Author: The JT LeRoy Story Page #5

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and he comes back to me

and he says,

"You wrote a novel."

Sarah came in

and it felt fully formed.

It was like Athena

emerging from Zeus' head.

It sounded like a vision sounds.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

The book is very different

than the other

Terminator writing.

So we need a different name.

He doesn't want

to use his name, Jeremy,

so the editor suggests

using his initials --

Jeremy Terminator, JT.

Jeremy had a last name

from a phone sex client of mine,

LeRoy.

[ Phone clicks ]

[ Phone clicks ]

So we have the name --

JT LeRoy.

[ Cash register dings ]

So they send out

the accidental book.

And I have no idea how

it's gonna be received,

because I know

it's really weird.

I haven't seen anything else

like it out there.

And we start

getting reviews back.

And they're really,

really good.

And it's

the most exciting feeling

to get this response

from this book

that I didn't mean to write.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

Today we're going to be doing

"Sarah" by JT LeRoy.

JT LeRoy

is a very young American author

who burst

on the literary scene.

It made me think of

all those Southern stories --

Flannery O'Connor

and Faulkner.

Southern gothic superstars

Yeah.

There's a lot of Truman Capote

in this guy.

And I particularly like

this young boy-girl.

And the collision between

naivete and maturity.

It's like this weird little

supernova called Sarah.

Albert:

JT LeRoy is very, very shy.

He can't do readings.

So people suggest,

he can't read it?

Let us read it.

So it was

the first reading ever,

and I was there.

[ Bell dings ]

And nobody

knew I was there.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the reading

for JT LeRoy's book, "Sarah,"

that just came out.

"Le Loup puts in flashier

lights, but the crowds thin

as talk spreads of luck

turning malevolent

after a visit with me,

the patron saint of truckers."

[ Applause ]

Albert:
I would have died

if anybody knew

because I'm big and I am

not comfortable in my skin.

And everybody's

coming to hear

this really hip, new,

cool writer,

and I'm not it.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

All right

this is Laura again.

I just was getting

incredibly depressed,

and I knew being at home

was really f***ing me up.

And my mother was, like, didn't

know what to do with me.

So I wanted to get help.

We were going to this place,

St. Vincents.

It's a mental institution --

like a loony bin.

And we packed up my stuff

and we went.

We went upstairs to the unit.

There were these old people

just walking around

in a Thorazine daze.

It's a very scary place for

a 13-year-old to walk in,

but I felt safe

'cause I was like,

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