Billie Dean Letts (née Gipson; May 30, 1938 – August 2, 2014) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

and educator. She was a professor at

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern, SE, or SOSU) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had an undergraduate enrollment of 4,824 in 2019. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an ac ...

Biography

Letts was born as Billie Dean Gipson in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, the daughter of Virginia M. (née Barnes), a secretary, and William C. Gipson. She married

Dennis Letts Dennis Letts (September 5, 1934 – February 22, 2008) was an American college professor, and later, in a second career, an actor. As the latter, he originated the critically successful role of Beverly Weston in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company pr ...

, a professor and actor, in 1958. The couple had three children: Dana, Tracy (a playwright), and Shawn (a jazz musician/composer). Dennis Letts served as editor for his wife's novels. He died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

in Tulsa on February 22, 2008, aged 73. Letts died in a Tulsa hospital from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on August 2, 2014, aged 76. She had recently been diagnosed with

acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may inclu ...

Novels

*'' Where the Heart Is'' (1995) *''The Honk and Holler Opening Soon'' (1998) *''Shoot the Moon'' (2004) *''Made in the U.S.A.'' (2008)

Awards and honors

*1994

Walker Percy Walker Percy, OSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, '' The Moviegoer'', won the Nat ...

Award *1996 Oklahoma Book Award *1998

Oprah's Book Club Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new book, usually a novel, for viewers ...

– Best Novel nominee – '' Where the Heart Is''

References

External links

Author interview: Billie Letts
at Hachette Book Group USA

(July 2004) 1938 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Southeastern Oklahoma State University faculty Deaths from pneumonia in Oklahoma 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Oklahoma Deaths from leukemia Deaths from cancer in Oklahoma American women academics {{academic-bio-stub