John Mailer

As one of the most controversial literary icons, Norman Mailer has always intrigued us. To get to the truth of this great man of letters, he and his son, John Buffalo Mailer, have written The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America. In these series of conversations between them, they reveal complex insights into this larger than life figure.

American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter and film director, Mailer is considered an innovator of creative nonfiction. He has been nominated on several occasions for the Nobel Prize for Literature and was one of the founders of The Village Voice.

Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead, based on his personal experiences during World War II, was hailed by many as one of the best American novels to come out of the war years and named one of the "100 best novels" by the Modern Library. Some of his other great works include: Advertisements for Myself , The Presidential Papers, An American Dream, Of a Fire on the Moon, Marilyn, Ancient Evenings, Harlot's Ghost, and Oswald's Tale. Both Armies of the Night and more recently, The Executioner’s Song, are Pulitzer Prize winners. In January 2007, Random House will release Mailer’s first substantial book in over a decade, A Castle in the Forest.

A number of Mailer's works, such as The Armies of the Night, are political and he has been politically active, covering the Republican and Democratic National Conventions from 1960 to 1996, and in 1967, he was arrested for his involvement in anti-Vietnam demonstrations. Two years later, he ran unsuccessfully as an independent for Mayor of New York City.
A playwright and author, Buffalo Mailer has made a name for himself as the author of the socially conscious plays Hello Herman and Crazy Eyes. Active in the theater circuit, he is also Founder of Back House Productions in New York City.

Mailer served as Executive Editor for the infamous High Times magazine where he helped re-launch the magazine as an independent, outlaw version of Vanity Fair, making national headlines with the stories he published. While there, he became active in the protest movement centering on the Republican National Convention. In addition to producing the High Times Activist's Guide to the RNC, he also interviewed his father, Norman Mailer, for New York Magazine, on the possible dangers and benefits of the protest.

In addition to HeIlo Herman and Crazy Eyes, he has written several screenplays, one short play, and freelanced for Playboy, New York, Stop Smiling, and Lid magazines.