Oscar Whitfield

Oscar Lee Whitfield, Jr. (b. November 17, 1967- ) is an American poet and short story writer, notable for rejections received rather than works published, which include only a few poems and stories in small magazines including The Storyteller. Raised in extreme poverty and domestic abuse, Whitfield is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Whitfield is the son of two Pentecostal Holiness preachers from Rocky Mount, NC. On a cold January night in 1992, his father collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where he died of acute pancreatitis at the age of 46. The strict Pentecostal minister, who had claimed the office of modern day apostle, left behind a wife and ten children.

Of the author's nearly 7,000 rejections, most are for a single novel first submitted back in June of 2002. Whitfield's persistence through determined, direct assault by mass email query has alienated hundreds of literary agents all over the United States, resulting in angry threats, letters and blogs posted against him. His controversial manuscript Elizabeth (a novel), AbOUT an abused woman who is the greatest composer who ever lived, has been rejected almost 6,000 times.

Published Poems - The Storyteller

• The Girl in Red (2004)
• Evening Flow (2004)
• The Two Faces of Emily Dickinson (2005)
• I Will Sing to Her the Love of Bluebirds (2006)
• On the Trail to Golgotha (2006)

Published Stories

• The Blue Bedroom (Elements Magazine - 2004)
• Death and Diamonds (The Storyteller - 2004)

References

• An open letter to Oscar Whitfield posted by Jason Myers 05/06/2009
• Oscar Whitfield posted by Jonathan Lyons May 22, 2009

External links

The Storyteller, listed in the 101 Best of the Magazine Markets for Writers 2009