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DeLauné Michel is an American author and actress. She was raised in southern Louisiana in a literary family which includes her uncle, Andre Dubus; her mother, Elizabeth Nell Dubus; and her cousins, James Lee Burke and Alafair Burke.

Michel was named for Helene DeLauné, the first woman over from France on her mother's side of the family. Helene DeLauné was in the court of Marie Antoinette and her husband, Jules Andre, fought in the French Revolution. Antoinette gave Helene DeLauné jewels to help her and her husband escape to Louisiana. Michel's father's family was the eleventh family in New Orleans.

Upon leaving high school (St. Joseph's Academy in Baton Rouge), Michel moved to New York City. She did some modeling there and in Europe, then spent several years studying acting in NYC with teachers from the Neighborhood Playhouse, The Actor's Studio, Juilliard, and the Yale Drama School.

After moving to Los Angeles, Michel had guest starring roles on TV shows such as NYPD Blue, The Gilmore Girls, and Judging Amy, among others. She did a number of independent films that never saw the light of day and Equity-waiver theatre, including her own one-woman show.

In 1996, Michel created "Spoken Interludes", a critically-acclaimed reading series where award winning, bestselling, and up-coming writers read their own work. This literary institution has been covered extensively by publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, GQ Magazine, LA Magazine, LA Weekly, and has been heard on NPR.

The first two short stories that Michel wrote won recognition in the Thomas Wolf Short Fiction Competition sponsored by Duke University. Later work won the Pacificus Foundation Literary Award. One of her short stories caught the eye of an agent, who then sent it to Joyce Carol Oates, who referred to Michel's writing as "a wonderful, idiosyncratic voice and an extremely promising talent." But Ms. Oates felt that the story was actually a chapter of a novel. Michel agreed and her first novel, Aftermath of Dreaming, was born.

In Aftermath of Dreaming (William Morrow/HarperCollins, April 2006), Michel explores with humor and pathos the universal themes of abandonment, forgiveness, and letting go. The novel is loosely based on an intimate six-year relationship she shared with Warren Beatty.

Her new novel, The Safety of Secrets, will be published by Avon A/HarperCollins in May 2008. She lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband and two sons. She is currently working on her third novel.

• Spoken Interludes
• DeLaune Michel

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "DeLaune Michel", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0