About James DeVita
I'm a native of Long Island, NY. Born in Deer Park, grew up in North Babylon, and spent my entire youth at the beach, fishing. I turned out, somehow, to become an author, an actor, and a theater director.
Long Island Roots
My higher education was as a first mate on charter boats, which taught me some of the best and toughest lessons for life. At some point I had an itch to educate myself properly, and proceeded, with great rapidity, in failing miserably at it and dropping out of college, twice. Back to the boats I went. Filleted a lot more fish.
Eventually I enrolled at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island, stumbled on a theater program, saw my first play, and I was hooked. I received an AS there, then went on to study theater at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where I received a BFA.
I do remember always wanting to be a writer, though, even as a boy. In sixth grade I wanted to be a journalist. I wrote constantly while I was growing up: journals, monologues, plays, really, really bad poetry and short stories. But I was too shy to show anyone anything until I was thirty years old. A bit of a late starter.
Theater Life
I'm a core company member and the literary manager at American Players Theater, a classical repertory theater in Wisconsin. I've been fortunate enough to work as an actor in Japan, Germany, Australia, Ireland, and around the United States.
Along with my novels, Blue, The Silenced, and A Winsome Murder, I've worked extensively as a playwright for young audiences and adult stages.
Off the boats, onto the page
Although I didn't know it at the time, I was becoming a writer on the fishing boats. There were so many stories to be had there: so many interesting characters, so many days watching the sun rise over the ocean and working till it went down over the bay. My first book, Blue, is actually about a boy who misses the ocean so much that he wants to turn into a fish and return to it. And he does.
I was a volunteer EMT in Spring Green, WI, for fifteen years, and worked as a first mate on an open fishing boat out of Captree Boat Basin, Long Island, for five seasons. I am incredibly grateful to all who have helped me throughout my meanderings: the audiences, my readers, and the incredible teachers and artists I've had the privilege to work with along the way. You know who you are. Thank you.
Awards and Honors
National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Fiction
Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education (body of work)
Distinguished Play Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education
Intellectual Freedom Award, Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts
Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest