Podcast appearances and mentions of Ernest J Gaines

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Best podcasts about Ernest J Gaines

Latest podcast episodes about Ernest J Gaines

KAZI 88.7 FM Book Review
Episode 319: Keith Clark Highlights the Importance of Black Literary Trail Blazers James Baldwin, Ernest Gaines, and Ann Petry

KAZI 88.7 FM Book Review

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2025 48:37


Diverse Voices Book Review host interviewed Keith Clark about his books Navigating the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines: A Roadmap for Readers, The Radical Fiction of Ann Petry, and Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines and August Wilson.  Clark is a Professor of English and African and African American Studies at George Mason University. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Twitter - @diversebookshay Email: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com 

Danielle’s Reading Nook
"A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest J. Gaines

Danielle’s Reading Nook

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2024 5:03


Here I talk about another book I had to read when I was a senior in high school. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/daniellesreadingnook/support

The Drunk Guys Book Club Podcast
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines

The Drunk Guys Book Club Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2024 53:24


The Drunk Guys need a lesson before drinking this week when they read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines. They go hog wild for: Crème brûlée by Southern Tier, Overzealous by Eredita and Hop'deded by Other Half. Join the Drunk Guys next Tuesday when they read I Am

LA Theatre Works
A Lesson Before Dying (Part 4)

LA Theatre Works

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2024 19:31


A Lesson Before Dying is sponsored by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Based on Ernest J. Gaines' National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel, Romulus Linney's adaptation of A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young illiterate black man, is falsely convicted of murder and is sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation schoolteacher, agrees to talk with the condemned man. The disheartened Wiggins had once harbored dreams of escaping from his impoverished youth, yet he returned to his home town after university, to teach children whose lives seemed as unpromising as Jefferson's.Recorded before a live audience at Voice of America, Washington D.C. in July of 2001.Directed by Nick OlcottProducing Director: Susan Albert LoewenbergRick Foucheux as Paul BoninKeith Glover as Grant WigginsJamahl Marsh as JeffersonLinda Powell as Vivian BaptisteJefferson A. Russell as Reverend Moses AmbroseJerry Whiddon as Sam GuidryBeatrice Winde as Emma GlennSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LA Theatre Works
A Lesson Before Dying (Part 1)

LA Theatre Works

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2024 27:58


A Lesson Before Dying is sponsored by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Based on Ernest J. Gaines' National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel, Romulus Linney's adaptation of A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young illiterate black man, is falsely convicted of murder and is sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation schoolteacher, agrees to talk with the condemned man. The disheartened Wiggins had once harbored dreams of escaping from his impoverished youth, yet he returned to his home town after university, to teach children whose lives seemed as unpromising as Jefferson's.Recorded before a live audience at Voice of America, Washington D.C. in July of 2001.Directed by Nick OlcottProducing Director: Susan Albert LoewenbergRick Foucheux as Paul BoninKeith Glover as Grant WigginsJamahl Marsh as JeffersonLinda Powell as Vivian BaptisteJefferson A. Russell as Reverend Moses AmbroseJerry Whiddon as Sam GuidryBeatrice Winde as Emma GlennSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LA Theatre Works
A Lesson Before Dying (Part 2)

LA Theatre Works

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2024 18:51


A Lesson Before Dying is sponsored by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Based on Ernest J. Gaines' National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel, Romulus Linney's adaptation of A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young illiterate black man, is falsely convicted of murder and is sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation schoolteacher, agrees to talk with the condemned man. The disheartened Wiggins had once harbored dreams of escaping from his impoverished youth, yet he returned to his home town after university, to teach children whose lives seemed as unpromising as Jefferson's.Recorded before a live audience at Voice of America, Washington D.C. in July of 2001.Directed by Nick OlcottProducing Director: Susan Albert LoewenbergRick Foucheux as Paul BoninKeith Glover as Grant WigginsJamahl Marsh as JeffersonLinda Powell as Vivian BaptisteJefferson A. Russell as Reverend Moses AmbroseJerry Whiddon as Sam GuidryBeatrice Winde as Emma GlennSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

LA Theatre Works
A Lesson Before Dying (Part 3)

LA Theatre Works

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2024 19:54


A Lesson Before Dying is sponsored by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.Based on Ernest J. Gaines' National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel, Romulus Linney's adaptation of A Lesson Before Dying is set in a small Louisiana Cajun community in the late 1940s. Jefferson, a young illiterate black man, is falsely convicted of murder and is sentenced to death. Grant Wiggins, the plantation schoolteacher, agrees to talk with the condemned man. The disheartened Wiggins had once harbored dreams of escaping from his impoverished youth, yet he returned to his home town after university, to teach children whose lives seemed as unpromising as Jefferson's.Recorded before a live audience at Voice of America, Washington D.C. in July of 2001.Directed by Nick OlcottProducing Director: Susan Albert LoewenbergRick Foucheux as Paul BoninKeith Glover as Grant WigginsJamahl Marsh as JeffersonLinda Powell as Vivian BaptisteJefferson A. Russell as Reverend Moses AmbroseJerry Whiddon as Sam GuidryBeatrice Winde as Emma GlennSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Book Vs Movie Podcast
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974) Cicely Tyson, Richard Dysart, Rod Perry, & Ernest J. Gaines

