About
A Mississippi-born novelist and short fiction writer, he became known for works such as Geronimo Rex and Airships. He received a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a National Book Award.
Before fame
He earned his M.F.A. in fiction in 1967 from the University of Arkansas. While working as a writer, he taught at several southern universities.
Trivia
His darkly witty literary works touch on such familiar southern themes as town drunks and catfish. He was a recipient of a Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Fiction twice.
Family life
He had one daughter with his wife, Susan. He died of a heart attack at the age of sixty-seven.
Associated with
His works were often compared by critics to those of fellow southern writer William Faulkner.
