PAPERBOY SINGS ON CENTER STAGE
We first met Vince Vawter in the Spring of 2014 at our National Stuttering Awareness Week (NSAW) gala at the Lotos Club in New York City. Vince was among several notable authors, who, as Stuttering Foundation
President Jane Fraser put it, had “the courage to share their stories and inspire others hold a special place in the hearts of the millions of people worldwide who struggle to speak.”
Vince is the author of the 2014 Newbery Honor Book Paperboy, and a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He worked in newspapers for 40 years, rising from sportswriter to newspaper publisher. Vince retired in 2006 to devote full time to the book he always knew he would write, the story of a boy who battled a debilitating stutter while growing up in a racially segregated Memphis in the 1950s. In addition to the Newbery Honor, Paperboy is a selection of the Junior Library Guild and was named a Top Ten Book of Historical Fiction for Youth by the American Library Association.
Most recently, Vince’s beloved Paperboy was adapted for the stage, in the form of a musical, by the Manhattan School of Music (MSM).
The production of the musical Paperboy premiered at Manhattan School of Music March 24-26, 2023. The novel it’s based on of the same title has been translated into 17 languages — and this 18th translation into the language of musical theatre may be its most universal. Set in 1950s Memphis, Paperboy tells the true story of an 11-year-old boy who stutters and how his life is transformed one summer when he takes over a friend’s paper route.
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Vince Vawter, a native of Memphis, retired after a 40- year career in newspapers, most recently as the president and publisher of the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press. His debut novel, Paperboy, received a Newberry Honor award in 2014. The story is based on his real-life experience growing up in the 1950s as a person who stutters. Vince spends his retirement traveling the country and discussing his books with schools, reading and education groups, as well as stuttering advocacy organizations. He and his wife, Betty, live in Louisville, Tenn., on a small farm in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains near Knoxville.
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