Book Vs Movie Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2024 64:56


Book Vs. Movie: The Autobiography of Miss Jane PittmanThe 1971 play Vs. the 1974 movieFor Black History Month, the Margos visit "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman." Ernest J. Gaines wrote this novel, which was first published in 1971. The book is a fictional autobiography that spans over 100 years of American history, narrated by Miss Jane Pittman, an African American woman born into slavery and lived through the Civil Rights Movement. The narrative provides a powerful and poignant perspective on the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in the United States. Miss Jane Pittman's life story serves as a lens through which readers can explore the complex issues of race, identity, and social justice. "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" was adapted into a television movie in 1974 and was directed by John Korty—Cicely Tyson in the titular role of Miss Jane Pittman. Cicely Tyson's performance in the role received widespread acclaim, and the movie itself was well-received for its powerful storytelling and exploration of the African American experience throughout different periods of American history.The TV movie won several awards, including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie for Cicely Tyson and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Special for Tracy Keenan Wynn, who adapted the screenplay from Ernest J. Gaines' novel.In this ep, the Margos discuss:The life and work of Ernest J. Gaines.The plot of the story & the special effects for makeupThe differences between the original novel and the adaptation.The cast of the 1974 film: Cicely Tyson (Jane Pittman,) Valerie Odell (young Jane Pittman,) Richard Dysart (Master Bryant,) Odetta (Big Laura,) Michael Murphy (Quentin Lerner,) Rod Perry (Joe Pittman,) Arnold Wilkerson (Jimmy,) Will Hare (Albert Cluveau,) Katherine Helmond (Lady at House,) Thalmus Rasulala (Ned Douglas,) and Barbara Chaney as Amma Dean.Clips used:Jimmy returns to the churchTCM intro for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”Jane gets her nameJoe and Jane meetA fortune teller predicts Joe's deathJane goes to Bayonne.Theme by Fred KarlinBook Vs. Movie is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. Find more podcasts you will love Frolic.Media/podcasts. Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupFollow us on Twitter @bookversusmovieInstagram: Book Versus Movie https://www.instagram.com/bookversusmovie/Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D. Twitter @BrooklynMargo Margo D's Blog www.brooklynfitchick.com Margo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@margodonohuebrooklynfitchick@gmail.comYou can buy your copy of Filmed in Brooklyn here! Margo P. Twitter @ShesNachoMamaMargo P's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shesnachomama/Margo P's Blog https://coloniabook.weebly.com/ Our logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 MarketingFollow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine

Book Vs Movie Podcast
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974) Cicely Tyson, Richard Dysart, Rod Perry, & Ernest J. Gaines

Book Vs Movie Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2024 64:56


Book Vs. Movie: The Autobiography of Miss Jane PittmanThe 1971 play Vs. the 1974 movieFor Black History Month, the Margos visit "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman." Ernest J. Gaines wrote this novel, which was first published in 1971. The book is a fictional autobiography that spans over 100 years of American history, narrated by Miss Jane Pittman, an African American woman born into slavery and lived through the Civil Rights Movement. The narrative provides a powerful and poignant perspective on the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in the United States. Miss Jane Pittman's life story serves as a lens through which readers can explore the complex issues of race, identity, and social justice. "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" was adapted into a television movie in 1974 and was directed by John Korty—Cicely Tyson in the titular role of Miss Jane Pittman. Cicely Tyson's performance in the role received widespread acclaim, and the movie itself was well-received for its powerful storytelling and exploration of the African American experience throughout different periods of American history.The TV movie won several awards, including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie for Cicely Tyson and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Special for Tracy Keenan Wynn, who adapted the screenplay from Ernest J. Gaines' novel.In this ep, the Margos discuss:The life and work of Ernest J. Gaines.The plot of the story & the special effects for makeupThe differences between the original novel and the adaptation.The cast of the 1974 film: Cicely Tyson (Jane Pittman,) Valerie Odell (young Jane Pittman,) Richard Dysart (Master Bryant,) Odetta (Big Laura,) Michael Murphy (Quentin Lerner,) Rod Perry (Joe Pittman,) Arnold Wilkerson (Jimmy,) Will Hare (Albert Cluveau,) Katherine Helmond (Lady at House,) Thalmus Rasulala (Ned Douglas,) and Barbara Chaney as Amma Dean.Clips used:Jimmy returns to the churchTCM intro for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”Jane gets her nameJoe and Jane meetA fortune teller predicts Joe's deathJane goes to Bayonne.Theme by Fred KarlinBook Vs. Movie is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. Find more podcasts you will love Frolic.Media/podcasts. Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupFollow us on Twitter @bookversusmovieInstagram: Book Versus Movie https://www.instagram.com/bookversusmovie/Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D. Twitter @BrooklynMargo Margo D's Blog www.brooklynfitchick.com Margo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@margodonohuebrooklynfitchick@gmail.comYou can buy your copy of Filmed in Brooklyn here! Margo P. Twitter @ShesNachoMamaMargo P's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shesnachomama/Margo P's Blog https://coloniabook.weebly.com/ Our logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 MarketingFollow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine

A Life in Biography
Biographer Ruth Laney discusses her decades of work on the life and world of Ernest J. Gaines

A Life in Biography

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2024 50:48


Cherie Quarters: The Place and People That Inspire Ernest J. Gaines: biography, memoir, history, and an evocation of the material world out of which a great American writer fashioned his fiction.

