Harry Crews (1935–2012), born in Georgia, was a protégé of Southern novelist Andrew Lytle. He published his first novel, The Gospel Singer, which earned him a new teaching job at the University of Florida and paved the way for the publication of seven more novels over the next eight years. His reputation as a bold and daring new voice in Southern writing grew during this time. In the 1970s, he wrote for popular magazines and screenplays. In 1978, his memoir of his youth, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, was published to enduring acclaim. He remade Southern gothic in his own rough-hewn image in eighteen memorable novels, dozens of riveting nonfiction pieces, and one of the finest memoirs in American literature. In 2002, the University of Georgia Libraries inducted Harry Crews into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. |
