Kiese Laymon to speak at APSU’s Zone 3 Visiting Writers’ Series
By: Dr. Andrea Spofford March 6, 2025
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University’s Zone 3 Visiting Writers’ Series will host a free public event with McArthur Genius Fellow Kiese Laymon at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 20, in Mabry Concert Hall. The nationally acclaimed author will read from and discuss his life and work, followed by a Q&A session and book signing.
This event was made possible through a collaboration between the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, the Department of History and Philosophy's Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture, APSU’s Women's and Gender Studies and African American Studies programs, and the Office of Academic Affairs.
“Kiese’s work is so important to the mission of the Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture, which is to celebrate the lived experiences of African Americans, women, and others who find themselves in the margins of American society and history,” said Dr. Paula White, the coordinator of APSU’s Women’s and Gender Studies program. “I am delighted Kiese will share his story with our students and campus community.”
Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi and the author of Long Division (the winner of the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Fiction), the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America (a New York Times notable book of 2021), and the bestseller Heavy: An American Memoir.
Heavy won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discover Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is currently the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University in San Antonio, Texas. Learn more about his life and work here.
“I think Betty Joe Wallace would love to hear [Laymon’s] story of growing up African American in Mississippi in the 1970s and 1980s,” said Dr. Michele Butts, professor of history. “She introduced African American history at Austin Peay in the 1960s and 1970s, because she believed African American stories and contributions needed to be heard and valued. She would appreciate his journey and pioneering spirit.”
About the Betty Jo Wallace Memorial Lecture: The Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of History and Philosophy and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. A champion of African American and women’s rights, Professor Betty Joe Wallace pioneered and taught African American history and women’s history courses at Austin Peay for nearly 30 years. She founded both the African American Studies Program and the Women’s Studies Program. In 1989, the faculty honored her service by presenting her with the Distinguished Professor Award. Between 1965 and 2004, Wallace also trained hundreds of history and social studies teachers who served throughout the area. To learn more about the Betty Jo Wallace Memorial Lecture, contact Dr. Michele Butts at buttsmt@apsu.edu.
About the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts: Since 1985, the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or "seek-ah") has been providing students, the Clarksville community, and the middle Tennessee region with engaging experiences through the Art + Design, Creative Writing, Music, and Theatre & Dance programs at APSU. CECA brings as many as 85 guest artists to Clarksville each year and presents up to 100 public arts and culture events annually, including concerts, exhibitions, artist lectures, master classes, artist residencies, and more. In addition, CECA provides the arts faculty at APSU with research opportunities to enhance their professional growth as well as numerous student scholarships each year to support APSU's own emerging artists. To learn more about the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts at APSU, contact Dr. Andrea Spofford at spofforda@apsu.edu.