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William Jack Sibley, Bio
William Jack Sibley, Bio.
author, screenwriter, playwright, rancher
About William Jack Sibley:
“What we ran away from so many years ago -- small towns, narrow minds, sexual repression, artistic suppression, suffocating families, unfulfilling jobs, busted marriages, lack of opportunity -- whatever it was, it does come back to bite you in the butt,” says William Jack Sibley.  “What my first novel, Any Kind Of Luck (Kensington Publishing, NYC, August, 2001-- paperback, August 2002, ISBN: 1575667665) ultimately conveys is that one should never be afraid to face those initial anxiety-provoking terrors -- going home, losing a relationship, career failure, death, illness, loneliness, apathy -- whatever.  When difficult circumstances arise it helps to remember that all we’re really being offered is another brilliant opportunity for growth.” (Any Kind Of Luck  was nominated for the 2001 Lambda Literary Awards, runner-up for the Texas Institute of Letters, "Funniest Book of the Year", John Bloom Award, and the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award, as well as chapter excerpted in "Southern Lights:  PEN South, Literary Review, Vol II", Manya DeLeon Booksmith, ISBN: 0966460804; and Genre Magazine, chapter excerpt, August 2001 issue.) Any Kind Of Luck has remained the No. 1 seller in the Amazon.com Las Cruces, NM "Purchase Circle", outselling bestsellers on the list including works by Joyce Carol Oates, Tony Hillerman and "Harry Potter" Book 5.  It was the sole August Book Review selection for the Las Cruces, Thomas Branigan Memorial Library Book Review Luncheon, moderated by Win Jacobs (8/12/03).
ANY KIND OF LUCK website:  
Sibley based Any Kind Of Luck on his own experience of returning home to small town Texas after living a very urban existence in New York City for eight years. A versatile writer, Sibley’s work has spanned from writing dialogue for television’s “The Guiding Light” to serving as a contributing editor at Interview Magazine to seeing his work produced Off-Broadway and regionally. His first play "Governor's Mansion" won the Southwest Regional Playwright's Competition and was produced at Center Stage in Austin, TX.  His play "Mortally Fine" was produced at The Actors Outlet Theater (W. 28th St.), NYC, in 1985 and at The Group Rep Theater in Burbank, CA, 1998.   ("Mortally Fine" is excerpted in "100 Monologues; An Audition Sourcebook from New Dramatist," Laura Harrington, Editor, Mentor Books; ISBN: 04516268851.)  "Mr. and Mrs. Coffee" (prod. Humboldt Univ., Arcata, CA, and excerpted in "Competition Monologues", University Press of America, Edited by Roger Ellis, ISBN: 0819168505), "If You Loved Me" ( staged readings at The Tennessee Williams Playwright Festival, Key West, FL, New Dramatist, NY, and The Attic Theater, Los Angeles, CA.), "Lock The Doors!" (prod. 29th St. Rep. Co., NYC, 1990, New Voices In The American Theater Festival), "It Happened In Santa Fe" (Prod. Railyard Performance Center, Santa Fe, NM, 1994).  "Kitten and Princess" and "Two Men, Two Women and a Bird," one-acts, have all had NYC productions. On September 24, 2004 the world premiere of,  IF YOU LOVED ME, was held in San Antonio, Texas at The Cameo Theater. The play was produced by The Actor's Theatre of San Antonio, directed by Jerry Pilato, and awarded a "Globe" by the Alamo Theatre Arts Council in September 2005 for "Best Original Script" of the 2004-2005 season.  In spring 2007, IF YOU LOVED ME, was selected one of 5 winners by the Texas NonprofitTheatres Playwriting Contest for member theater stage production during the 2008-09 season.
  Reviews: San Antonio Current, 9/30/04, "Graceful and surefooted -- good old-fashioned story -- it's excellent!  Smooth and mature script -- experience and confidence in plot-driven work.  Cast uniformly strong, remarkably polished.  It's nice to be reminded why people used to go to the theater." St. Mary's University, "The Rattler", 10/06/2004, "A stunning performance!  William Jack Sibley a profound Texas native playwright and novelist.  IF YOU LOVED ME tackles many subjects of the universal human experience including love, wonder, humor, the desire to be a part of something important, and Texas!  Everything about the play is wonderful.  It is an excellent script and the way the actors handled each of their roles is absolutely unparalleled."
On February 14, 2006 he was guest lecturer at "The Friends of the Library" reception,  downtown San Antonio Public Library. He has nine screenplays in various stages of Hollywood production, including the award winning "Where all the Rattlesnakes Are Born" (Silver Medal, Best Screenplay, WORLDFEST, Houston, 1992) and "White On Rice"(retitled from "Approximate Lives", Finalist, Best Screenplay, Charleston-Spoleto Festival, 1994). "December Story," "Amor," and "Dead Giveaway" are all presently under option.  DECEMBER STORY was a 2008 finalist for the $50,000 Kairos Prize for "Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays". His screenplays have also been optioned by such esteemed directors as John Schlesinger (MIDNIGHT COWBOY), Arthur Hiller (LOVE STORY) and Pete Masterson (THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL). He's co-written three screenplays with actress Diane Ladd ("Hot Water Biscuits," "High Maintenance," and "The Last of the Bad Girls") and another ("The Big Hurt") for actor Tab Hunter.