Great American Novel
Defining Dignity through Service in Ernest J. Gaines' A LESSON BEFORE DYING

Great American Novel

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2023 66:23


Only thirty years old this year, Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying (1993) is a powerful testament to social justice and to the search for individual dignity in an oppressive legal system. Set in the late 1940s in a small Louisiana community, the book tells the story of two men, one a convicted murderer on death's row (Jefferson) and the other his reluctant tutor (Grant) who is asked to teach the doomed man how to face death and injustice with a sense of self-worth. Almost instantly canonized upon publication, A Lesson Before Dying is a deceptively straightforward work. Although eminently accessible, it asks weighty questions about the complicity of state-sanctioned execution and the healing power of community. Electric with religious imagery, it challenges readers' sense of the purpose of faith and the elusiveness of truth. Most of all it makes a passionate plea for relinquishing personal bitterness and finding transcendence in serving others.

Louisiana Anthology Podcast

509. We talk to Ruth Laney about her biography of Ernest Gaines: Cherie Quarters: The Place and the People That Inspired Ernest J. Gaines.  "Cherie Quarters combines personal interviews, biography, and social history to tell the story of a plantation quarter and its most famous resident, renowned Louisiana writer and Pulitzer Prize nominee Ernest J. Gaines. In clear and vivid prose, this original and vital book illuminates the birthplace of a preeminent Black author and the lives of the people who inspired his work. Before he became an award-winning writer, Gaines was the son of sharecroppers in Cherie Quarters, a small Black community in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Drawing on decades of interviews and archival research, Ruth Laney explores the lives and histories of the families, both kin and not, who lived in a place where 'everybody was everybody's child.' Built as slave cabins for the nearby River Lake Plantation in the 1840s, the houses of Cherie Quarters were cold in winter, hot in summer, filled with mosquitoes, and overflowing with people. Even so, the residents made these houses into homes. Laney describes aspects of their daily lives — work, food, entertainment, religion, and education—then expands her focus to the white families who built River Lake Plantation, enslaved its people, and later directed the lives of its Black sharecroppers" (LSU Pr.). This week in Louisiana history. February 17, 1805. New Orleans is incorporated as a city This week in New Orleans history. On February 17, 1944 the Liberty ship Rufus E. Foster was launched at Delta Shipbuilding Company. This week in Louisiana. Visit St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 Historic New Orleans Tours Backatown Coffee Parlour 301 Basin St. Suite 1 New Orleans, LA 70112 Free people of color have a storied history in New Orleans. After being freed, many purchased vaults and tombs in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. Their tombs each tell both a troubling and fascinating story. Hear the tales of black poets, writers, swordsman, and mathematicians on this unique tour. These tours are presented by Historic New Orleans Tours and start at Backatown Coffee Parlour. They'll take you through Tremé and to historic spots such as Congo Square and Armstrong Park. The tour is 2.5 hours in length at 1:30 p.m. every day. Postcards from Louisiana. Tip Jar Junkies.Listen on Google Play.Listen on Google Podcasts.Listen on Spotify.Listen on Stitcher.Listen on TuneIn.The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.Like us on Facebook. 

Men's Book Club
A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

Men's Book Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2022 18:00


Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson before Dying tells the story of Grant Wiggins, a black teacher working in Louisiana during the Jim-Crow-Era. Grant finds himself in a position to impart his wisdom on a young many named Jefferson, who has been wrong accused and convicted of murder and is await execution. The only thing bothering Jeferrson more than his impending death is the mistreatment in the courtroom. Professor Wiggings is persuaded by his aunt to help Jefresson die to some dignity. In this darky depressing novel, Ernest J. Gaines paints the almost too realistic image of living on a planatation in the south during the mid-20th centruy through a ficticious stroy. Gains uses inspiration from what was likely a regular occurence in deep south to help us understand what goes on in the mind of a deeply troubled and burdened young man during a very dark time in America. Join us this week as we discuss this phenomenal book.

Men's Book Club
Intro to A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

Men's Book Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2022 2:49


Read along with us.

Literally Literary
The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You: Part 1

Literally Literary

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2022 57:56


Join us for our introductory episode on The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You, going over the first five stories in the debut short story collection by Maurice Carlos Ruffin shortlisted for the Ernest J. Gaines award.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/literallyliterary/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/literallyliterary/support

The Brook Reading Podcast
Encyclopedia Brooktanica, Vol. IV - Happy New Year!

The Brook Reading Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2022 29:17


Welcome back to the Brook and Happy 2022! My first episode back from holiday break is the fourth in my Encyclopedia Brooktanica series! This week, I cover Lucille Ball's involvement in “Star Trek”, the life of James Joyce, Ernest J. Gaines, Susan Sontag, and many others, and the origin of “National Geographic” magazine! I have also included a promo for you for Nikoli's Kitchen, a truly inspiring podcast that I would love for you to check out. Thank you so much, and Happy Reading! Promo: Nikoli's KitchenIntro music: Sean FaustOutro music: Victoria Timpanaro

Close Reads
A Gathering of Old Men (pages 1-57)

Close Reads

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2021 64:43


It's time for a new book! Join David, Heidi, and Tim as they discuss Ernest J. Gaines' A Gathering of Old Men. This week they dive into Gaines' use of multiple perspectives and how it helps him to explore the complex issues of race and place in the Deep South. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

the only one in the room podcast
On My Nightstand: Everywhere You Don't Belong by Gabriel Bump

the only one in the room podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2021 13:13


