Notes and Links to Kiese Laymon’s Work
Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery 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 the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative, a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their own terms, in their own communities. He is the co-host of Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.
“The Worst Shot Ever Taken” from Believer Magazine
Review for Heavy from NPR
Kiese Laymon's Wikipedia Page
At about 1:45, the two discuss Kiese’s article from The Believer and word counts and teaching high and college
At about 3:05, Kiese talks about his love of hoops and names some standout and favorite players from back in the day and now
At about 4:10, The two shout out grizzled veterans like Phillip Rivers and LeBron James
At about 5:30, Pete highlights Ernie Barnes’ work and asks Kiese about the significance of Barnes’ paintings
At about 8:45, Kiese shares his memories of and love for basketball and jumpstops and shot fakes-shout out, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
At about 10:40, Pete shouts out Jeff Pearlman’s basketball wiles
At about 11:10, Kiese lays out the exposition for his The Believer article and Pete and Kiese fanboy over Kiese’s writer friends and Sactown’s own, Cydni Matsuoka
At about 14:00, Kiese responds to Pete’s question about the “possibility” of Steph Curry
At about 16:45, Toni Cade Bambara and “Gorilla, My Love” is highlighted, as Pete links Kiese’s penultimate sentence to Bambara’s work
At about 18:20, The two discuss Kiese’s mom as a “public intellectual” and Kiese lists formative reading and listening
At about 20:30, Kiese shouts out Kendrick Lamar as a link to Public Enemy’s activism and consciousness, and marvels at his lasting power
At about 24:20, Kiese reflects on Public Enemy’s methods versus that of others like NWA or Dead Prez
At about 26:25, Kiese highlights Julian Randle, Safiya Sinclair, Deesha Philyaw, and Sarah Aziza’s work as some that resonates with his college students
At about 28:40, Pete calls attention to Heavy’s epigraph and dedication and discusses their significance
At about 31:05, Kiese responds to Pete’s question about so much of the book’s Prologue being centered on his Grandmama
At about 32:45, Kiese outlines his rationale and motivation for ultimately writing a different type of book, not the “safer” book his mom and publishers might have wanted
At about 34:30, Kiese and Pete discuss the echo of his time at Millsap College being censored/edited with an op-ed piece of his
At about 35:40, Kiese recounts stories associated with the book’s opening scene in Las Vegas
At about 38:45, Kiese reflects on his mother as his “best friend” and ideas of mortality and “initation”
At about 40:55, Kiese responds to Pete’s questions about the way his family interacted in his childhood
At about 45:20, Pete sets up an important opening scene involving Layla and asks Kiese about rape/sexual assault in the house of older acquaintances
At about 50:10, Kiese reflects on ideas of power and safety and sexuality
At about 53:15, Pete and Kiese discuss the juxtaposition of his mom as a public intellectual and as someone who struggled with financial and other practical pursuits
At about 55:30, Kiese talks about Malachi Hunter in the book and balancing “reductive and stupid” comments he made with lessons he taught Kiese
At about 57:20, Kiese and Pete trace the different ways in which Malachi and Kiese’s mom and grandmother undertook “reckoning” or didn’t
At about 59:00, Kiese homes in on his grandmother’s life and “reckon[ings}” with history and sexism and racism
At about 1:01:00, Pete and Kiese discuss the ways in which Kiese’s grandmother got by financially and spiritually
At about 1:01:50, Kiese expands on the ways in which he viewed organized religion
At about 1:03:40, The two discuss the ways in which the book’s title was manifested through his grandmother’s love
At about 1:04:10, Abundance! and slang that didn’t catch on is discussed
At about 1:04:50, Kiese reflects on a painful experience in school involving a viewing of Roots without a larger discussion
At about 1:08:55, Kiese expands upon how he saw Mississippi in his year away in Maryland
At about 1:11:05, Kiese discusses an early relationship and its challenges and the conflicting ways in which he viewed his coach and teacher
At about 1:14:10, Kiese regrades a high school essay-it’s an “A!”
At about 1:15:00, Kiese responds to Pete asking about his high school graduation boycott
At about 1:16:50, The two discuss time in college and Kiese’s relationship with a girl and his learning in class and outside of school-Pete highlights a wonderful paragraph on Page 141 that highlights “liberation”
At about 1:18:00, Kiese shares the practical advice Malachi Hunter gave Kiese as he was threatened in college for his writing
At about 1:19:25, Kiese reflects on the ways in which he viewed his writing
At about 1:20:45, Kiese talks about Tate Reeves’ presence at a racist frat event and the ways in which Tate knew Kiese and failed him
At about 1:23:50, Kiese talks about how the book is different/aged since he published it in 2018
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Please tune in for Episode 317 with Dr. Timothy Wellbeck. a leader in the fight for justice and racial equity. Timothy presently serves as the founding Director of the Center for Anti-Racism at Temple University, where he has led the Center from its inception into becoming one of the leading institutions of its kind. A Civil Rights Attorney by training and practice, Timothy is a scholar of law, race, and cultural studies. We’ll be talking about his standing-room only, incredibly popular Temple University classes about Kendrick Lamar and his music.
The episode airs on January 13.
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