Kiese Laymon (born August 15, 1974, in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American writer. He is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. He is the author of three full-length books: a novel, Long Division (2013), and two memoirs, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America (2013) and the award-winning Heavy: An American Memoir (2018).[1] Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.
Kiese Laymon | |
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 Laymon at the 2018 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | August 15, 1974 Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. |
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| Website | kieselaymon |
Early life and education
editLaymon was born and raised in Mississippi.[2][1] He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Oberlin College, and his Master's in Fine Arts at Indiana University.[3] He also attended Jackson State University, where his mother worked as a political science professor, and Millsaps College, where he was suspended for a year after taking a library book without checking it out. His suspension followed ongoing criticism from the administration, including president George Harmon, who believed his controversial pieces on race in the school newspaper adversely affected campus and alumni relations.[4]
Writing career
editLaymon detailed his experience of racism at Millsaps, and as a coming-of-age black man in Mississippi, in his essay for Gawker, "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America".[4] The essay was widely read and attracted both positive and negative comments on his portrayal of his racial experiences. "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others" was eventually included in his book of autobiographical essays by the same name.[2][5]
His 2018 memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, deals with his difficult relationship with his mother—who instilled in him a love of reading and skill in writing, but who was in an abusive relationship, lived on very little money, and beat him with the justification that he needed to be tough enough for a white world that would treat him even more harshly—as well as his subsequent unhealthy relationships with food and gambling.[6] It also deals with American racism, feminism, family, masculinity, geography, hip hop, and Southern black life.[7] His blog, Cold Drank, features essays and short fiction as well as pieces written by guest contributors.[8] Laymon has written essays and stories for publications including Gawker, ESPN.com, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, BuzzFeed, and The Guardian.[9][10]
Writing for NPR, Martha Anne Toll described Laymon as "a star in the American literary firmament, with a voice that is courageous, honest, loving, and singularly beautiful. Heavy is at once a paean to the Deep South, a condemnation of our fat-averse culture, and a brilliantly rendered memoir of growing up black, and bookish, and entangled in a family that is as challenging as it is grounding."[11]
While he was living and writing in upstate New York, as a professor at Vassar College, Laymon's refusal to omit explicit aspects of Long Division that explore racial politics prolonged negotiations with a major publishing group. His books were eventually picked up by the independent publisher Agate Publishing, which released his debut novel in June 2013.[12][13]
In addition to Laymon's satirical time-travel novel Long Division, his book of autobiographical essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, was published by Agate in August 2013.[14]
Academia
editLaymon was an associate professor of English and Africana Studies at Vassar College, then became a professor of Creative Writing in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi.[15][16]
As of 2022[update], he is professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University.[17]
Awards and recognition
edit- 2013 & 2014: Member of The Root 100,[17] a "list of the 100 most important black influencers between the ages of 25 and 45"[18]
- 2018: Los Angeles Times Book Prize – Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, for Heavy: An American Memoir[19]
- 2019: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction for Heavy: An American Memoir[20]
- 2022: MacArthur Fellows Program[21]
Selected works
edit- Novels
- Long Division (2013), ISBN 978-1932841725
- Memoirs
References
edit- ^ a b "Kiese Laymon on Revision as Love, and Love as Revision". Literary Hub. February 9, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ a b "Kiese Laymon". Kiese Laymon. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Nave, R. L. (February 15, 2013). "Kiese Laymon". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ a b Laymon, Kiese (July 28, 2012). "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: A Remembrance". Gawker. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ Bereola, Abigail (October 18, 2018). "A Reckoning Is Different than a Tell-All: An Interview with Kiese Laymon". The Paris Review. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Simon, Scott. "'Heavy': Kiese Laymon's Memoir Examines How People Absorb Trauma". NPR. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
- ^ McCall, Jason (November 20, 2013). "The Past is Not Dead: Time and Race in Kiese Laymon's "Long Division"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
- ^ Pauley, Nick (July 14, 2013). "Keeping it 100". Wine and Bowties. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
- ^ "Kiese Laymon". The Root. November 4, 2013. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
- ^ "Essays". Kiese Laymon. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ Toll, Martha Anne (October 17, 2018). "'Heavy' Brilliantly Renders The Struggle To Become Fully Realized". NPR.org. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ Shengold, Nina (September 1, 2013). "Kiese Laymon Keeps it Real | Notes from Underground". Chronogram.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ Valentine, Genevieve (May 30, 2013). "BEA 2013: Kiese Laymon: Chasing the Narrative". Publishersweekly.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ Bereola, Abigail (August 14, 2013). "First Time Author, Two New Books". The Rumpus.net. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ Nieman, Liam (October 17, 2018). "'I'd made a body disappear': Kiese Laymon debuts memoir about race, weight, family". The Daily Mississippian. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ Lijadu, Kemi; Leah Fessler (October 30, 2018). "#MeToo taught Heavy author Kiese Laymon that America encourages abuse — Quartz at Work". qz.com. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ a b "Kiese Laymon". University of Mississippi M.F.A. Faculty. July 21, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
- ^ "The Root 100: A Who's Who Of Black America". WAMU Tell Me More. NPR. October 26, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ^ "The Christopher Isherwood Prize". The Christopher Isherwood Foundation. Archived from the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ^ "'The Great Believers,' 'Heavy: An American Memoir,' receive 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction". News and Press Center. January 27, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
- ^ "Kiese Laymon". www.macfound.org. Retrieved October 14, 2022.