A graduate of the University of Texas, Austin, BS in Communications (Radio, Television, Film), Sibley is a former member and boardmember of The New Dramatists and is a member of the Writers Guild of America/West, the Dramatist Guild, The Writer's League of Texas, Gemini Ink and PEN International.  He has been the playwright-in-residence at Humboldt University (Arcata, CA), as well as a guest playwright at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Key West and The Texas Playwright's Festival, Stages Theater, Houston. A fellow at the Blue Mountain Writer’s Colony in Blue Mountain, New York, Sibley has also had residencies at the Saskatchewan Writers/Artist Colony (St. Peters) and The Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, AR. In the Spring of 2003 he was a visiting guest lecturer at the Pen Ethnic Conference, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY. In July of 2003 he was guest speaker at the Tenth Annual Agents Conference, sponsored by the Writer's League of Texas, Austin, TX.  In August of 2003 Mr. Sibley was selected to attend The Julia and David White Artist Colony in Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica.  In June of 2004 Mr. Sibley led a 3-day seminar for The Writer's League of Texas on creating and sustaining believable dialogue -- http://www.writersleague.org/instructors.htm.
 (In the 6/9/04 Texas Writer's League Newsletter, workshop participants rated Sibley's class as, "Bill Sibley is a fabulous seminar leader and teacher.  He's also extremely entertaining."  "Sibley is so personable and helpful." "Bill was really prepared - felt he took the time and his responsibility seriously." On a scale of 1 to 10 many rated Bill a 20!)
In September of 2006 Mr. Sibley was a guest judge for the premier Artist Foundation of San Antonio Awards. His writing has appeared in Utne Reader, The Dallas Times Herald, Heritage Magazine (summer 1996), Texas Co-op Power Magazine, The Dead Mule ("A Journal of Southern Literature"), Flying Colors Magazine, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Ford Times, The Texas State Reading Association ("Cookin' and Bookin'"), The San Antonio Current, Hallmark Magazine and The New York Native, .
-- BLOG -

While he has lived in New York City, Los Angeles and Santa Fe, Sibley is a sixth-generation Texan and currently resides on his great-grandfather's ranch south of San Antonio.  In addition to helping restore a 100-year old train depot, he writes, raises cattle and (formerly) ostriches, grows olive trees and is a past president of the Christine Historical Society, former board member of the Texas Historical Foundation,  the Atascosa County Historical Commission and currently serves as Vice President of the Christine City Cemetery Assn. and Boardmember of the River Road Neighborhood Assn. (San Antonio).
Coming Up:  Sibley's next novel, FADED LOVE, is the story of a man in prison who falls in love, through lengthy correspondence, with a woman he's never met.  Getting out, he goes to find her and discovers that the love letters he's received were written not by a woman but by a closeted gay man -- a small town minister. Not only did the minister deceive the prisoner, but he sent a photograph of his sister (who lives with him) as a picture representing himself.  And not only is the sister unaware of the ruse, but she herself happens to be a lesbian.  The ex-prisoner has fallen in love physically with a woman who doesn't know he exists, and mentally with a man he doesn't know how to love. Set in the scenic Texas Gulf Coast fishing village of Rockport, FADED LOVE is a darkly humorous and contemplative examination of the parameters of love, sex, sexuality and cultural perspective.  
MANAGER: Jeff Ross,  
Jeff Ross Management  
Tel - (818) 788-6847, (818) 270-7067
14560 Benefit St., #206
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
My Links:
author contact:  wj894@aol.com
ANY KIND OF LUCK website:  

 

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