The Arts: Elmore Leonard
uploaded by graphics8.nytimes.com
Some of you just said, “Whomore What?” Well, if you don’t know Elmore Leonard, allow me to make the introduction. Meet one of the greatest crime novelists ever. But that’s not even enough, one of the greatest novelists of our time in any genre.
No one writes better dialogue than Elmore. No one. Crisp, smart, funny, real. Maybe you’ve heard some of it in movies adapted from his books: Get Shorty…Out of Sight…Jackie Brown (the novel was Rum Punch). His advice to writers: “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”
Elmore is writing less frequently these days, as you might imagine, at the age of 83. But if there’s been any drop off in quality, I haven’t seen it. He has a new book, Road Dogs, coming out in May.
I cannot wait.