I love this book so much by first-time novelist, Gabriel Bump, that I chose to read not one, but two of its chapters to you today.   Gabriel Bump grew up in South Shore, Chicago. He received his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His debut novel, Everywhere You Don't Belong, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2020 and has won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award for Fiction, the Heartland Booksellers Award for Fiction, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association's First Novelist Award. Bump teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Everywhere You Don't Belong Special thanks to our sponsors: Best Fiends: Join us and the millions of Americans who are already playing this game. Download Best Fiends for FREE on The Apple APP store or Google Play. That's friends without the R, Best Fiends. Voyage et Cie: Voyage et Cie's curator Melanie Apple has cultivated a passion for notable moments using the sense of smell. Voyage et Cie is the ultimate luxury blend of travel, fragrance, and design. Each original fragrance is created by Melanie, 100% organic and natural which will transport you on a journey. Visit https://www.voyageetcie.com/ and enter the code: theonlyone to get your 10% off your purchase! Cute Booty Lounge is made by women and for women. There's a cute booty style for everyone! Cute Booty Lounge has you covered...Embrace Your Body, Love Your Booty! Head to Cutebooty.com or click the link here to order yours, but don't forget to enter the code theonlybooty to get 15% off your first order! Be sure not to miss our weekly full episodes on Tuesdays, Scott Talks on Wednesdays & Sunday Edition every Sunday by subscribing to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.  We love hearing from you in the comments on iTunes and while you're there don't forget to rate us, subscribe and share the show! All of us at The Only One In The Room wish you safety and wellness during this challenging time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hoodoo Plant Mamas
We Perfect Black with Crystal Wilkinson

Hoodoo Plant Mamas

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021 55:12


Today we're talking with Crystal Wilkinson to discuss her latest book, Perfect Black. We discuss Black girlhood, being country, food, the rural South, and our ancestors. Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky's Poet Laureate, is the award-winning author of Perfect Black, The Birds of Opulence , Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of a 2021 O. Henry Prize, a 2020 USA Artists Fellowship, and a 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. Nominated for the John Dos Passos Award, the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, Hedgebrook, and others. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures.  Her fourth book Perfect Black was released from University Press of Kentucky in August 2021. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program. This episode is sponsored by Moyo Mysteries. Moyo Mysteries offers spiritual consultations, pelvic steam plans, and full-spectrum birthwork services, from fertility and birth & labor to loss & bereavement and abortion work. Moyo Mysteries also offers a variety of educational projects and upcoming trainings. To learn more, you can visit www.moyomysteries.org.  Also, follow on Facebook and Instagram under the name, Moyo Mysteries BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas  SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas  EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES hoodooplantmamas@gmail.com  DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

A. Idle
A LESSON BEFORE DYING: Protect Your Name, Protect Your Peace.

A. Idle

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2021 30:19


Ernest J. Gaines maps another take to the ‘wrongful convicted black man' narrative. The character of Jefferson is given the painful task to await his own death in a jail cell. Those around him encourage Jefferson to align himself with God & dignity. We have all heard stories of injustice before, what makes this special is the explanation of the ripple effect it has on a community. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

Bryan Washington reads his story from the June 14, 2021, issue of the magazine. Washington is a winner of the Ernest J. Gaines award, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Lambda Literary award. His story collection, “Lot,” was published in 2019, and his novel, “Memorial,” came out in 2020.

Behind the Blue
June 3, 2021 - Crystal Wilkinson (The Birds of Opulence)

Behind the Blue

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2021 41:08


LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 3, 2021) – Crystal Wilkinson is an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky and an award-winning author. Her novel, The Birds of Opulence was the winner of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. She is also the author of Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She also has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in the Oxford American and Southern Cultures.  Most recently, she was named the state's poet laureate for 2021-2022, the first time a black woman has been appointed to the prestigious post. In this episode of Behind the Blue, Wilkinson discusses growing up in Appalachian Kentucky, her love of writing and teaching and what she is focused on now in her creative work. "Behind the Blue" is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK's latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university. For questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. Transcripts for this or other episodes of Behind the Blue can be downloaded from the show's blog page. To discover what's wildly possible at the University of Kentucky, click here.

Noire Histoir
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman [Movie Review]

Noire Histoir

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2021 16:44


A review of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman", a 1974 film adapted from Ernest J. Gaines' 1971 novel of the same name. A then 50-year-old Cicely Tyson portrayed the lead character from the age of 23 to 110 a role for which she became the first Black person to win a lead actress Emmy Award. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/the-autobiography-of-miss-jane-pittman-movie-review.

KAZI 88.7 FM Book Review
Episode 134: Novelist Explores Lives of Two Blacks in Early 20th Century Chicago

KAZI 88.7 FM Book Review

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2021 37:30


Set in Chicago in the early 20th century, THE RIB KING, Ladee Hubbard's new novel, presents the divergent paths of two black servants who have been deeply traumatized by childhood incidents. It explores the rage simmering in one from the genocide committed against his community by white vigilantes, and the efforts of the other to build a business as a black woman in Chicago, who was married at 11 and pregnant at 12. In our interview Hubbard said she was interested in how African Americans are represented in history and the concerted efforts to keep them from telling their own stories. Ladee Hubbard is also the author of the novel THE TALENTED RIBKINS which received the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.

KAZI 88.7 FM Book Review
Episode 134: Novelist Explores Lives of Two Blacks in Early 20th Century Chicago

KAZI 88.7 FM Book Review

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2021 37:30


Set in Chicago in the early 20th century, THE RIB KING, Ladee Hubbard's new novel, presents the divergent paths of two black servants who have been deeply traumatized by childhood incidents. It explores the rage simmering in one from the genocide committed against his community by white vigilantes, and the efforts of the other to build a business as a black woman in Chicago, who was married at 11 and pregnant at 12. In our interview Hubbard said she was interested in how African Americans are represented in history and the concerted efforts to keep them from telling their own stories.Ladee Hubbard is also the author of the novel THE TALENTED RIBKINS which received the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.

