Wideman, John Edgar
Wideman, John Edgar( 1941– ),born in Washington, D.C., grew up in the Homewood black ghetto of Pittsburgh, a place from which he draws much of his material. A basketball star recruited by the University of Pennsylvania, he did well at the sport, but aware he could not make the NBA, he accepted a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a degree in 18th-century English literature. He was successful with his first novel, A Glance Away (1967), about a day in the life of a drug addict. The novels that followed, including Hurry Home (1970), The Lynchers (1973), Hiding Place (1981), and Sent for You Yesterday (1983, PEN/Faulkner Award), Philadelphia Fire (1990, PEN/Faulkner Award), and Two Cities (1998), all describe experiences of black urban life. Damballah (1981) collects short stories. Brothers and Keepers (1984) is a memoir.
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