George Leite

{{Infobox writer | image = Author, publisher, and bookstore owner George Leite, in Berkeley, CA, 1946.jpg | caption = Leite in 1946 | imagesize = | birth_name = George Thurston Leite | birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1920|12|20}} | birth_place = Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1985|8|6|1920|12|20}} | death_place = Walnut Creek, California, U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|poet|publisher|bookseller|native plants nursery owner}} | period = 1943{{ndash}}85 | genre = Modernism, poetry, novel | spouse = Nancy Leite | children = George Daliel Leite }}

'''George Thurston Leite''' (December 20, 1920 – August 6, 1985) was an American author, poet, publisher, bookstore, gallery, and native plants nursery owner active in California's San Francisco Bay Area starting in the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://daliel.leitefamily.net/nancy-memories-1.txt|title = Oral history interview with Nancy Leite|date = May 5, 2015|accessdate = June 11, 2015|website = daliel.leitefamily.net|archive-date = June 13, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150613081718/http://daliel.leitefamily.net/nancy-memories-1.txt|url-status = dead}}</ref> Born to a Portuguese-American family in Providence, Rhode Island in 1920, he was raised in San Leandro, California, a Bay Area city which was then a Portuguese enclave. His last name is the Portuguese word for milk. He died in 1985 in Walnut Creek, California.

Leite was the founder of daliel's Bookstore (stylized with a lowercase 'd') at 2466 Telegraph Avenue between Dwight and Haste Streets in Berkeley, where he published ''Circle Magazine'' and published books, pamphlets, and audio recordings under the Circle Editions imprint.<ref>{{cite book |title=The San Francisco Renaissance: Poetics and Community at Mid-Century |authorlink=Michael Davidson (poet) |last=Davidson |first=Michael |page=39 |year=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-42304-5 }}</ref> Many of the important regional writers of the period such as Kenneth Rexroth were published by him, and daliel's Gallery was the site of concerts by composer Harry Partch and exhibitions by artist Jean Varda. He lived for a while near Henry Miller's cabin on the Big Sur coast.<ref>{{Cite journal| first = Mildred| last = Brady| authorlink = Mildred Edie Brady |date=April 1947| title = The New Cult of Sex and Anarchy| journal = Harper's Magazine }}</ref>

Leite and novelist Jody Scott co-authored the novel ''cure it with honey'' (AKA ''I'll Get Mine)'' under the pseudonym Thurston Scott. It was published in 1951 and won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for best first novel in 1952.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theedgars.com/awards/?listpage=32&instance=1|title=Edgar Awards Database|website=Mystery Writers of America}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110713122838/http://www.vallejo.to/artists/varda_circle.htm Circle History], from Varda's ferryboat's website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leite, George}} Category:20th-century American poets Category:Businesspeople from Providence, Rhode Island Category:Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Writers from Providence, Rhode Island Category:Poets from Rhode Island Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:1920 births Category:1985 deaths Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American male poets Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American male writers