William Joseph Kennedy (born January 16, 1928) is an American writer and
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
who won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for his novel '' Ironweed''.
Many of his novels feature the interactions of members of the fictional
Irish-American
, image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png
, image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state
, caption = Notable Irish Americans
, population =
36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
Phelan family in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
. The novels make use of incidents from the city's history as well as the supernatural. Kennedy's works include ''The Ink Truck'' (1969), '' Legs'' (1975), '' Billy Phelan's Greatest Game'' (1978), '' Ironweed'' (1983), '' Roscoe'' (2002) and ''Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes'' (2011). One reviewer said of ''Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes'' that it was "written with such brio and encompassing humanity that it may well deserve to be called the best of the bunch".
Kennedy also published a nonfiction book entitled ''O Albany!: Improbable City of Political Wizards, Fearless Ethnics, Spectacular Aristocrats, Splendid Nobodies, and Underrated Scoundrels'' (1983).
Early life
Kennedy was born and raised in Albany, New York, the son of William J. Kennedy and Mary E. McDonald. Kennedy was raised a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Kennedy began pursuing a career in journalism after college by joining the ''Post Star'' in Glens Falls as a sports reporter. He was drafted in 1950 and served in the US Army, where he worked for an Army newspaper in Europe. After his discharge, Kennedy joined the Albany ''Times Union'' as a reporter. He then relocated to
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
in 1956 and became managing editor of the '' San Juan Star'', a new English language newspaper. While living in San Juan, he befriended the journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, a friendship that continued throughout their careers.
While in Puerto Rico Kennedy also met his mentor,
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...
, who encouraged him to write novels.
Kennedy, who had been eager to leave Albany, returned to his hometown and worked for the Albany newspaper the '' Times Union'' as an
investigative journalist
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
, writing stories exposing activities of Daniel P. O'Connell and his political cronies of the dominant Democratic Party. His use of Albany as the setting for eight of his novels was described in 2011 by book critic
Jonathan Yardley
Jonathan Yardley (born October 27, 1939) was the book critic at ''The Washington Post'' from 1981 to December 2014, and held the same post from 1978 to 1981 at the ''Washington Star''. In 1981, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Bac ...
as painting "a portrait of a single city perhaps unique in American fiction".
Kennedy has received numerous honorary degrees, and was presented with the inaugural SUNY Medallion of Distinction in May 2012 by the Chancellor of the State University of New York, and so joined the ranks of the SUNY Distinguished Academy as a board-appointed Distinguished Professor.
Kennedy lectured in creative writing and journalism from 1974 to 1982 at the University at Albany, becoming a full professor in 1983. He taught writing as a visiting professor at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
during the 1982–1983 academic year.
Awards
Kennedy received the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel '' Ironweed''. He also won the
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Helmerich Distinguished Author Award from the Tulsa Library Trust.
William Kennedy received the Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature award in 2007, which is given annually in Rockville, Maryland where F. Scott Fitzgerald, his wife, and his daughter are buried.
Personal life
In Puerto Rico, Kennedy met and married Daisy (Dana) Sosa. They have three children.
Bibliography
Fiction
*''The Ink Truck''. New York:
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...
, 1969.
The Albany Cycle
*'' Legs''. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975.
*'' Billy Phelan's Greatest Game''. New York: Viking Press, 1978.
*'' Ironweed''. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
*''Quinn's Book''. New York: Viking Press, 1988.
*''Very Old Bones''. New York: Viking Press, 1992.
*''The Flaming Corsage''. New York: Viking Press, 1996.
*'' Roscoe''. New York: Viking Press, 2002.
*''Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes''. New York: Viking Adult, 2012.
Nonfiction
*''O Albany!: Improbable City of Political Wizards, Fearless Ethnics, Spectacular Aristocrats, Splendid Nobodies, and Underrated Scoundrels''. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
*''The Making of Ironweed''. New York: Viking Penguin, 1988.
*''Riding the Yellow Trolley Car''. New York: Viking Press, 1993.
*''Grand View''. Premiered at Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany, New York, 1996.
*''In the System''. HumaniTech* Short Play Project Premiere, University at Albany, March 2003.
Children's books
*''Charlie Malarkey and the Belly Button Machine'' (co-authored with Brendan Kennedy). New York:
Atlantic Monthly Press
Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself "A ...
, 1986.
*''Charlie Malarkey and the Singing Moose'' (co-authored with Brendan Kennedy). New York: Viking Children's Books, 1994.
Criticism
*Flanagan, Thomas. ''O Albany!''. ''
New York Review of Books
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
''. April 25, 2002
*Giamo, Benedict F. ''The Homeless of Ironweed: Blossoms on the Crag''. Iowa City:
University of Iowa Press The University of Iowa Press is a university press that is part of the University of Iowa.
Established in 1969, thUniversity of Iowa Pressis an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. The UI Press is the only universit ...
, 1997.
*Gillespie, Michael Patrick. ''Reading William Kennedy''. Syracuse:
Syracuse University Press
Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses.
History
SUP was formed in August 1943 when president William P. Tolley pro ...
.
*Lynch, Vivian Valvano. ''Portraits of Artists: Warriors in the Novels of William Kennedy''. Bethesda: International Scholars Publications, 1999.
*Mallon, Thomas. ''William Kennedy's Greatest Game''. ''
The Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''. February 2002.
*Seshachari, Neila C. ''Courtesans, Stars, Wives, & Vixens: The Many Faces of Female Power in Kennedy's Novels'', AWP Conference, Albany, NY. April 17, 1999.
*Marowski, Daniel G. and Matur, Roger, editors. "William Kennedy." ''Contemporary Literary Criticism'', Vol. 53, Detroit:
Gale Research
Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007.
The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
, 1989, pp. 189–201.
*Michener, Christian. ''From Then into Now: William Kennedy's Albany Novels''. University of Scranton Press, 1998.
*Reilly, Edward C. ''Twayne's United States Authors Series: William Kennedy''. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991.
*Van Dover, J. K. ''Understanding William Kennedy''. Columbia, SC:
University of South Carolina Press
The University of South Carolina Press is an academic publisher associated with the University of South Carolina. It was founded in 1944.
By the early 1990s, the press had published several surveys of women's writing in the southern United States ...
, 1991.
*Seshachari, Neila C., editor. ''Conversations with William Kennedy''. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1997.
John William Ward (professor)
John William Ward (1922–1985), was the 14th President of Amherst College, a veteran of World War II, Professor of English and History at Princeton University, and Chairman of the Ward Commission.
Early life and education
Ward was born in ...
The Bat Segundo Show
''The Bat Segundo Show'' was a podcast based in New York City run by writer and literary critic Edward Champion between 2004 and 2012. It was revived in mid-2013.
The program features comprehensive interviews with prominent figures in arts and ...