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Kiese Laymon

Goodreads Author

Born

Jackson, The United States

Website

http://kieselaymon.com/

Member Since

April 2013

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Kiese Laymon is a black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA from Indiana University and is the author of the forthcoming novel, Long Division in June 2013 and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America in August 2013. Laymon is a contributing editor at gawker.com. He has written essays and stories for numerous publications including Esquire, ESPN.com, NPR, Gawker, Truthout.com, Longman’s Hip Hop Reader, Mythium and Politics and Culture. Laymon is currently an Associate Professor of English, Creative Writing and co-director of Africana Studies at Vassar College.

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Kiese Laymon’s books

Average rating: 4.35 · 60,798 ratings · 8,132 reviews · 28 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Kiese Laymon (Goodreads Author) (Foreword) 4.28 avg rating — 740,875 ratings — published 1982 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Heavy 4.47 avg rating — 43,941 ratings — published 2018 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Long Division 3.78 avg rating — 8,367 ratings — published 2013 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America 4.32 avg rating — 5,829 ratings — published 2013 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon (Goodreads Author), Alexis Franklin (illustrator) 4.10 avg rating — 147 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Name Is City 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	And So On 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	# 2 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hey Mama 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How to reduce weight: A Complete Guide 2022 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Long Division

by Kiese Laymon (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 09, 2013 10:12PM · see review

Quotes by Kiese Laymon (?)

“America seems filled with violent people who like causing people pain but hate when those people tell them that pain hurts.”
― Kiese Laymon, Heavy

81 likes

“For the first time in my life, I realized telling the truth was way different from finding the truth, and finding the truth had everything to do with revisiting and rearranging words. Revisiting and rearranging words didn't only require vocabulary; it required will, and maybe courage. Revised word patterns were revised thought patterns. Revised thought patterns shaped memory. I knew, looking at all those words, that memories were there, I just had to rearrange, add, subtract, sit, and sift until I found a way to free the memory.”
― Kiese Laymon, Heavy

49 likes

“I learned you haven't read anything if you've only read something once or twice. Reading things more than twice was the reader version of revision.”
― Kiese Laymon, Heavy

47 likes

See all Kiese Laymon's quotes »

Polls

What shall we read in June, 2022? Books published after 1990.

The Patron Saint of Liars, by Ann Patchett

16 votes 27.6%

White Doves at Morning, by James Lee Burke

12 votes 20.7%

Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver

10 votes 17.2%

Bewilderness, by Karen Tucker

8 votes 13.8%

Take My Hand, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

7 votes 12.1%

Long Division, by Kiese Laymon

5 votes 8.6%

58 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Shut Up & Read: Michael's Challenges 2013	2	137	May 12, 2013 06:18PM
Literary Fiction ...: Coming Attractions - 2013!	60	266	Oct 30, 2013 08:29AM
2025 Reading Chal...: October: The Clue (Cluedo) Challenge	166	164	Nov 02, 2013 12:15PM
Literary Fiction ...: Discussion: Long Division	142	209	Nov 24, 2013 09:26AM
The Blerd Book Club: Long Division Discussion 1/05/14 - Spoiler Alert!	4	62	Jan 05, 2014 02:27AM
Historical Fictio...: Tell Me a Story Treasure Hunt (Oct/Nov 2013): Scoring Thread	116	135	Jan 08, 2014 09:06PM
Reading with Style: Winter 13/14 RwS Completed Tasks - Winter 13/14	1088	154	Mar 01, 2014 03:25PM

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Kiese’s Quotes

“We black Southerners, through life, love, and labor, are the generators and architects of American music, narrative, language, capital, and morality. That belongs to us. Take away all those stolen West African girls and boys forced to find an oral culture to express, resist, and signify in the South, and we have no rich American idiom.”
― Kiese Laymon, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America

13 likes