'Because this is what you do'

 

“I write because I write - as anyone in the arts does.    You're a painter because you feel you have no choice but to paint. You're a writer because this is what you do” – Richard Price

 

Born in New York City on this date in 1949, Price has earned acclaim for his many screenplays and television episodes and his 9 novels, led by the award-winning The Wanderers and Clockers, both also made into movies.  The novels explore late-20th century urban America (set in New Jersey) in a gritty, realistic manner that has brought him considerable literary acclaim. 

 

Price's screenplay for the movie The Color of Money earned him an Oscar nomination, and many of his others – Life Lessons (the Martin Scorsese segment of New York Stories); Sea of Love; Mad Dog and Glory – all were highly praised.  On HBO, his works include episodes of The Wire and The Night Of.

 

Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he is a recipient of that organization’s top literary prize. 

 

Price started his writing career while still in graduate school at Columbia University and never looked back, but he said sometimes the process can be a struggle.  "Writers spend three years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet. It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day.”