Cruisin Jams
Preview: Ladee Hubbard and Dr. Jessica Harris Tuesday, 1/26

Cruisin Jams

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2021 12:29


Denise Frasier and Theo Hilton discuss this upcoming event. "Join Gulf South Writer in the Woods Ladee Hubbard and culinary historian Jessica Harris for a discussion of Hubbard’s new novel, "The Rib King" on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at 6pm CT. Hubbard works to deconstruct painful African American stereotypes and offers a fresh and searing critique on race, class, privilege, ambition, exploitation, and the seeds of rage in America in this intricately woven and masterfully executed historical novel, set in the early twentieth century, that centers around the Black servants of a down-on-its heels upper-class white family. Elegantly written and exhaustively researched, "The Rib King" is an unsparing examination of America’s fascination with Black iconography and exploitation that redefines African American stereotypes in literature. In this powerful, disturbing, and timely novel, Ladee Hubbard reveals who people actually are, and most importantly, who and what they are not. Ladee Hubbard served as the 2019-2020 Gulf South Writer in the Woods, a program of A Studio in the Woods and the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South that supports the creative work, scholarship and community engagement of writers examining the Gulf South region. --- Ladee Hubbard is the author of "The Talented Ribkins" which received the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Times Literary Supplement, Arkansas International, Copper Nickel and Callaloo among other venues. She is a recipient of a 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and has also received fellowships from Art Omi, the Sacatar Foundation, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, Hedgebrook, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts among other places. Born in Massachusetts and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida, she currently lives in New Orleans with her husband and three children. Jessica B. Harris is an award-winning food historian and one of the world’s leading experts on African Diaspora cooking. She is the author of the memoir, "My Soul Looks Back" (Simon & Schuster, 2017) about her youth in Harlem in the Seventies, where her social circle included James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Nina Simone and other leading black intellectuals and artists of the time. She is the author of twelve critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora as well, including "Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa’s Gifts to New World Cooking", "Sky Juice and Flying Fish Traditional Caribbean Cooking", "The Welcome Table: African-American Heritage Cooking", "The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent", and "Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim". Harris also conceptualized and organized "The Black Family Reunion Cookbook". Her book, "High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America", was the International Association for Culinary Professionals 2012 prize winner for culinary history. For more information, please contact Regina Cairns at 504-314-2854 or rcairns@tulane.edu"

DIY MFA Radio
340: You Can Keep That To Yourself - Interview with Adam Smyer

DIY MFA Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2021 38:07


Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Adam Smyer. Adam Smyer is an attorney, martial artist, and mediocre bass player. His nonfiction has appeared in the Johannesburg Review of Books, and his debut novel, Knucklehead, was the sole title short-listed for the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Adam lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and cats. You Can Keep That to Yourself is his latest work, and we’ll be discussing it today.   In this episode Adam and I discuss: The tremendous amount of luck involved between starting and publishing a book. Why eradicating micro-aggressions is important in eliminating major aggressions. The important role humor can play in addressing a very serious topic.   Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/340

Professional Book Nerds
Our 2021 reading resolutions and 1990s books for the #PBNread2021 challenge!

Professional Book Nerds

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2021 51:03


Ep. #511- Jill and Adam are back together sharing their most recent reads before getting into their own reading resolutions for 2021 Then, they offer up book recommendations for one of the tasks on the Professional Book Nerds 2021 Reading Challenge- Read a book published in the 1990s. Take a listen! Sponsor: Kencko - Be one of the first 100 listeners to visit http://kencko.com/pbn for 25% off your first order of ready to enjoy smoothies. Recent Reads: Cuyahoga by Pete Beatty Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang Plainsong by Kent Haruf Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney 1990s books - #PBNread2021 The Things They Carried By Tim O'Brien A Lesson Before Dying By Ernest J. Gaines Jurassic Park By Michael Crichton Sabriel By Garth Nix The Witching Hour By Anne Rice The Sparrow By Mary Doria Russell Game of Thrones by George RR Martin The Secret History by Donna Tartt Rose Madder by Stephen King The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead Adam’s page on The StoryGraph Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Do You Write
Ep. 212: Bryan Washington on How Much Setting Matters

How Do You Write

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2020 34:25


Bryan Washington is a National Book Award 5 Under 35 honoree, and winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and The New York Times Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. His new book, Memorial,is the book he wanted to read, the one he didn’t see out in the world. Something that was funny and sexy and yet at times startlingly emotional, featuring people of color, queer people of color, living their lives and dealing with break-ups and falling in love, dealing with being sick, with a parent’s death, with confronting who your parents are as you become an adult, with the meaning of family. He lives in Houston.How Do You Write Podcast: Explore the processes of working writers with bestselling author Rachael Herron. Want tips on how to write the book you long to finish? Here you'll gain insight from other writers on how to get in the chair, tricks to stay in it, and inspiration to get your own words flowing. Join Rachael's Slack channel, Onward Writers! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sweet Dreams Radio
13. A Lesson Before Dying

Sweet Dreams Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2020 43:53


In this novel, loosely based on the life of Willie Francis, a young Black man twice sentenced to the electric chair, author Ernest J. Gaines poses the question - Knowing we're going to die, how should we live? It's the story of an uneducated young black man named Jefferson, accused of the murder of a white storekeeper, and Grant Wiggins, a college-educated native son of Louisiana, who teaches at a plantation school. These two men, named for presidents, discover a friendship that transforms at least two lives.Gains was born into a sharecropper family on a plantation in Pointe Coupe Parish, Louisiana. His upbringing would become the backdrop for several of his later works, including 'A Lesson Before Dying'. An award-winning author, Gaines served as the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Louisiana Lafayette for nearly twenty years and also taught a creative writing class at the University of Rennes in France. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/sweetdreams_radio)

