
Conversations with Kiese Laymon
Constance Bailey(Editor)
University Press of Mississippi
Published on 15. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
156 pages
978-1-4968-5904-4 (ISBN)
Description
In over a dozen interviews, Conversations with Kiese Laymon provides an in-depth look at author Kiese Laymon as an educator, creative writer, activist, family member, and Mississippian. Interviews capture surprising insights about Laymon's life and craft. Within these pages, Laymon talks about his engagement with other writers, including Richard Wright, William Faulkner, and Eudora Welty. These revelations situate his memoir, Heavy, among other great Mississippi autobiographies and memoirs, such as Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi, Welty's One Writer's Beginning, Jesmyn Wards's Men We Reaped, and Natasha Tretheway's Memorial Drive. In other interviews, he discusses his obsession with revision and deftly fields questions about pop culture, politics, and Black masculinity, along with a host of other pressing contemporary issues.
As the first collection of its kind, Conversations with Kiese Laymon serves as the perfect introduction to studying Laymon. The cross section of interviews included reflect Laymon's humility, while simultaneously celebrating his accomplishments. Most importantly, the interviews reflect his stature as a major American literary figure. With topics ranging from hip-hop and family to politics and everything in between, this volume provides an unfiltered look at the prolific Southern writer in his own words.
As the first collection of its kind, Conversations with Kiese Laymon serves as the perfect introduction to studying Laymon. The cross section of interviews included reflect Laymon's humility, while simultaneously celebrating his accomplishments. Most importantly, the interviews reflect his stature as a major American literary figure. With topics ranging from hip-hop and family to politics and everything in between, this volume provides an unfiltered look at the prolific Southern writer in his own words.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Jackson
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
237 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4968-5904-4 (9781496859044)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Constance Bailey
Conversations with Kiese Laymon
E-Book
08/2025
Princeton University Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Constance Bailey is assistant professor of African American literature and folklore at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on Black women's comedy and humor, Black speculative fiction, and African American folklore/oral traditions.