Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

My guest today is T. Geronimo Johnson, the bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville, longlisted for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It Till It Hurts, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.

He won the inaugural Joyce Carol Oates Award, the Rome Prize, Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the William Saroyan International Prize.

Johnson received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later taught writing, and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts Fellowships.

His new book is The Occidental Book of the Dead.

Born and raised in the American South, he is the bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville, long-listed for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It Till It Hurts, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.

He won the inaugural Joyce Carol Oates Award, the Rome Prize, Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the William Saroyan International Prize.

He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later taught writing and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts fellowships.

Geronimo, welcome to the show.

He's the best-selling author of Welcome to Braggsville, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It Till It Hurts, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.

He won the inaugural Joyce Carol Oates Award, the Rome Prize, Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the William Saroyan International Prize.

He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he later taught writing and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts fellowships.

So I hope you enjoy this episode of Behind the Stack.