described in the article. Employees at Disneyland Paris and two Paris hotels confirmed that the person claiming to be JT LeRoy matched photographs of Laura Albert, who told the employees she was traveling with her husband and son. She told hotel employees who thought JT LeRoy was male that she was a transsexual woman who had sex reassignment surgery
three years earlier.
A 9 January 2006 article in the New York Times gave evidence that the role of LeRoy was played publicly by Savannah Knoop, the half-sister of Albert's partner. Geoffrey Knoop later stated Albert was the author of the JT LeRoy works. Albert explained the circumstances of JT's existence in a Fall 2006 Paris Review
interview with Nathaniel Rich
.
In June 2007, Albert was sued by Antidote International Films Inc.
for fraud
, which claims that a contract signed with JT Leroy to make a feature film of Sarah is null and void. On June 22, 2007, Laura Albert was found guilty of fraud by a Manhattan jury, and ordered to pay $110,000 to Antidote, as well as an extra $6,500 in punitive damages.
In August 2008, the Authors Guild released an amicus brief in regards to the trial verdict, supporting Laura and opposing the jury’s decision, stating that the decision “will have negative repercussions extending into the future for many authors. The right to free speech, and the right to speak and write anonymously are rights protected by our Constitution, and the district court's decision which holds that Laura Albert's use of pseudonym breached the Option and Purchase Agreement, is one that will have a chilling effect upon authors wishing to exercise their right to write anonymously.” They go on to request that the court reverse the decision in regards to a breach of contract.
According to the Amicus Brief, Albert's "reveal" by the New York Times raises into question the extent to which an author can maintain not only a pseudonym in his/her byline, but also to create an embodiment and persona to claim authorship to the work. Albert said in a 2006 interview in The Paris Review that she was able to maintain her voice and perspective by remaining in the shadows: "I could get what I wanted—connecting with others—without having to be the focus of attention."
Albert did not publish her writing as "memoir" - she published her writing as "fiction." Although fans may have felt betrayed by the lack of authenticity when it was revealed that she was female and over 20 years older than her main character, there is a legacy of female authors using male pseudonyms for the sake of their work, including the Brontë Sisters and Louisa May Alcott
.
Albert attests that she could not have written from raw emotion without the right to be presented to the world via JT Leroy, who she calls her phantom limb - a style of performance art she had been undertaking to deal with experiences even as a little girl, according to a 2006 interview in the Paris Review.
In November 2010, Laura Albert appeared at The Moth
to tell her story on video.
In August 2011, there was a window installation about Laura Albert at Artists' Television Access
.
JT LeRoy
Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy was a pseudonym created by American writer Laura Albert. The name was used from 1996 on for publication in magazines such as Nerve and Shout NY. After his first novel Sarah was published, "LeRoy" started making public appearances...
, a long-running literary hoax
Literary forgery
Literary forgery refers to writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or a purported memoir presented as genuine.- History :The common, or popularly known, instance of literary forgery may involve for example the work of a...
in which LeRoy was presented to the public and publishers as a transgender, sexually questioning, abused, former homeless drug addict and male prostitute. Albert was raised in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, and she and her former partner Geoffrey Knoop have a young son. She has also used the names Emily Frasier and Speedie.
In a New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine article in October 2005, Stephen Beachy
Stephen Beachy
Stephen Beachy is a writer. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1965. His first novel, The Whistling Song, was published by W. W. Norton with cover illustrations by Curt Kirkwood in 1991 and his second, Distortion, by Harrington Park Press, in 2000 and was reprinted in December 2010 by Rebel...
suggested that LeRoy was a literary hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
created by Albert. Beachy suggested that Albert was not only LeRoy's friend Emily Frasier, but also Speedie, LeRoy's street-hustling friend, as well as LeRoy himself. Albert has since confirmed that she is the writer behind the LeRoy books.
