Deanne Stillman
@deanne5
Critically acclaimed writer. Books include Twentynine Palms (praised by Hunter S. Thompson as "A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer") and Blood Brothers (starred Kirkus, Newsweek excerpt, praised by Doug Brinkley, Thomas Powers).
My adaptation of "Antigone" is screening on 8/19 in the Sarajevo Film Festival, directed by Goran Gajic, starring Mira Furlan ("Babylon 5"). It's a restored recording of our original stage production at the Hudson Guild Theatre, praised in the LAT. #filmfestivalsky tickets.sff.ba/films/3264#f...
On 8/19 my adaptation of "Antigone" screens at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Directed by Goran Gajic and starring the late Mira Furlan ("Babylon 5"). Wrote this at Goran's request years ago; it was first produced at the Hudson Theatre in LA. RIP Mira. #filmfestivalsky tickets.sff.ba/films/3264#f...
Blood Brothers joins this Goodreads list of Best Nonfiction Books, Western US History, which also includes Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, and Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer #booksky #authorsky www.goodreads.com/list/show/14...
Phos-Chek is pretty, right? "Two tons of water had been dropped. High winds had disrupted the site. 'By the time the time the ATF arrived, it was like looking at a cremated body and trying to make a case for murder.'" My latest on the #palisadesfire. #journalismsky lareported.org/mistrial-by-...
Did ChatGPT train on The Day of the Locust? Here's my latest on the Palisades Fire for @lareported.bsky.social and the parallels between the painting in the novel & the actual inferno. Plus new stuff about the man who was accused of starting the fire. #booksky lareported.substack.com/p/palisades-...
The ICE agent who killed Johan Guerrero in Maine was an Afghan war vet with a history of domestic violence. The two girls I wrote about in my new @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social piece were killed by a Gulf War vet with a history of rape. #booksky #twentyninepalms washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/15/a...
Winner 2026 LA Press Club Award for national political commentary, online, for my Washington Monthly piece, "Alligator Alcatraz: The Ice Detention Center Is a Sin Against Nature." My third LAPC award. @losangelespress.bsky.social @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/15/a...
For the 150th anniversary of the Little Bighorn Battle. "When I first visited the site, I experienced something so mysterious that I don’t think I’ll ever recover. The battlefield should be a required visit for all of us." @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social #booksky washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/25/t...
I never met the Obamas, but my books were in proximity, at Collection Antiques and Books in Pacific Palisades (Blood Brothers) and at Barnes and Noble at Union Square in NYC (Blood Brothers). A copy of Mustang that I signed for Obama was given directly to him by a Democratic Party donor. #booksky
Upon the 25th anniversary of Twentynine Palms, an LA Times "best book of the year" which Hunter Thompson called "A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer." #authorsky #booksky
Is gun violence baked into America's DNA? And what is the way out? Those are questions explored in my play "Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company New Works Festival," June 6/7. See this very nice Broadway World item. #theatresky www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/...
This weekend: my play "Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," a true story about a mass shooting, baseball, the Grand Canyon, Coltrane, ancient myth, fast food, minerals and gems, & the Bill of Rights. Semi-finalist for the Echo Theater New Play Writing Competition (2024); has won other awards. #theatresky
Announcement for my film, "Marilyn Monroe Flees Her Crypt When Hugh Hefner Is Buried Next Door." He really is - and MM can't take it any more. #marilynmonroe #filmsky
Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday is on June 1, with many things going on around her. I've written about her over the years, starting with this piece about the auction of the "Happy Birthday" dress ("should be donated to the Smithsonian, not sold off"). #marilynmonroe www.nytimes.com/1999/09/26/a...
"Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," June 6/7, Long Beach Shakespeare Company New Works Festival. "An experimental work that blends myth/real-world tragedy, about the mass shooting that wounded Gabby Giffords and killed a little girl who loved baseball." #theatresky www.presstelegram.com/2026/05/28/t...
"Reflections in a D'Back's Eye" is in the Long Beach Shakespeare Company New Works Festival in June. About the mass shooting in which Gabby Giffords was wounded and a little girl who loved baseball was killed. Enter the Grand Canyon/Coltrane. Tix here. #theatresky www.lbshakespeare.org/events/136729
I'm a finalist in two categories for an @lapressclub.bsky.social Award. First, for "Alligator Alcatraz Is a Sin Against Nature," in the @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social, for Political Commentary, National. Pic is of Big Cypress Preserve, where the ICE center is. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/15/a...
What is wrong with JD Vance? I looked into it for @lincolnsquare.media before the 24 election and then the piece was reprinted at Authors for Democracy, thx to @aimeeliu.bsky.social. @housedemocrats.bsky.social
"Stillman writes a dust-devil tale of murder, madness, and the military, soaked in white-hot passion and razor-sharp insights...not since Raymond Carver has anyone dared the high-wire act of writing the low-life and carried it off with such ease." - Lucian K. Truscott, author of Dress Gray #booksky
You might have read the Angel City Press edition which came out in 08. The first one, from William Morrow, came out in 01.
"Like In Cold Blood, or The Executioner’s Song, Twentynine Palms is a searing work of narrative nonfiction took Stillman a decade to report and write. It's as haunting and relevant as ever, in a time when assault is front page news." @booksky.bsky.social tomteicholz.substack.com/p/not-an-off...
If you are concerned about the terrible #burro killings in Riverside CA, check out my book Mustang, which talks about these assaults. There's a history of this that goes back for decades. Same for #wildhorses; book was an LAT "best of the year," praised by Tony Hillerman. @booksky.bsky.social
Today's the 135th anniversary of #WoundedKnee. I recently wrote about Pete Hegseth's cancellation of the medals review for soldiers who took part in that massacre of Native Americans. Also: Buffalo Bill's lost film about it in book excerpt. @booksky.bsky.social washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/06/w...
This is a new podcast production of my play "Who Walks the Sands," monologues about fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and longing and desire. They are a mashup of the real and the imaginary. There's also an interview with me following the production. #theatresky redcircle.com/shows/626558...
For 9/11 24, my remembrance: Shortly before 9/11, something told me that I might never again see my mother who lived in NYC. I changed plans and headed there on 9/10, landing shortly before the attack. "It looks like Hiroshima down here," she soon said on the phone. www.truthdig.com/articles/911...
Taos, Metta Theatre, 8/17, 2pm: a reading of my play "Reflections in a D'Back's Eye," directed by Bruce McIntosh. About America's love affair w/guns, via the incident in which Gabby Giffords was wounded and a little girl who just wanted to play baseball was killed. With the Grand Canyon. #theatresky