Not afraid to call out social injustice, institutionalized racism and toxic masculinity, author Kiese Laymon is a strong voice in contemporary Southern literature. Following the release of his debut novel, Long Division, in 2013, he published How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, a collection of autobiographical essays that, despite its title, conveys a story of surviving challenges related to family, race and violence while coming of age in Mississippi. Currently a professor of English and African-American Studies at Ole Miss, Laymon plans to release a memoir called Heavy and a novel titled And So On later this year. His lecture is presented by UGA’s Creative Writing Program.
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