James Alan Polster (September 14, 1947 – December 15, 2012) was an American novelist, film producer, screenwriter, explorer, and journalist.
James Alan Polster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 14, 1947 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | December 15, 2012 (aged 65)[citation needed] |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Novelist, film producer, screenwriter, explorer, and journalist |
Biography edit
Polster was born to Harold and Ethel Polster in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is a member of the Shaker Heights Alumni Association Hall of Fame.[1] After graduation from Tulane University (B.S.) in 1969, Polster hopped a freighter for Spain and eventually settled in Tangiers. He returned to the United States to attend graduate school. He graduated from Columbia University (M.A.) in 1973. He received a second graduate degree from Harvard University (Ed.M.) in 1982. Beginning in 1973, Polster explored the Amazon Rainforest on several trips,[2] spent time in the jungles of Irian Jaya with cannibals in 1989,[3] and both covered and played in the World Championships of Elephant polo for Sports Illustrated in Nepal in 1991.[4] Polster is a National Fellow of the Explorers Club.[5]
Career edit
Polster has worked as novelist, movie producer, screenwriter, explorer and journalist.
His first novel, A Guest in the Jungle, focused a spotlight on the disappearing rainforest and the people who live there,[6][7] and helped to kickstart the rainforest environmental movement.[8] His exploits and adventures have been the subject of numerous media profiles.[9]
His second novel, Brown, was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of the Year,[10] and was awarded The Critics' Choice Award 1995-96.[11] Brown is slated to be made into a feature film.[12]
His third novel, THE GRADUATE STUDENT, was released in August 2009 as a digital eBook by Stay Thirsty Press.
Polster's books have been reviewed by The New York Times,[13] Publishers Weekly,[14]Kirkus Reviews,[15]L.A. Daily News,[16] San Francisco Examiner,[17]Cleveland Plain Dealer,[18] San Mateo Times,[19] Armchair Detective,[20] and Library Journal.[21]
As a movie producer,[22] Polster was an in-house producer for Columbia Pictures and produced five movies for Columbia Pictures Television and NBC starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers:
- Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart (1995)
- Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die (1994)
- Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart (1994)
- Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is (1994)
- Hart to Hart Returns (1993)
As a screenwriter,[22] he is credited with two television productions:
- World Without Walls (1988)
- "Hunter" (1 episode, 1986) - 62 Hours of Terror (1986) TV episode (story)
As an explorer, "Polster was one of the first outsiders to contact and gain acceptance from the Motilone Indians of Columbia/Venezuela, the Cofans and Quechua of Ecuador, and other peoples along the Amazon.[23]
As a journalist, Polster has written for publications including Sports Illustrated,[4]The Los Angeles Times,[3]TRUMP Magazine,[24] and Yahoo.com.[25] He has covered such diverse subjects as: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi;[26] Cannibals in New Guinea;[3] Sugar Ray Leonard in the Duran/Leonard Superfight in New Orleans;[27] Police strike;[28] Potential of Geothermal Energy;[29] Oil vs. Environmentalists in the Louisiana Bayous;[30] BB-War Gamesters;[31] and BB Swashbucklers[32]
Novels edit
- A Guest in the Jungle - Mercury House, 1987
- Brown - Longstreet Press, 1995
- THE GRADUATE STUDENT - Stay Thirsty Press, 2009
Short fiction edit
- At the Beach, New Orleans Review, 1980
- PWC, SMOKE MAGAZINE, Spring, Issue 2 Vol 1 page 168, 1996
Awards and honors edit
- New Orleans Press Club Award for Feature Photo in 1980 for Cambodian Refugee Camps 1979 (UPI)
- First Place - New Orleans Press Club Award (Best Column) for a Three-Part Series on Duran/Leonard Superfight, 1981[27]
- Ann Arbor Film Festival - Judge 1981
- First Place, "A" Stock Hydroplane Championship of Maine[33]
- California (Marin) Art Council Grant 1987
- MacDowell Fellowship 1989[34]
- Wurlitzer Foundation Grant 1989
- The Critics' Choice Award 1995-96 [11]
- Tennessee Williams Festival 1995 - Guest Speaker
- William Faulkner Festival 2001 and 2002 - Guest Speaker
- Who's Who in America[35]
References edit
- ^ "<members>". Archived from the original on 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ "Going back 20,000 years in the jungle," San Francisco Examiner, by Burr Snider, April 26, 1988
- ^ a b c "Into the Forest Primeval : High Adventure in New Guinea Among the Stone Age Tribes of Irian Jaya". Los Angeles Times. 29 April 1990.