Investigation showed that the advance for LeRoy's first novel, Sarah, was paid to Laura Albert's sister, JoAnna Albert, and that further payments to LeRoy were made to a Nevada corporation, Underdogs Inc., whose president is Carolyn F. Albert, Laura Albert's mother.
The New York Times published an article about Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Park (Paris)
Disneyland Park is a theme park at Disneyland Paris, a resort complex just outside of Paris, in the new town of Marne-la-Vallée, France. The first of two parks built at the resort, it opened as Euro Disneyland on 12 April, 1992...
with the JT LeRoy byline in the Sunday magazine T:Travel supplement in September 2005. After the publication of the New York article, the Times found that expense receipts included an Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
itinerary for three people instead of the four described in the article. Employees at Disneyland Paris and two Paris hotels confirmed that the person claiming to be JT LeRoy matched photographs of Laura Albert, who told the employees she was traveling with her husband and son. She told hotel employees who thought JT LeRoy was male that she was a transsexual woman who had sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
three years earlier.
A 9 January 2006 article in the New York Times gave evidence that the role of LeRoy was played publicly by Savannah Knoop, the half-sister of Albert's partner. Geoffrey Knoop later stated Albert was the author of the JT LeRoy works. Albert explained the circumstances of JT's existence in a Fall 2006 Paris Review
Paris Review
The Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
interview with Nathaniel Rich
Nathaniel Rich (novelist)
Nathaniel Rich is an American novelist and essayist. He is the author of a novel, The Mayor's Tongue , published by Riverhead in 2008. A work of nonfiction, San Francisco Noir: The City in Film Noir from 1940 to the Present , was published by The Little Bookroom in 2005...
.
In June 2007, Albert was sued by Antidote International Films Inc.
Jeff Levy-Hinte
Jeff Levy-Hinte is president of Antidote International Films , Inc based in New York City. Most recently he has produced The Kids Are All Right , co-written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, which won the 68th Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, and Best Performance by...
for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, which claims that a contract signed with JT Leroy to make a feature film of Sarah is null and void. On June 22, 2007, Laura Albert was found guilty of fraud by a Manhattan jury, and ordered to pay $110,000 to Antidote, as well as an extra $6,500 in punitive damages.
In August 2008, the Authors Guild released an amicus brief in regards to the trial verdict, supporting Laura and opposing the jury’s decision, stating that the decision “will have negative repercussions extending into the future for many authors. The right to free speech, and the right to speak and write anonymously are rights protected by our Constitution, and the district court's decision which holds that Laura Albert's use of pseudonym breached the Option and Purchase Agreement, is one that will have a chilling effect upon authors wishing to exercise their right to write anonymously.” They go on to request that the court reverse the decision in regards to a breach of contract.
According to the Amicus Brief, Albert's "reveal" by the New York Times raises into question the extent to which an author can maintain not only a pseudonym in his/her byline, but also to create an embodiment and persona to claim authorship to the work. Albert said in a 2006 interview in The Paris Review that she was able to maintain her voice and perspective by remaining in the shadows: "I could get what I wanted—connecting with others—without having to be the focus of attention."
Albert did not publish her writing as "memoir" - she published her writing as "fiction." Although fans may have felt betrayed by the lack of authenticity when it was revealed that she was female and over 20 years older than her main character, there is a legacy of female authors using male pseudonyms for the sake of their work, including the Brontë Sisters and Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...
.
Albert attests that she could not have written from raw emotion without the right to be presented to the world via JT Leroy, who she calls her phantom limb - a style of performance art she had been undertaking to deal with experiences even as a little girl, according to a 2006 interview in the Paris Review.
In November 2010, Laura Albert appeared at The Moth
The Moth
The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. It was founded in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the...
to tell her story on video.
In August 2011, there was a window installation about Laura Albert at Artists' Television Access
Artists' Television Access
Artists' Television Access is a non-profit art gallery and screening venue in San Francisco's Mission District in the United States of America. ATA exhibits work by emerging, independent and experimental artists in its theatre and gallery space as well as on its weekly Public-access television...
.