  david leavitt (born june 23, 1961) is an american writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction. ==biography== born in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, leavitt is a graduate of yale university and a professor at the university of florida. he has also taught at princeton university. his published fiction includes the short-story collections family dancing (finalist for the pen/faulkner award), a place i've never been, arkansas and the marble quilt, as well as the novels the lost language of cranes, equal affections, while england sleeps (finalist for the los angeles times fiction prize), the page turner, martin bauman, the body of jonah boyd and the indian clerk (finalist for the pen/faulkner award and shortlisted for the impaq dublin award). leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. at the university of florida, he is a member of the creative writing faculty as well as the founder and editor of the literary journal subtropics. ==controversy== in 1993, leavitt was sued over the publication of his novel while england sleeps by the english poet stephen spender. spender accused leavitt of using elements of spender's memoir world within world in the novel, and brought suit against leavitt for copyright infringement. viking-penguin, leavitt's publisher at the time, withdrew the book. in 1995, houghton mifflin published a revised version of while england sleeps with a preface by the author addressing the novel's controversy. some critics have since noted leavitt
1961_births 20th-century_American_novelists 21st-century_American_novelists American_male_novelists American_short_story_writers Gay_writers Guggenheim_Fellows Jewish_American_novelists LGBT_Jews LGBT_novelists LGBT_people_from_Florida LGBT_people_from_Pennsylvania LGBT_writers_from_the_United_States Living_people Male_short_story_writers Princeton_University_faculty University_of_Florida_faculty Writers_from_Florida Writers_from_Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania Yale_University_alumni