Actor James Franco, the star of Milk, 127 Hours and Pineapple Express, has penned an agreement with publisher Graywolf Press to write a book of poetry in April 2014. The actor is an MFA graduate from both Columbia University and Warren Wilson College, having studied writing and poetry at a number of other East Coast institutions. His first book of poems it built around Hollywood and actors he admires, and “a way to blend film and poetry and performance and persona.”
The collection’s title, Directing Herbert White, refers to a 2010 short written and directed by Franco, based on a poem by Frank Bidart. Franco’s debut novel, Palo Alto: Stories, was published in 2010. November 2012 saw the relase of Strongest of the Litter, a pocketbook of poetry.