J. Michael Lennon

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J. Michael Lennon was appointed to write the authorized biography of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Norman Mailer by the Mailer estate in December of 2006, following the death of Robert F. Lucid. He is a former professor of English at Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois, and Wilkes University in Pennsylvania. While at Wilkes he held various offices, including Vice President of the university and chairman of the Humanities Division, as well as co-director of the Wilkes University low-residency MA/MFA in Creative Writing, a program which he founded in 2004, along with current Program Director Bonnie Culver. He is also the current President and one of the founders of The Norman Mailer Society, a literary society dedicated to promoting interest and scholarship on the works of Norman Mailer. He has published and edited many books and articles, and is currently based in Massachusetts.

There is only one official biography of Norman Mailer in print, authored by Peter Manso. Mr. Lennon has not published a biography of Norman Mailer. For further commentary on this matter, see NY Times.

Re above: although the Lennon biography has not yet been published, it is correct that Lennon has been appointed to write the authorized biography, as of December 2006, by the Mailer Estate. Although other biographies have been authored, no other authorized or offical biography has been published.