Marty Beckerman
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Marty Beckerman, born in 1983 to Jewish parents and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, started his career with a weekly humor column for the Anchorage Daily News between 1998 and 2000. His early columns, heavily influenced by Dave Barry, made Beckerman a local celebrity, but his editors fired him twice for offensive interviews: one with Henry Rollins and another with a 13-year-old cheerleader whom Beckerman asked, "How does it feel to be a urine stain on the toilet seat of America?"
Beckerman collected many of his writings into the book Death to All Cheerleaders, which he self-published in 2000 at age 17. The editor of New York Press praised the book and offered Beckerman an internship at the alt-weekly in summer 2002. During this time, Beckerman lived with fellow young author Ned Vizzini and sold his manuscript Generation S.L.U.T. to MTV Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), which published the part-novel, part-memoir, part-exposé in early 2004. Many critics praised the book, although some accused Beckerman of sensationalism. Generation S.L.U.T. was a success domestically and has been translated into multiple languages worldwide. HBO Films optioned the movie rights in 2004.
In February 2003, Beckerman interviewed and smoked marijuana with legendary gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who offered Generation S.L.U.T. the blurb: "Good work, you morbid little bastard."
Beckerman graduated with honors from American University in 2004. He has been featured by the New York Times, New York Post, Fox News Channel and National Public Radio. In the December 2005 issue of Playboy (released in November 2005), Beckerman wrote an article exposing the sex lives of young Republicans.
In 2006 Simon & Schuster canceled Beckerman's third book, Retard Nation, a diatribe against "Jesus Freaks and Stupid Hippies" months before publication. A new publisher has not yet been announced.
[edit] Books
- Retard Nation. Publication date uncertain.
- Generation S.L.U.T. : A Brutal Feel-up Session with Today's Sex-Crazed Adolescent Populace. ISBN 0-7434-7109-1. February 24, 2004.
- Death to All Cheerleaders : One Adolescent Journalist's Cheerful Diatribe Against Teenage Plasticity. ISBN 0-9700629-0-7. September 6, 2000.