GrottoPod
Episode 135: Adam Smyer’s Anti-Racist Translation Guide

GrottoPod

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2020 17:27


Adam Smyer joins us on the GrottoPod this week to talk about his new book, You Can Keep That To Yourself: A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Intentioned People of Pallor. It's a pocket-sized translation guide designed to keep white folks out of trouble, and it couldn't be more timely. Smyer is also the author of the novel Knucklehead, which was the sole title shortlisted for the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. He's an attorney, martial artist, and self-described "mediocre bass player" who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and cats. You Can Keep That To Yourself is out now.

A Quality Interruption
#259 Ernest J. Gaines' Killing Them Softly (2012)

A Quality Interruption

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2020 55:40


Do you like your gangsters cool and glamourous? Well you're not gonna find any of those in KILLING THEM SOFTLY (2012) and we're all the better for it. We also discuss SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF and THE INSIDER. Donate to the cause at Patreon.com/Quality. Follow James on Twitter @kislingtwits and on Instagram @kislingwhatsit or on gildedterror.blogspot.com. You can watch Cruz and show favorite Alexis Simpson on YouTube in "They Live Together." Thanks to our artists Julius Tanag (http://www.juliustanag.com) and Sef Joosten (http://spexdoodles.tumblr.com).

Koffler.Digital Audio Programs
Bryan Washington & Adnan Khan

Koffler.Digital Audio Programs

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2020 59:32


Dubbed “the rising star of literary Houston” (Literary Hub), Bryan Washington is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Recipient, the recipient of an Ernest J. Gaines Award, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award. His stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The Paris Review, Tin House, One Story, GQ, among others. Lot, Washington’s critically-acclaimed first collection of linked short stories, was released in 2019. Set in Houston – a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America – the book traces the coming-of-age of a young man growing up Black, Latino and gay. Lot captures Houston’s culturally-rich yet gritty urban landscape, revealing the vulnerable existence of communities living under the shadow of poverty and violence with raw power and tenderness. Offering rare insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot explores trust and love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms. Adnan Khan has written for VICE, The Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt. He has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and in 2016 won the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. There Has to Be a Knife (2019) is his first novel. https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Bryan-Washington

Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast
Brown Lecture Series: Crystal Wilkinson, The Birds of Opulence

Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2020 63:09


At once tragic and hopeful, The Birds of Opulence is a story about another time, rendered for our own. The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive.Crystal Wilkinson is the award-winning author of The Birds of Opulence (winner of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence), Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. Nominated for both the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Kentucky Arts Council, The Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and is a recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program. She had her partner, poet and artist Ron Davis, own Wild Fig Books & Coffee which is located in the North Limestone neighborhood in Lexington.The Brown Lecture Series is supported by the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Foundation.Re-opening activities are made possible in part by a generous gift from Sandra R. Berman.Recorded On: Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast
Brown Lecture Series: Crystal Wilkinson, The Birds of Opulence

Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2020 63:09


At once tragic and hopeful, The Birds of Opulence is a story about another time, rendered for our own. The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive.Crystal Wilkinson is the award-winning author of The Birds of Opulence (winner of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence), Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. Nominated for both the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Kentucky Arts Council, The Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and is a recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program. She had her partner, poet and artist Ron Davis, own Wild Fig Books & Coffee which is located in the North Limestone neighborhood in Lexington.The Brown Lecture Series is supported by the Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Foundation.Re-opening activities are made possible in part by a generous gift from Sandra R. Berman.

Purple Diary with Danielle Richardson
#15 Current Events with Ahlam Muhidin

Purple Diary with Danielle Richardson

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2020 54:36


Link to send anonymous questions and feedback: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-cpg4BSb7W3gHjy24iS3BQ7wA1uO3xhHmjlzlW8CCQgn8xA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1 Hey everyone! *Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!* This week I invited my friend Ahlam on to talk about some of the most interesting pop culture stories that have been in the headlines in 2020. We covered Lizzo and the body positivity movement, Drake's relationship with young girls, and Kevin Hart's documentary. I hope you guys enjoy the conversation, and please feel free to share your thoughts on the topics we discussed! Ahlam, thank you so much for coming back to the podcast! IG: @purplediarypod Email: purplediarypod@gmail.com (contact me if you want to be on an episode or if you have any feedback/episode ideas!) Blog: purplediarypod.com Ahlam's IG: @lamdotcom Recommended Book: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Special thanks to Dara Michelle and Mayah Dyson for allowing me to use their work for the podcast! You ladies are so talented! Everyone go support their art! Dara's art: @drawnbydara & daramichelle.bigcartel.com -- she does commissions and sells prints of her work! Mayah's music: @mayahdyson & mayahdyson.com -- check out her Elevation EP! Thank you for listening!! I love you guys so much. Next week is the second of Ask Danielle! Click the link to send me your questions! Talk to y'all next week

Mason Out Loud
Episode 18: Fall for the Book Presents Jamel Brinkley

Mason Out Loud

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2020 22:30


Fall for the Book Director Kara Oakleaf sits down with short story writer Jamel Brinkley to discuss his collection, A Lucky Man, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in Fiction, and won the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.

