With his long curly hair, deep-set eyes, weathered face, and his entirely honest and unaffected gaze, William Gay struck me as one of the most formidable people I’d ever met
February 29, 2012 I first heard of William Gay during a phone conversation with Tom Franklin. “Have you heard of this guy?” Tom said. “He’s really good.” I had not. I got a copy of The Long Home as soon as I could, read it, and said to myself: Damn right, this man is the real thing.
Read moreThe purpose of a writer, for William Gay, was taking notes and recording the world
February 29, 2102 William never turned down an invitation to visit my classes at Middle Tennessee State University. While uncomfortable before large crowds at readings, he seemed to relish the opportunity to talk with students about his work and creative process, and had a way about him that put them at ease and made them feel their questions were important, that their opinions about his stories and novels mattered. For most of them, William was the first flesh-and-bone writer they’d ever met, and the experience was profound and memorable.
Read moreSomething in those dark, focused eyes made you think he possessed answers to questions that weren’t meant to have answers
I had the opportunity just over a year ago to interview William Gay for the Tennessee Literary Project. Near the end of the conversation, William said, “Writing should feel like it’s about something bigger than it is.” I have mulled over these words time and again. With William, it wasn’t only the work but the writer himself who seemed to be about something “bigger.”
Read moreSuzanne Kingsbury inventories a few little-known facts about William Gay
February 29, 2012 I met William Gay during a reading of The Long Home in 2000, and we became very close friends. As a literary demi-god, he often seemed not quite of this world, and yet the complexity and genius of his work matched equally who he was as a man. Because he was quiet and often introverted, I wrote a list of little-known (and a few widely-known) facts I learned about him to share with those who would like to have known the man behind those glorious books.
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In his memoir, The Last Holiday, musician/poet Gil Scott-Heron traces his path from budding artist to pop culture prophet
February 27, 2012 Musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron, who died in 2011, became a pop culture icon thanks to his classic spoken-word recording “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” and he is widely regarded as the father of rap and hip-hop. His posthumously published book, The Last Holiday: A Memoir, traces his life as an artist and activist.
Read moreTennessee writers and readers mourn the loss of William Gay, legendary novelist from Hohenwald
February 24, 2012 Novelist William Gay died at his home in Hohenwald, Tennessee, last night, at age sixty-eight. Among the most critically acclaimed of his generation of Southern writers, Gay began his public writing career famously late, when, at age fifty-five, his first short story was published in The Georgia Review. His first novel, The Long Home, won the James A. Michener Memorial Prize and was named a New York Times Notable Book for 1999. He followed that success with another novel, Provinces of Night, a short-story collection, I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, and a third novel, Twilight.
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