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Francisco Ortiz, a handsome straight-A student and gifted basketball player from the barrio, wins a full scholarship to an elite boarding school. His future seems promising. But soon after Francisco moves into the dorm, his new classmates assume the worst of him: they pepper him with questions about drugs and gangs. It's all so confusing, made even more complicated when Francisco realizes that back home in the hood, he no longer fits in, though his friends still rely on him to solve their problems. In a desperate attempt to help one of his homies, Francisco makes a terrible decision and becomes everything he fought so hard to rise against. In When We Wuz Famous, Greg Takoudes has written a riveting novel about breaking down stereotypes, crossing boundaries, and clinging to where you come from.



About the Author

Greg Takoudes

Greg Takoudes is the director, producer, and co-writer of UP WITH ME, a feature film that premiered at South-by-Southwest and won the Special Jury Award. UP WITH ME played at over a dozen film festivals in America and Europe, winning several awards. The film was distributed by the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Greg's second directorial feature, THE JONESTOWN DEFENSE, screened as a rough cut at the Sarasota Film Festival, where the film was shot, and is currently in post-production. Greg is currently prepping his third feature film, THE LIMIT OF WOODED COUNTRY, an epic story of three brothers in Alaska, which will be shot in the summer of 2015.Greg's debut novel, WHEN WE WUZ FAMOUS, was published in March 2013 by Henry Holt and Co, to very strong reviews. He recently completed his second novel. Greg also teaches film studies and screenwriting at The New School in Manhattan.Prior to becoming a filmmaker and writer, Greg worked for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer as a member of the creative team at Imagine Entertainment in Los Angeles. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, an executive editor at Phaidon Press, and their two children.



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