Friday, February 24, 2012

William Gay, R. I. P.

Country Life: William Gay, the Hohenwald native who late in life earned a following as one of the most acclaimed Southern writers of recent years, was reportedly found dead last night from heart failure at his Lewis County home. He was 68.

A Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy, Gay had been writing since he was 15 years old, supporting himself with carpentry and drywall-hanging jobs as well as a stint on a television-tube assembly line. It wasn't until 1998, however, that he published his first short stories, followed by his prize-winning first novel, The Long Home, in 1999.

1 comment:

Ed Gorman said...

He was my favorite literary writer. Original and powerful. This is a great loss.