Kiese Laymon is a writer and holds the Hubert H. McAlexander Chair of English at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of Heavy: An American Memoir, which received multiple awards and was on several best books of 2018 lists; a novel, Long Division; and an essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others. Laymon is the recipient of a 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. He is currently working on several projects, including a long poem, Good God; a horror comedy, And So On; a children’s book, City Summer, Country Summer; and a film, Heavy: An American Memoir. He is the founder of the Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative.
