Les Whitten

Les Whitten
Born Leslie Hunter Whitten Jr.
1928
Alma mater Lehigh University
Occupation journalist, poet, translator
Employer "Washington Merry-Go-Round"

Leslie Hunter "Les" Whitten, Jr. (born 1928[1]) is an American investigative reporter and novelist.

Biography

Background

Whitten started his education at Lehigh University, majoring in civil engineering. However, after three semesters he left school, did a stint in the U.S. Army and moved to Paris to become a poet. He returned to Lehigh, this time majoring in English and journalism, became the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and graduated magna cum laude in 1950.[2][3][4]

Journalism

Whitten then moved to Mexico and again to Paris, continuing to try to be a writer, before shifting back to journalism in order to support his new family.[2]

Whitten began his reporting career working for Radio Free Europe from 1951 to 1957. He was an investigative reporter at the Washington Post beginning in 1969, and shared the "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column with Jack Anderson there.

In 1972 he was arrested with Hank Adams for removing boxes of documents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs after the Trail of Broken Treaties protest led to the occupation of the BIA offices, but the case was quickly dismissed.[5]

Writing

In 1978, he stepped away from journalism to concentrate on his other writing.[1][2][6][7] He wrote multiple novels, as well as other books including a children's book, a biography of lawyer F. Lee Bailey, and a translation of French poet Charles Baudelaire, in his spare time while working as a journalist and then full-time later.[1][2][6] His 1967 Gothic horror novel Moon of the Wolf became a made-for-television film, also called Moon of the Wolf, broadcast in 1972.[8]

Works

Fiction

Biography

Poetry

Translations

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The Gale Group (2005), "Whitten, Leslie Hunter, Jr.", Writers Directory 2005, (subscription required (help)).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Henscom, Leslie (June 19, 1983), "Ex-hotshot reporter likes writer's life", The Bulletin.
  3. Shimer, Elizabeth (Winter 2005), "Les Whitten '50: A novel approach to life. Les Whitten '50 credits Lehigh with setting him on a path that led to a career in newspapers and 17 books", Lehigh Alumni Bulletin.
  4. "Author Les Whitten To Show Work At Lehigh Fyi", Lehigh Valley Morning Call, April 20, 1988.
  5. Adams, Jim (January 11, 2006), "Hank Adams: American Indian Visionary 2006", Indian Country Today, (subscription required (help)).
  6. 1 2 3 4 Streitfeld, David (December 24, 1989), "Lost, But Now Found", Washington Post, (subscription required (help)). A review of Whitten's book The Lost Disciple, this article also includes some biographical detail about Whitten.
  7. Whitten, Les (December 27, 2005), "Eulogy for a Muckraker", Huffington Post. Whitten writes about Jack Anderson and his experiences working with him.
  8. Golden, Christopher; Bissette, Stephen R.; Sniegoski, Thomas E. (2000), The Monster Book, Simon and Schuster, p. 262, ISBN 9780671042592.
  9. Kirkus Reviews, Pinion, the Golden Eagle, retrieved 2012-04-14.
  10. Burton, Philip Ward (July 30, 1983), "Burton on Books: A Killing Pace", Madison Courier.
  11. Burton, Philip Ward (November 27, 1985), "Burton on Books: A Day Without Sunshine", Madison Courier.
  12. "In Brief: Moses: The Last Book of the Bible", Washington Post, July 9, 2000, (subscription required (help)).
  13. Dygert, James H. (1976), The investigative journalist: folk heroes of a new era, Prentice-Hall, p. 105, ISBN 9780135023105.
  14. Kessler, Jascha (July 22, 1979), "Whitten poetizing on the Potomac", Los Angeles Times.

External links

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