Warren Adler (December 16, 1927 – April 15, 2019) was an American novelist, playwright and poet.
Franklin Library Warren Adler books
Private Lies - signed first edition - 1991
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Warren Adler biography
Adler graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and New York University, where he majored in English literature following which he worked for a New York City newspaper. He went on to a successful career in business, acquiring four radio stations and a television station. However, writing fiction was an interest he began to pursue as a career with the publication of his first novel in 1974. Since then, he has written another twenty-six novels including The War of The Roses and Random Hearts both of which were made in motion pictures. Adler has also written short story collections that were made into films. His The Sunset Gang became an American Playhouse three-hour television production in 1991 and in 2002, a pilot was produced based on The Fiona FitzGerald Mysteries.Warren Adler is noted for his efforts to encourage new authors. He is the founder of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and his website is lauded for its information for aspiring authors.
Writing
From the time he was 16, Adler aspired to become novelist. After writing several novels, he stated that he found it challenging to get published. While working at the advertisement agency he owned, Adler landed a deal with Whitman Publishing who agreed to publish his third book Options, as long as he promoted it. In 1974, at the age of 45, Adler was published for the first time. Although Options wasn’t a commercial success, Adler officially entered the realm as a published author.Since 1974, Adler has written 32 novels, including The War of The Roses and Random Hearts, both of which were adapted into major motion pictures. His most famous work, The War of the Roses published in 1981, focuses on the perils of divorce and materialism. Since its publication, The War of the Roses became a box office hit and an international play. In 1989, Adler sold the film rights to The War of the Roses to 20th Century Fox. The film that starred Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny DeVito,[5] grossed over $83 million in the US alone. The novel also inspired various play adaptions worldwide, productions of The War of the Roses were made in Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Prague, Norway, Iceland, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Mexico.
In 1990, Adler sold the film rights of his novel Private Lies to Tri-Star Pictures for 1.2 million, which the New York Post reported "Tri-State Pictures outbid Warner Bros and Columbia, and purchased the film rights to Private Lies for $1.2 million. ...the highest sums yet paid in Hollywood for an unpublished manuscript."
Adler also wrote The Sunset Gang a collection of six short stories about a retirement community in Florida. The Sunset Gang became an American Playhouse three-hour television production in 1991, starring Uta Hagen, Harold Gould, Jerry Stiller, Ron Rifkin, and Doris Roberts. The short stories later became a play that featured music composed by L. Russell Brown.
In 1975, Adler became the founder of The Washington Dossier, a magazine that focused on Washington's social elite. During its peak, the magazine grew over 250 pages until 1991. Adler sold the company in 1987, and the magazine lasted until 1991. Adler’s background in Washington and politics inspired him to write the crime-ridden Fiona Fitzgerald mystery series that features a promiscuous cop who works for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. The Fiona Fitzgerald series includes seven novels: American Quartet, American Sextet, Death of a Washington Madame, The Witch of Watergate, Senator Love, Immaculate Deception, and The Ties That Bind. In 2002, a pilot for Lifetime was produced based on The Fiona FitzGerald Mysteries.
In 1981, Adler wrote the sequel to The War of the Roses. The Children of the Roses focuses on the aftermath that the original Rose divorce left on their children. In 2013, the novel was re-issued under the name The War of the Roses: The Children. Adler's thematic material includes the nature of intimate human relationships; the mysterious nature of love and attraction; the fragile relationships between husbands and wives, and parents and children; the corrupting power of money; the aging process; and how families cling together when challenged by the outside world.
Warren Adler is noted for his efforts to encourage new authors. He is the founder of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and his website contains information for aspiring authors In addition to his books, Adler blogs for The Huffington Post, where he discusses a variety of topics such as writing, the entertainment business, eBooks, publishing, and politics.
E-Book Pioneer
From its conception, Adler was involved in electronic publishing In the early 2000s, Adler predicted the decline of printed books and he envisioned that digital publishing would soon be the norm. He acquired his complete back-list and converted this library to digital publishing formats. He based this action on the hope that his books would never go out of print; they would last beyond his lifetime and would be a legacy of his life’s work. Adler wrote an article for the The Author’s Guild stating that authors had best prepare for a major change in the way traditional publishing businesses operated. He argued that traditional publishers no longer had a monopoly on marketing, distribution, publicity, and content and stated prolific authors like himself should take charge of their own destiny since traditional publishers would slowly fade as the principle conduit from authors to readership.The Warren Adler Short Story Contest
In 2006, Adler initiated "The Warren Adler Short Story Contest". The first anthology of contest winners was printed in 2010. He is the sponsor of the Warren Adler Visiting Writer series at New York University's Creative Writing Department.Warren Adler books in order
Undertow (a.k.a. Options, 1974)Banquet Before Dawn (1976)
The Henderson Equation (1976)
Trans-Siberian Express (1977)
The Casanova Embrace (1978)
Natural Enemies (1979)
Blood Ties (1979)
American Quartet (1981)
The War of the Roses (1981)
American Sextet (1982)
Random Hearts (1984)
Twilight Child (1985)
We Are Holding the President Hostage (1986)
Madeline's Miracles (1989)
Senator Love (1991)
Private Lies (1991)
Immaculate Deception (1991)
The Witch of Watergate (1992)
The Housewife Blues (1992)
The Ties That Bind (1994)
Mourning Glory (2001)
Cult (2002)
The Children of the Roses (2004)
Death of a Washington Madame (2005)
Funny Boys (2008)
The David Embrace (2010)
Empty Treasures (2010)
Flanagan's Dolls (2010)
The Womanizer (2010)
Residue (2010)
The Serpent's Bite (2012)
Washington Masquerade (2013)
Target Churchill (with James C. Humes, 2013)
Treadmill (2014)
Torture Man (2015)
Mother Nile (2016)
Red Herring (2016)
Heart of Gold (2017)
Finding Grace: Captured by a Cult (2017)
High Noon in Hollywood (2018)
The Norma Conquest (2018)
Last Call (2018)
Short stories
The Sunset Gang (1977)Never Too Late for Love (1995)
Jackson Hole: Uneasy Eden (1997)
The Washington Dossier Diaries (2007)
New York Echoes (2008)
Warren Adler Short Story Contest Winners (2010)
New York Echoes 2 (2011)
New York Echoes 1 (2016)
New York Echoes 3 (2018)
The Fiona Fitzgerald Mysteries order
American Quartet (1981)American Sextet (1982)
Death of a Washington Madame (2005)
The Witch of Watergate (1992)
Senator Love (1991)
Immaculate Deception (1991)
The Ties That Bind(1994)
Washington Masquerade (2013)
Red Herring (2016)
Source and additional information: Warren Adler