NORMAN KINGSLEY MAILER, born January 31, 1923 in Long Branch, New Jersey, was brought up in Brooklyn, and went to Harvard when he was sixteen. Mailer achieved fame with the publication of his World War II novel, The Naked and The Dead (1948), which was based on his own experiences serving in the Pacific. A prolific writer, Mailer’s many books include: The Deer Park (1955), which has been adapted into a play and was successfully produced off Broadway; Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967), which was nominated for a National Book Award; Armies of the Night (1968) which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and brought Mailer both popular and critical acclaim; Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968), which won a National Book Award for nonfiction; Of a Fire on the Moon (1970); The Prisoner of Sex (1971); Marilyn (1973); The Executioner’s Song (1979), winning Mailer his second Pulitzer Prize, and nominated for the American Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award (Mailer also wrote the script for the film version of The Executioner’s Song and received an Emmy nomination for best adaptation); and Harlot’s Ghost (1991). Mailer’s other credits include writing, directing and appearing in a number of motion pictures. Norman Mailer, the outspoken author whose prize-winning works made him a towering figure on the American literary stage for more than 50 years, died of renal failure about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, 10 November 2007, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He once said, "Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit." Norman Mailer was a frequent and generous contributor to Van Gogh's Ear. He will be greatly missed.