from author’s website
Jeffrey Dale Lofton hails from Warm Springs, Georgia, best known as the home of Roosevelt’s Little White House. He calls the nation’s capital home now and has for over three decades. During those early years of living in Washington DC, he spent many a night trodding the boards of DC’s theaters and performing arts centers, including the Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, and Studio Theatre.
He even scored a few television screen appearances, including a residuals-rich Super Bowl halftime commercial, which his accountant quipped “is the finest work of your career.”
Ultimately he stepped away from acting, keen to use his stage-and-screen-performer’s deep understanding of the art of storytelling in a different way. To that end, he provided communications counsel to some of the nation’s leading landscape architects, as together they described the wonders of a garden well-planned. Next, he worked closely with military veterans, helping them tell their stories of war-torn life in service to their country. At the same time, he focused on pursuing post-graduate work, ultimately being awarded Master’s degrees in both Public Administration and Library and Information Science. Today, he is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress, surrounded by books and people who love books—in short, paradise.
Red Clay Suzie is his first novel, a fictionalized memoir written through his personal lens growing up a gay, physically misshapen outsider in a conservative family and community in the Deep South.
ABOUT RED CLAY SUZIE:
Fueled by tomato sandwiches and green milkshakes, and obsessed with cars, Philbet struggles with life and love as a gay, physically-misshapen boy in rural Georgia.
He’s happiest when helping Grandaddy dig potatoes from the vegetable garden that connects their houses. But Philbet’s world is shattered and his resilience shaken by events that crush his innocence and sense of security; expose his physical deformity skillfully hidden behind shirts Mama makes for him on her Singer; and convinces him that he’s not fit to be loved by Knox, the older boy he idolizes to distraction.
Over time, Philbet finds refuge in unexpected places and inner strength in unexpected ways, leading to a resolution from beyond the grave.
PRAISE AND RECOGNITION FOR RED CLAY SUZIE:
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize
“Arresting debut…a vivid depiction of a unique childhood that feels universal in its longing.” — Christopher Castellani, author of Leading Men
“Red Clay Suzie’s Philbet Lawson joins Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Frankie Addams (Member of the Wedding) in Southern literature’s pantheon of outsider children. While Philbet finds unlikely allies in his small world, others ridicule his sensitive nature and deformed body. Philbet’s roots are planted in the South’s inhospitable red clay, but he grows up, honest to his true self. Read Red Clay Suzie and cheer on Philbet, a new literary hero.” — Alice Leccese Powers, writer and editor of the bestselling In Mind series
“From a new, pitch-perfect, Southern voice, a story so close to the heart you can almost hear it beating.” — James Hart, author of Lucky Jim
“An intimate exploration of people, place, and identity, Red Clay Suzie opens up the idea of the South into one that is more inclusive and real.” — W. Ralph Eubanks, author of A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through a Real and Imagined Literary Landscape
“Jeffrey Dale Lofton is a writer’s writer, whose strong, authorial voice captures your imagination with an unshakable grip.” — Willee Lewis, PEN/Faulkner board member, editor of Snakes: An Anthology of Serpent Tales
“A deeply moving story by a unique new voice in Southern literature, Red Clay Suzie belongs in the high school English syllabus.” — Elaine Greenstone, educator, former International Baccalaureate examiner in English, curriculum specialist
“We care what happens to this observant voice, as Philbet searches for the handbook of life.” — Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, author of No Marble Angels and upcoming Burning Distance
“Red Clay Suzie offers a lesson in what it takes to thrive in a world that’s intent on building fences, and it does so with affection and sweetness.” — Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World
AUTHOR VISITS:
Author visits with Jeffrey Dale Lofton are available via NovelNetwork.com.