The Author
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Jonathan Lovejoy (born Oscar Lee Whitfield, Jr., November 17, 1967) is an American novelist, poet and short story writer, whose rejection history makes the author one of the most rejected novelists of all time. Named after Comet Lovejoy, the Christmas Comet of 2011, Lovejoy's 40 published novels focus heavily on lesbianism, mother daughter incest, and mother daughter child abuse and molestation, often emphasizing generations of violent, abusive mother daughter relationships. Raised in extreme poverty and domestic abuse, he is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a B.A. in Religious Studies, and Liberty University with an M.A. in Theological Studies. Divorced after 24 years of marriage, he is a graduate of Grand Canyon University with a Master of Divinity. He currently lives in Mesa, Arizona.
Of the author's nearly 9,000 rejections, most are for a single novel first submitted back in June of 2002. Lovejoy's persistence through determined, direct assault by mass email query alienated hundreds of literary agents all over the United States from 2002 to 2011, resulting in angry threats, letters and blogs posted against him. Although his first twelve novels were all published in 2012, they were written and edited over a period of ten years. His controversial novel The Farm Girl's Opera, about an abused woman who is the greatest composer who ever lived, was rejected more than 7,000 times.
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