Everything Went Black Podcast
EWB 159: Adam Smyer

Everything Went Black Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2019 71:49


A few week’s ago, I reviewed “Knucklehead” the debut novel by Adam Smyers.  Through the magic of social media, Adam and I were able to connect and he was kind enough to be this week’s guest. Adam is an attorney, martial artist and self-proclaimed mediocre bassist. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife and cats. Knucklehead was the sole title shortlisted for the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Intro:          "Scarecrow" - Ministry Outro:          "Stay Close to Me" - Bad Brains  

three way podcast
QUICKIE featuring a review of the book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

three way podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2019 20:38


In this shortcut episode, we look at what our host, Erin, is reading now, what new books have been added to her queue and a short review on the book A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, a stirring emotional book about a man sentenced to death in the 1940s and the consequences of racism and how words can be powerful in such heartbreaking and negative ways.

TK with James Scott: A Writing, Reading, & Books Podcast
Ep. 56: Patrick Crerand & Heather Momyer

TK with James Scott: A Writing, Reading, & Books Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2018 84:33


Patrick Crerand started off trying to write blue-collar factory stories, but he eventually discovered his voice writing the more surreal and magical stories contained in his new collection, THE PAPER LIFE THEY LEAD. He tells James about how a story about kidnapping Amish people led him to success, learning to write what he loves, and The Boss's "Glory Days" but with a car. Plus, Arc Pair Press founder Heather Momyer.      Patrick Crerand: https://www.patrickcrerand.com/ Patrick and James discuss:  Dairy Queen  Bowling Green State University  Lawrence Coates Anthony Doerr  Wendell Mayo   Flannery O'Connor Donald Barthelme  University of Louisiana  Ernest J. Gaines  George Saunders  Aimee Bender  Ernest Hemingway  Raymond Carver  Gabriel Garcia Marquez  Franz Kafka  "The Enormous Radio" by John Cheever  Bruce Springsteen  Michael Czyzniejewski MID-AMERICAN REVIEW  Steve Almond  Christopher Grimes  Fc2  Rikki Ducornet  Freytag's Pyramid Heather Momyer  "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen  -  Arc Pair Press: https://www.arcpairpress.com/ Heather and James Discuss:  Bowling Green State University  BALLYHOO STORIES  MASQUE & SPECTACLE  HOTEL AMERIKA  NINTH LETTER  "The Pederson Kid" by William Gass  Angela Carter  Salman Rushdie  PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee  Alban Fischer   - http://tkpod.com / tkwithjs@gmail.com / Twitter: @JamesScottTK Instagram: tkwithjs / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkwithjs/

Westside Fairytales
The Seventh

Westside Fairytales

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2018 53:16


There’s an old sort of saying that the best judge is one who hates his work. A man eager to pass judgment on others, that is, is the man least capable of doing the job.Today’s story is about just that sort of man, a reserved individual sent to a small village in a seemingly medieval country, tasked with finding out why people passing by the town are being branded as criminals and hanged.It’s not just a story on the passing of judgment, but on the nature of those judgments we pass and are forced to pass on each other. How eagerness for justice may lead us into injustice.This episode brought to you by Sudio. Go to Sudio.com and use discount code WESTSIDE15 for 15% off at checkout!Support us on PatreonFollow us on social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Join the Westside Fairytales Horror and Lit ClubSend us an emailArtwork by Yui BreedloveThis month’s recommendations:Podcast recommendation: Gamma RadioLiterature recommendation: “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Reader's Entertainment Radio
Book Lights Radio with Lisa Kessler presents Author Juliette Cross

Reader's Entertainment Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2018 16:00


Juliette calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana home where she lives with her husband, four children, and black lab named Kona. She is the multi-published author of paranormal and fantasy romance. She has a B.A. in creative writing from Louisiana State University, a M.Ed. in gifted education, and was privileged to study under the award-winning author Ernest J. Gaines in grad school. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance--brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes. Even then, she not only longed to read more novels set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own. You can find out more about her and sign up for her newsletter on her website: https://www.juliettecross.com/   And for more about host Lisa Kessler visit http://Lisa-Kessler.com Book Lights - shining a light on good books!

What It Takes®
Ernest J. Gaines: Letters of My Ancestors

What It Takes®

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2017 38:02


Ernest Gaines grew up in the 1930's and 40's on the same Louisiana plantation where his ancestors were once slaves. After he became a successful and celebrated novelist, he returned, bought the land, and lives there even now. The voices he heard as a child, telling stories on the porch or around the fire, are the voices that populate his novels: " A Lesson Before Dying," "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "A Gathering of Old Men," and others. In this episode, Gaines describes the path that led him from picking cotton, to falling in love with literature, to writing award-winning novels. At the same time, he shares his profound feelings about the limitations of that success.

