14th Annual University Convocation
Special Guest...
*Mr. Ernest J. Gaines, author of A Lesson Before Dying
Thursday, September 6,2001
10:00 a.m.
George M. Holmes Convocation Center
Following the convocation, everyone is invited to attend a "round table" discussion with Mr. Gaines Beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the I. G. Greer Auditorium.
*Biography of Ernest Gaines
Born in 1933, writer Ernest J. Gaines spent his early youth on a plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. His maternal aunt, Augusteen Jefferson, raised him and became the model for Gaine's best known character, Miss Jane Pittman. Because people of color could not legally attend high school or visit the public library in Pointe Coupee Parish, Gaines's aunt sent him to live with his mother and stepfather in California when he was 15 years old.
In California Gaines made frequent visits to the public library, where he discovered Russian and French writers: Turgenev, Gogol, Flaubert, Maupassant, and Zola. He loved the literature but recognized that none of these authors told stories about his world. This recognition led Gaines down a writer's path; he studied literature and creative writing at San Francisco State University and Stanford.
Gaines has indeed realized his goal, telling many stories about African American history and culture. Gaines's novels include Catherine Carmier (1964), Of Love and Dust (1967), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971), A Long Day in November (1971), In My Father's House (1978), A Gathering of Old Men (1983), and A Lesson Before Dying (1993). His stories offer readers a chance to examine issues of community, race, and class. They also delve into the intricacies of personal relationships, folklore, and religion.
Gaines is Writer-in-Residence at the University of Louisiana - Lafayette and is a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (1993). He also received a National Endowment for the Arts grant (1971) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1971). France's Minister of Culture named Ernest Gaines a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters, a prestigious award in the arts. A Lesson Before Dying has received many honors, including a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize and several Best in Fiction awards. In 1997 it was an Oprah's Book Club selection.