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Randall Kenan, Who Wrote of Being Black and Gay in the South, Has Died at 57

Andy Towle August 31, 2020 Leave a Comment

Author Randall Kenan has died at the age of 57, according to a friend and colleague at the University of North Carolina, who told the AP he was found dead at his home on Friday. Kenan released a new book of stories, If I Had Two Wings: Stories, earlier this month.

We lost an incredible friend, colleague, mentor, professor & literary giant. Our collective hearts are aching with grief at the loss of Professor Randall Kenan. pic.twitter.com/J4bVPdiMzd

— UNC English & Comparative Literature (@UNCECL) August 29, 2020

Writes Lambda Literary: “Randall Kenan’s contribution to the canon of contemporary gay literature is unparalleled. Brooklyn born and North Carolina raised, he was a writer who explored how desire, community, and generational trauma can both uplift and warp the black gay rural experience. With a heightened lyricism and a nod to the fantastical, Kenan centered characters who often struggled against the thicket of their personal wants and histories. … Kenan was the author of a novel, A Visitation of Spirits; two works of non-fiction, Walking on Water: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century and The Fire This Time; and two collection of stories, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead and the recently released If I Had Two Wings. He edited and wrote the introduction for The Cross of Redemption: The Uncollected Writings of James Baldwin. Among his awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, the North Carolina Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Rome Prize, and a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction. At the time of his death, he was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill.”

The AP adds: “Earlier this month, Kenan wrote an open letter reflecting on his experience as a Black student at UNC in the ’80s, and the changes prompted by civil unrest, demands for racial justice and the removal of Confederate statues across the South.”

Sending our sincerest condolences to the family of writer and teacher Randall Kenan, who passed away last night. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world, including the last short story we published 🙏🏽https://t.co/YWmFIddlDd

— Oprah Daily (@OprahDaily) August 29, 2020

Topics: Entertainment, towleroad More Posts About: Books, Randall Kenan

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