StoryWeb: Storytime for Grownups
100: Ernest Gaines: "The Sky Is Gray"

StoryWeb: Storytime for Grownups

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2016 8:44


This week on StoryWeb: Ernest Gaines’s short story “The Sky Is Gray.” I was first introduced to southern literature in 1978, when I was a first-year university student in Martha Baker’s Honors Writing class. The course focused on southern writers. I had no idea at the time that I would go on to become a scholar of southern literature or to write A Southern Weave of Women: Fiction of the Contemporary South. All I knew in the fall of 1978 was that I loved the literature Martha had us read: Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, Alice Walker, and of course, William Faulkner. I was especially struck by Ernest Gaines’s moody, but compelling, short story “The Sky Is Gray,” so much so that the story has stuck with me for nearly forty years. Later, like many readers, I would come to associate Gaines most closely with his 1971 novel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Later still he’d gain an even larger audience with his 1983 novel, A Gathering of Old Men, and especially his 1993 novel, A Lesson Before Dying, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Books Critics Circle Award. But it was “The Sky Is Gray” that first drew me in and that still evokes a certain atmosphere in my mind. The narrator is James, an eight-year-old black boy living in rural Louisiana. The unrelenting cold and hunger he experiences throughout the story stay with me so many years later. For the sky is, indeed, gray in this story. James and his mother, Octavia, set out for the town near them, take the bus so that the boy can have a tooth pulled. They are headed to Bayonne, a town in Louisiana where they can get services like the dentist but not nearly as large as Baton Rouge, where the boy has also traveled. Octavia heads the household now that her husband has left to serve in World War II. But the sky is gray not just because of the cold and sleet but also because James and Octavia must confront Bayonne during the pre-Civil Rights era of World War II. Small-town Louisiana is harshly marked by Jim Crow laws, which keep them out of restaurants and force them to walk the town’s streets in the grim weather as they wait for the dentist’s office to reopen after lunch. While James witnesses an extended conversation in the dentist’s waiting room between a black preacher and a young student about the right way to challenge (or not challenge) the racist social system, the lessons he learns from his mother are even more pronounced. As they walk the streets of Bayonne, his mother conveys to him – nearly without words – how to act so as to defer to the Jim Crow system and at the same time stand up straight and proudly in the face of it. In the story’s famous ending, James pulls his coat collar up around his neck to block out the cold. His mother admonishes him, telling him to wear the coat properly. “You not a bum,” she says. “You a man.” Gaines’s prose is stark, spare, unrelenting in its precision and honesty. Where The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman gives us a grand, sweeping epic of a black woman and her slave community, “The Sky Is Gray” zeroes in on a moment in time, one crucial afternoon in a black child’s development. Regardless of the scope, however, Gaines forces us to consider the personal in the historical. What was it like to be a slave and move into “freedom” and eventually into the Civil Rights Movement? The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman will tell you. What is it like to be a black boy coming into awareness of the way his dark skin, his “race,” marks him as other? “The Sky Is Gray” will give you insights into that. Gaines published “The Sky Is Gray” in 1963 when he was thirty and then included it in his 1968 volume of short stories, Bloodline. Here, as elsewhere, Gaines writes about the world he knew intimately from his upbringing. A fifth-generation descendant of plantation slaves, he grew up on the River Lake plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, where he set most of his fiction. Though Gaines had limited schooling while living in Louisiana, his family’s move to California exposed him to greater education and to a passionate exploration of the library. As one source says, “Gaines sought books about Southern blacks, but found few, and decided, ‘If the book you want doesn't exist, you try to make it exist.’” Gaines has been a MacArthur Foundation fellow, held a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, and been awarded the National Humanities Medal. An excellent biography and overview of Gaines’s work can be found at the Academy of Achievement website; an interview – with transcript and video clips – is also available at the Academy of Achievement. The Missouri Review offers an insightful interview with Gaines. For more resources, visit the Ernest J. Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Finally, you might want to read an article about Gaines’s return to Louisiana, where he now lives on part of the plantation where he and his ancestors lived. There’s also a great CNN piece on his return to Louisiana. Visit thestoryweb.com/gaines for links to all these resources and to listen as Ernest Gaines reads the ending lines from “The Sky Is Gray.” You can also watch a 1979 film adaptation of the short story. Finally, take some time to watch as Ernest Gaines talks about his background and discusses his novel A Lesson Before Dying (part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ program The Big Read).

Saturday Mornings with Joy Keys
Joy Keys chats with Author Jeffrey Renard Allen about Song of the Shank

Saturday Mornings with Joy Keys

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2015 32:00


Special Guest: Jeffrey Renard Allen. Born in Chicago, Allen holds a Ph.D. in English (Creative Writing) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is currently a faculty member in the writing program at the New School. Allen is the author of two collections of poetry, Stellar Places (Moyer Bell, 2007) andHarbors and Spirits (Moyer Bell, 1999), and two works of fiction, the widely celebrated novel, Rails Under My Back (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000), which won The Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize for Fiction, and the story collection Holding Pattern (Graywolf Press, 2008), which won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. He is presently at work on a memoir-travelogue-meditation that uses his travels about the African continent to frame an exploration of subjects such as place, race, religion, music and culture, identity, and family. In May 2014, Graywolf Press published his novel Song of the Shank, which is based on the life of Thomas Greene Wiggins, a nineteenth-century African-American piano virtuoso and composer who performed under the stage name Blind Tom. http://www.jefferyrenardallen.com

Overdue
Ep 013 - A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines

Overdue

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2013 46:03


Ernest J. Gaines' Pulitzer-nominated novel A Lesson Before Dying takes place in 1940s Jim Crow Louisiana, where a black schoolteacher is asked to visit a young man on death row. Similar to last week's episode, the discuss leans toward the serious - racism, cultural divisions, and one's duty to his community - but our fervent desire to remain politically correct should help lighten the mood.

Overdue
Ep 013 - A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines

Overdue

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2013 46:03


Ernest J. Gaines' Pulitzer-nominated novel A Lesson Before Dying takes place in 1940s Jim Crow Louisiana, where a black schoolteacher is asked to visit a young man on death row. Similar to last week's episode, the discuss leans toward the serious - racism, cultural divisions, and one's duty to his community - but our fervent desire to remain politically correct should help lighten the mood.