Monday, Leila Motley, author of Nightcrawling, the youngest Booker Prize finalist ever, captivated the sold-out Alley theater audience with a reading from Nightcrawling, her debut novel about a young, impoverished woman caught up in a sexual abuse scandal involving officers from the Oakland police department. She gave a short reading but what was really impressive was her own background story. She has lived every writer's dream. Writing from "as soon as I learned to write," probably around seven years old, she sold Nightcrawling when she was 18. When she was enrolled in a literature class at Smith College, she mentioned to her professor, acclaimed author Ruth Ozeki, that she'd written a novel. Ozeki asked to see it and when she read the manuscipt, referred Motley to her own agent. 13 editors clamored to buy it and at the book auction, Oprah appeared. She'd read the manuscript and wanted to feature this teenager's book on her show. Can you believe this is real? The book came out last year, became an instant best seller and was nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize. What was equally amazing was this young woman's poise during the interview after her reading. She pointed out that at many events, she's too young to join the other presenters at a bar. She says she's not too worried about the proverbial "sophomore slump" that many authors experience when their second books don't live up to the promise of the first. Nightcrawling is raw and gritty and at times almost painful to read, but who cares? It's one in a million. What will Leila Motley accomplish in the next five or ten years, I'm expecting great things.
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