David Henry Sterry is an author, performer, educator,
activist, and a man who hasn’t worn matching socks in 20 years. David is the
author of 11 books, the first of which was published in 2001. Prior to becoming
an author, David was a professional actor and screenwriter.
Satchel Sez; The Wit, Wisdom & World of Leroy
Satchel Paige (Crown, 2001). Picked by the ALA as one of the best books of the year for
teens.
Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent
(ReganBooks, 2002). A San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Sold into nine
countries. Under option by Showtime for a TV series.
“Sterry writes with comic brio… [he] honed
a vibrant outrageous writing style and turned out this studiously wild souvenir
of a checkered past.”--Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Stunning… Sterry's prose fizzes like
fireworks. Every page crackles… Very easy and exciting to read--as laconic as
Dashiell Hammett, as viscerally hallucinogenic as Hunter S Thompson. Sex,
violence, drugs, love, hate, and great writing all within a single wrapper.
What more could you possibly ask for?” –The Irish Times
Putting
Your Passion into Print (Workman, 2005). Based on the Stanford Workshop
created by himself and his wife, former agent and author, Arielle Eckstut.
“Before you write your own book, read
this one first. Arielle Eckstut and David Sterry understand the process of
publishing. Their advice will help you envision and frame your work so that
publishers will be more likely to perceive its value.” –Jonathan Karp,
Publisher, 12 Books
“This book demystifies the process
of getting published and is a must-have for every aspiring writer with a dream
to see his or her passion in print. With input from agents, editors, and
writers, this book is thorough, forthright, and importantly, also quite entertaining.”--Khaled
Hosseini, The Kite Runner
Travis & Freddy’s Adventures in Vegas (Dutton,
2006). Written under the pseudonym Henry Johnson.
“This is a winner.”— Library Journal
LittleMissMatched’s Pajama Party in a Box (Workman,
2007)
LittleMissMatched’s Fabulous Marvelous Me (Workman,
2007)
LittleMissMatched’s The Writer in Me (Workman, 2008)
LittleMissMatched’s The Artist in Me (Workman, 2008)
LittleMissMatched is a company dedicated to
inspiring creativity and self-expression in girls of all ages. These books,
created with David’s wife, Arielle Eckstut, have been sold everywhere from FAO
Schwarz to Toys R Us to Disneyland.
Master of Ceremonies: A True Story of Love, Murder,
Rollerskates and Chippendales (Canongate/Grove-Atlantic).
“Master of Ceremonies is dizzying,
tender, and… resplendent with seedy glamour, hilarious backstage madness, and
unflinching honesty.”--Library Journal
Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent-Boys: Professionals
writing on Life, Love, Money & Sex (Soft Skull, 2009). Now in its fourth
printing after only 12 weeks in print.
“Eye-opening, astonishing, brutally honest
and frequently funny… unpretentious and riveting — but also graphic,
politically incorrect and mostly unquotable in this newspaper.”—The New York
Times Sunday Book Review (front page review)
The Glorious World Cup: A Fanatics Guide (Dutton, to
be published in April, 2010).
David is unique as an author in that he brings together his
love for the written word with his love for performance. In his life as an
actor, he performed with everyone from Milton Berle to Will Smith to Michael
Caine to Zippy the Chimp. He performed in over 750 commercials, including 4
Clio winners, starred in HBO's Emmy Award-winning Encyclopedia, and emceed at
Chippendale's in New York City.
As a screenwriter, he wrote for Disney, Fox and Nickelodeon. After his memoir, Chicken,
was published, David put his performance and playwriting skills to work and
wrote and performed a one-man show based on the book. After a highly praised
debut in San Francisco
(the chief theater critic for the San Francisco Chronicle said, “Richly
entertaining and thought-provoking… Speaks cleverly and provocatively to anyone
who's ever been or had a child.”), David took his one-man show to Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival where it was named the #1 play
in the UK
by The Independent week after week.
For each and every book David publishes, he puts together a
unique and robust publicity and marketing plan which utilizes his performance
skills. Examples include:
- A 6-hour
workshop on how to get published at StanfordUniversity
- A high
concept event like “The Art of the Memoir” which he’s done everywhere from
City Lights to the Strand to the 92nd St
Y
- A
cutting-edge reading series like “Sex Worker Literati”, which has become a
sold-out monthly event at Happy Ending Lounge in NYC
David also makes sure to stay in the public eye between
book publications through blogging for the Huffington Post, writing for other
people’s anthologies (his story in San Francisco Noir was a finalist for
the Henry Miller Award), and writing for publications such as The London
Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and Penthouse.
Due to his PR efforts, David has been featured in dozens
and dozens of media outlets including: The New York Times, The London Times, The LA Times, The Washington
Post, New York
Magazine, Details Magazine, BBC, NPR's Morning and Weekend Edition and
Talk of the Nation.
David has taught at StanfordUniversity, University
of New Orleans, ReedCollege,
UCLA, SF State, and the US Department of Justice. He’s assisted lawyers,
models, architects, and writers to present themselves and their ideas with
clarity and passion. He’s also helped many amateur writers become
professional authors. He's worked as a chicken, a chicken fryer, a master of ceremonies,
a soda jerk, a cherry picker, a poet, a building inspector, a telephone
solicitationist, a limo driver, a barker, an industrial sex technician, and a
marriage counselor. He graduated from ReedCollege,
and loves his cat, his girls, and any sport involving a ball. www.DavidHenrySterry.com
