Laymon centers Heavy on his close bond with his single mother, and from that viewpoint he writes succinctly about body image, Blackness, masculinity, trauma, language, education, addiction, and so much more. The memoir is divided into four parts, each with four sections, all addressed to Lay. This Study Guide consists of approximately 84 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Heavy. This section contains 645 words.
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Laymon at the 2018 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | August 15, 1974 (age 46) |
|---|---|
| Education |
|
| Occupation | Writer, editor, professor |
| Website | kieselaymon.com |
Kiese Laymon (born August 15, 1974) is an American writer, editor and a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi.[1] 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 Heavy (2018). Laymon's work deals with American racism, feminism, family, masculinity, geography, hip-hop, and Southern black life.[2][dead link] His blog, Cold Drank, features essays and short fiction as well as pieces written by guest contributors.[3] Laymon has written essays and stories for publications including Gawker, ESPN.com, The Washington Post, the New York Times, NPR, BuzzFeed, and The Guardian.[4][5]
Career[edit]
Born and raised in Mississippi, Laymon earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Oberlin College, and his Master's in Fine Arts at Indiana University.[6] 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. Laymon 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'.[7] 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.
His 2018 memoir, Heavy, deals with his difficult relationship with his mother—who instilled in him a love of reading and discipline and skill in writing, but who was in an abusive relationship and lived on very little money, and who beat Laymon 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.[8]Heavy won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.[9]
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.[10][11]
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.[12]
Laymon 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.[13][14]
Selected works[edit]
Heavy Kiese Laymon Mother
- Novels
- Long Division (2013), ISBN978-1932841725
Heavy Laymon
- Memoirs
- How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America (2013), ISBN978-1932841770
- Heavy: An American Memoir (2018), ISBN978-1501125652
References[edit]
- ^'University of Mississippi M.F.A. Faculty'. July 21, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^McCall, Jason (November 20, 2013). 'The Past is Not Dead: Time and Race in Kiese Laymon's 'Long Division''. Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved April 1, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Pauley, Nick (July 14, 2013). 'Keeping it 100'. Wine and Bowties. Retrieved April 1, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^'Kiese Laymon'. The Root. November 4, 2013. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^'Essays'. Kiese Laymon. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^Nave, R. L. (February 15, 2013). 'Kiese Laymon'. Jackson Free Press. Retrieved January 15, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Laymon, Kiese (July 28, 2012). 'How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: A Remembrance'. Gawker. Retrieved September 2, 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Simon, Scott. ''Heavy': Kiese Laymon's Memoir Examines How People Absorb Trauma'. NPR. Retrieved October 14, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^''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.
- ^Shengold, Nina (September 1, 2013). 'Kiese Laymon Keeps it Real | Notes from Underground'. Chronogram.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Valentine, Genevieve (May 30, 2013). 'BEA 2013: Kiese Laymon: Chasing the Narrative'. Publishersweekly.com. Retrieved January 15, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Bereola, Abigail (August 14, 2013). 'First Time Author, Two New Books'. The Rumpus.net. Retrieved January 15, 2014.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^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.