James DeVita is an author, actor, and theater director. He is a core company member and literary manager at American Players Theater, a classical repertory theater in Wisconsin. He has worked as an actor in Japan, Germany, Australia, Ireland, and throughout the United States. His novel, Sanctuary, written under the pen name James Cleary, is being published this year by Penguin Random House in the US and Canada, and also by HarperCollins in the UK. It will be released internationally in Italy France and Germany as well. His previous novels include A Winsome Murder (WI-University Press), The Silenced (Milkweed Editions), and Blue (HarperCollins). DeVita has also worked extensively as a playwright for adult and young audiences. A resident playwright at Milwaukee’s First Stage Children’s Theater, his work in the field has been acknowledged twice with The Distinguished Play Award from The American Alliance of Theater and Education; The Intellectual Freedom Award by the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts; the Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwrighting Contest, and The American Alliance of Theater and Education honored his body of work with the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award. DeVita is also a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Fiction.
