Hariette Surovell received a Combined BA/MA Degree in Creative Writing from City College of New York, where she studied with Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Francine Du Plessix Gray and James Toback and with E.L. Doctorow at Sarah Lawrence College.
At 16, she published the New York Times Op Ed piece, "Most Girls Just Pray". At 19, Donald Barthelme placed her short story, "A Neighborhood Hero" in "Fiction."
She has since published articles in every major national magazine, from glossies ("Glamour", "New Woman", "Town and Country", "Money") to cutting-edgy innovations ("Seven Days", "Special Reports", "New York Woman", "Cover.") For a decade, she worked as an undercover investigative sex reporter for "Penthouse Forum" (breaking stories like the Jimmy Swaggart scandal), while simultaneously writing speeches Sister Collette Mahoney, President of Marymount Manhattan College.
Hariette Surovell has also taught writing and literature courses in six colleges, including a course she created, "Literature for Writers".
In 1982, Hariette Surovell became a founding editor of "Exquisite Corpse". Her true-life serial tale, "The Men's Planet" has been excerpted in two anthologies, "The Stiffest of the Corpse" (City Lights, 1989) and "Thus Spake the Corpse" (Black Sparrow, 2000 ). Currently, Hariette Surovell is currently "Exquisite Corpse's" Media Critic. Her many other short stories have been published in "Fiction", "Between C and D", "Sun", "Downtown", and "Soho Arts Weekly".
In the mid-1980's, a simple twist of fate led Hariette Surovell to a life of crime...writing. "Chinatown Cosa Nostra" ("Penthouse") was cited on Capitol Hill, resulting in changes in federal government policy. President Herbert Walker Bush cited her "Penthouse" interview with the DEA's spokesperson Robert Stutman as his "favorite article of the year". "New York" magazine's "Untrue Blue" was optioned to become a major motion picture by Disney, and her film treatment, "The Accountant and the Stripper" was twice optioned by Paramount Pictures and is in development as a Showtime M.O.W. with actor William H. Macy. "Poor Little Rich Thugs", published in salon.com and "Queenpins of the Cali Cartel" (Exquisite Corpse) are both available for option for television, motion picture or m.o.w..
A certified graphologist and government handwriting expert, Hariette Surovell contributed analyses of the JonBenet Ramsey "ransom note" to the book "A Mother Gone Bad." Her best-selling graphology book, "Lovestrokes: Handwriting Analysis for Love, Sex and Compatibility" (Harper and Row, 1987) is still available online. Get your own handwriting analyzed on Hariette's Handwriting Analysis Page: http://www.matahariette.com/p_handwriting_analysis.html
Now, in the spring of '09, Hariette Surovell is deeply engrossed in writing fiction, and would appreciate all offers to come outside and play...as well as to give readings in, essentially, any venue.
Reviews of the oeuvre of Hariette Surovell:
"Hariette Surovell is one of the living greats,"
Andrei Codrescu, Editor, "Exquisite Corpse"
"Hariette Surovell is inimitable, superb,"
Andrei Codrescu, "Exquisite Corpse"
"Hariette Surovell at the website Exquisite Corpse (A Journal of Letters and Life ) has a truly AMAZING list of 10 movies,"
SExyEx.com
"Hariette Surovell's best piece is the terrific 'Poor Little Rich Thugs', published in Salon.com,"
Marianna Scheffer
"Hariette Surovell is the author of an original, richly detailed Webzine report she gathered over the past four years and that she called 'Queenpins of the Cali Cartel.',"
Gloria Cooper, Managing Editor, "Columbia Journalism Review"
"Hariette Surovell is a seasoned investigative reporter,"
Cynthia Cotts, "The Village Voice"
"Ms. Surovell discusses Lamott's past articles and it's abundantly clear that Lamott needs professional help and lots of it."
-- christianjb salon.com discussion board
"Heroes: Hariette Surovell",
G-SmallZ, myspace.com
