Jay McInerney — American Writer born on January 13, 1955,

John Barrett "Jay" McInerney, Jr. is an American writer and food critic. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City, Ransom, Story of My Life, Brightness Falls, and The Last of the Savages. He edited The Penguin Book of New American Voices, wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaptation of Bright Lights, Big City, and co-wrote the screenplay for the television film Gia, which starred Angelina Jolie. He was the wine columnist for House & Garden magazine, and his essays on wine have been collected in Bacchus & Me and A Hedonist in the Cellar. His most recent novel is titled The Good Life, published in 2006, and since April 2010 he has been a wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal. In 2009, he published a book of short stories which spanned his entire career, entitled How It Ended, which was named one of the 10 best books of the year by Janet Maslin of The New York Times... (wikipedia)

A creative writing program is only as good as its teachers, and I was fortunate in having two great writers as mentors.
Eat, drink and remarry is my motto.
Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.
The definition of gumbo is almost as slippery as that of Creole. Just as gumbo can contain pretty much any kind of meat or seafood, Creole is a vague and inclusive term for native New Orleanians, who may be black or white, depending on whom you're asking.
The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously, the things that surprise me.