- ^ a b "Registered & Protected by MarkMonitor".
- ^ Explorers Club Yearbook 2008, Part VIII: Membership Roster, page 268 Polster, James, FN '99
- ^ "Review: A Guest in the Jungle" by Bebeck McGhee, Earth First/World Rainforest Report, Vol. VIII, No. 11, November 1, 1987
- ^ "FICTION : A GUEST IN THE JUNGLE by James Polster (Mercury House: $15.95; 192 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. 29 November 1987.
- ^ "Polster's fiction blends adventure and humor with a social and ethical perspective on Indian rights." Bookline, August 27, 1987 by Lisa K. Buchanan, Guest Editor
- ^ 'You'll Never Get Out Alive' – But He Did, The Times-Picayune, by Jennifer Quale, June 18, 1976; Ex-Shakerite James Polster turns novelist in Amazon, Cleveland Plain Dealer 09 Dec, 1987, pg. 08 sec. E; NPR- Morning Edition, Houston, with Maryann Young, 10/21/87; WTKN- Pittsburgh, with Scott Cassidy, 11/5/87; ABC TV- Cleveland- Morning Exchange- Nov. 1, 1987; KGIL- Los Angeles- Oct. 13, 1987; KPFA- Berkeley- with Denny Smithson - Aug. 3, 1995
- ^ PW's Best Books 95, Publishers Weekly, November 6, 1995, p. 58
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Polster, 'Brown' stroll Avenue, The Hollywood Reporter, by Cathy Dunkley, March 6, 1996, p. 20
- ^ Stasio, Marilyn (3 September 1995). "Crime". The New York Times.
- ^ Publishers Weekly, April 3, 1995 (Brown)
- ^ Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 1995 (Brown)
- ^ "Frightening, funny 'Jungle out there'", L.A. Daily News by Bruce Cook, December 27, 1987
- ^ "Book Review", San Francisco Examiner, August 6, 1997, p. 8
- ^ "Ex-Shakerite James Polster turns novelist in Amazon," Cleveland Plain Dealer 9 Dec 1987, p. 8 sec. E
- ^ "A riotous romp in the Amazon Jungle," San Mateo Times, by Jack Russell, October 7, 1987
- ^ Review by Donald H. Buck, Armchair Detective Quarterly, Winter, 1996 (Brown)
- ^ Library Journal, Books of Choice by Dan Bogey (Brown), November 1, 1995, p. 136
- ^ a b "James Polster". IMDb.
- ^ "...Polster became the first outsider to live in the Djuka (also Aucaaner) village of Loabi on the Tapanahony River." African Arts Magazine, April 1977, p. 74
- ^ "Lights,Camera, Trump," TRUMP MAGAZINE, Winter, 2006
- ^ "Mystery of the Martyr's Tomb"
- ^ Letter From India- Interview with Indira on Election Eve by Jim Polster, The Figaro, New Orleans, Dec. 10, 1979
- ^ a b Three-Part Series on the Duran/Leonard Superfight by James Polster, The Figaro, November 17, 24, December 1, 1980
- ^ "Mardi Gras '79: An Uncarnival," by James Polster, The Figaro, March 5, 1979
- ^ "Underground Louisiana," by James Polster, New Orleans Magazine, September 1977
- ^ "Is Getty Oil The Real Honey Island Swamp Monster? Beneath the Bog" by James Polster, The Figaro, April 23, 1979
- ^ "BB-War Gamesters Shoot for Sport," Los Angeles Herald Examiner, May 20, 1979, page A1
- ^ "BB Swashbucklers Take on Tom Snyder," Los Angeles Herald Examiner, May 21, 1979 page A1
- ^ "Powerboating, Stock Outboard at Rockland, Maine," Boston Globe, June 22, 1982, p. 37
- ^ "The MacDowell Colony". Archived from the original on 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
- ^ Who's Who in America, 63rd Edition, 2009, p. 3942