[close] Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.

He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archelaus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four. That was why he had to live with his mother's relative at Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering the school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her newly husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr.Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name into Capote and enrolling him into the private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker, during this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into the circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversy because of Capote's photograph, which was used to promote his novel, looking suductive by his pose and gazing into the camera.

Between the decades of 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained producing prolifically fiction and non-fiction, almost of which is non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, following by his acclaimed novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's, a story aboust the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, published in 1966 in a book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. This time was recognised his peak of his career, which then considered his downfall. He published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at aged 59. [close]