Celebrities in Disgrace

by Elizabeth Searle

Inspired by a society obsessed with celebrities, Searle explores the glittery-dark underworld of 'hopefuls,' those who have been given the slightest hint of success--or even imagined success--and who are hungry for an audience, of any size. Ranging from a woman's relentless pursuit to be an actress despite her tendency to faint onstage, to a disintegrating family who comes together if only to watch the imaginary lives in a soap opera, the stories in Celebrities in Disgrace capture the thrill and lure of fame and our insatiable need for it.

Genres: Fiction

186 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Elizabeth Searle is the author of two works of theater and four books of fiction: Celebrities In Disgrace, a novella and stories; A Four-Sided Bed, a novel nominated for an American Library Association Book Award; My Body To You, a story collection that won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize; and a forthcoming novel, Girl Held In Home (2011). The New York Times Book Review called her novella Celebrities In Disgrace "a miniature masterpiece."

Elizabeth Searle's and Michael Teoli's Rock Opera, Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera - as well as her and Abigail Al-Doory Cross' original opera, Tonya & Nancy: The Opera have drawn worldwide media attention. In May, 2006, at the American Reperatory Theater's "new space for new works," Tufts Music premiered the opera, which is based on the infamous Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan ice scandal. The opera drew coverage from - among other media outlets - the Associated Press, ESPN Hollywood, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The London Times, The Daily Show and National Public Radio.

Searle won the 2010 Boston Literary Death Match and the 2000 Lawrence Foundation Fiction Prize. She received her MFA from Brown University, and has taught fiction writing at Brown, Emerson College, Bennington MFA, Stonecoast MFA, and the University of Massachusetts (Visiting Writer, 2007-08). Searle has also served for over a decade on the Executive Board of PEN/New England and founded the Erotic PEN readings.

Searle lives with her husband and son in Arlington, MA.