William Kennedy (Author)

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William Joseph Kennedy (born January 16, 1928 in Albany , New York ) is an American writer who received the Pulitzer Prize for novels in 1984 for his novel Ironweed .

biography

After attending school, he studied at Siena College , where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1949 . He then did his military service in the US Army between 1950 and 1952 , before working as a journalist for many years . He was a sports journalist and columnist for the Glens Falls Post Star and then from 1952 to 1956 a reporter for the Albany Times-Union and assistant executive editor and columnist for the Puerto Rico World Journal . After a brief working as a reporter for the daily newspaper The Miami Herald in 1957 he was 1957-1959 correspondent of Time-Life in Puerto Rico . He then worked for two years as managing editor of the newly founded daily newspaper The San Juan Star , before he was a journalist and film critic at The Albany Times-Union between 1961 and 1970 . He was then editor of books and finally from 1974 to 1982 lecturer at the State University of New York .

Kennedy made his novel debut with The Ink Truck and subsequently wrote other novels such as Legs (1975) about the gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond and Billy Phelan's Greatest Game (1978).

After a year as a visiting professor for the English language between 1982 and 1983 at Cornell University , he became professor for the English language at the State University of New York in 1983 .

In 1983 his novel Ironweed was published , for which he received not only a scholarship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ( MacArthur Fellowship ), but also the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 . It was about the homecoming of a former baseball star who has now turned into a seedy, tearful drinker. In the film Ironweed by Héctor Babenco (1987) based on the novel , which was shown in German cinemas under the title Wolfsmilch , Jack Nicholson provided a detailed representation of the main character "Francis Phelan".

Based on the book O Albany! (1983) he also co-wrote the screenplay for Francis Ford Coppola in 1984 for his movie Cotton Club .

Later appeared with Quinn's Book (1988), Very Old Bones (1992), The Flaming Corsage (1996) and Roscoe (2002) four more novels, which he called "Albany- cycle devoted" his hometown.

In 1993 he published under the title Riding the Yellow Trolley Car a collection of essays and wrote with Grandview (1996), a theater play .

He has been an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1993 and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2002 .

Background literature

  • EC Reilly: William Kennedy , biography (1991)

Web links and sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Academy Members. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed January 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter K. (PDF; 670 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved January 16, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kennedy, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kennedy, William Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Albany , New York