About

Jonathan LaPoma is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, songwriter, and poet from Buffalo, NY. In 2005, he received a BA in history and a secondary education credential from the State University of New York at Geneseo, and he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Mexico after graduating. These experiences have become the inspiration for much of his writing, which often explores themes of alienation and misery as human constructions that can be overcome through self-understanding and the acceptance of suffering.

LaPoma has written five novels, fifteen screenplays, and hundreds of songs and poems. His screenplays have won over 160 awards/honors at various international screenwriting competitions, and his black comedy script HARM FOR THE HOLIDAYS was optioned by Warren Zide along with Wexlfish Pictures (AMERICAN PIE, FINAL DESTINATION, THE BIG HIT) in July 2017.

LaPoma's novels have been recommended by Kirkus Reviews and Barnes and Noble (B&N Press Presents list), have hit the #1 Amazon Bestseller lists in the "Satire," "Urban Life," "Metaphysical," "Metaphysical & Visionary," and "Religious & Inspirational" Kindle categories (USA, Canada, and Australia), and have won awards/honors in the 2018 Eric Hoffer Book Award, the 2016 and 2017 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Awards, and the 2015 Stargazer Literary Prizes.

He lives in Mexico City, and plays in the rock band THE CROOKED EAST.

Featured Work

The Soul City Salvation

2020

Ten months—that’s how long 26-year-old writer and aspiring actor Jay Sakovsky decides to stay in the beach town of Soul City, CA, to save up cash by teaching and overcome his anxiety before moving south to Hollywood.

But after several “friendly” chats with the vice principal at the school about hangover sweats and black eyes from barroom brawls, Jay sees a therapist who helps him connect his self-destructive behavior and creative blocks to his undiagnosed OCD, setting him on a ten-year healing journey that drives him to near madness as he explores the limits of his heart, creativity, and psyche.

A surreal, darkly comic, and psychologically epic novel, The Soul City Salvation explores mental illness, friendship, aging, modern love, the creative process, spiritual awakening, and how the healing and artistic journeys are often the same.

*The Soul City Salvation is the fifth book in a loosely-linked series, with Hammond, The Summer of Crud, Understanding the Alacrán, and Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story as books one-four. Each novel can be read independently of the others.

Other Works

  • Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story

    September 14, 2015

  • The Summer of Crud

    2018

  • Hammond

    2018

  • Understanding the Alacrán

    2017

Awards and Recognition

  • 2014 Women in Cinema International Screenplay Competition: Finalist
  • 2013 Filmmakers International Screenwriting Contest: Second-Round Qualifier
  • 2014 Beverly Hills Screenplay Contest: Finalist
  • 2015 WriteMovies37: Finalist
  • 2015 Mountain Film Festival: Honorable Mention
  • 2015 Canada International Film Festival: Honorable Mention
  • 2014 Barcelona International Film Festival: Honorable Mention
  • 2015 Women in Cinema International Screenplay Competition: Finalist
  • 2013 Indie Gathering Film Festival: Honorable Mention (for two scripts)
  • 2014 Indie Gathering Film Festival: Honorable Mention (for three scripts)
  • Rated SR-Socially Relevant Film Festival: Top Four Scripts
  • 2014 Chicago Screenplay Content: 3rd Place (Drama Category)
  • 2014 Awareness Film Festival: 1st Place
  • 2014 West Field Screenwriting Awards: 1st Place (The New York Award)
  • 2014 London Film Awards: Grand Prize (Feature Screenplay Category)
  • 2014 Hollywood Screenplay Contest: Grand Jury Prize
  • 2014 New York Screenplay Content: Finalist
  • 2013 Filmmakers International Screenwriting Content: Quarterfinalist
  • 2013 WriteMovies: Quarterfinalist (for three scripts)
  • 2015 WriteMovies37: Quarterfinalist
  • 2014 Glendale International Film Festival: Official Selection
  • 2014 Sacramento International Film Festival: Official Selection
  • 2015 Sacramento International Film Festival: Official Selection
  • 2013 Oaxaca Film Festival: Official Selection
  • 2014 Oaxaca Film Festival: Official Selection
  • 2014 Table Read My Screenplay: Semifinalist
  • 2015 Twister Alley International Film Festival: Finalist
  • 2014 Beverly Hills International Film Festival: Finalist
  • 2015 Buffalo Niagara Film Festival: Finalist