I'm interested in how the confessional is so abrasively critiqued today. I'm not really comfortable with simply confessing but I do think "confessing" is a major part of reckoning. — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
One of the problems with a lot of "confessional" writing is that it starts and stops with the confessional and doesn't really tie the "I" into a "we" at all. I'm still surprised at how mad critics get at that… — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
I allude to Back to the Future in the 1985 story to let folks know it was an inspiration and because it literally was… — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
“I lie in a bathtub of cold water, still sweating and singing love songs to myself. I put the gun to my head and… — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
I'm a black writer from Mississippi. That's what I most consider myself. — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
In essay writing, I'm trying to push the form of expository writing. I'm trying to remember, trying to reckon, trying to find connections with… — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
I wish every American explored the importance of novel writing, identity, honesty, character and place in fresh-ass ways. — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
“I swear that white folks need to just shut the hell up sometimes. Y'all make it hard for everybody.” — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
Long Division has a lot of Afrosurrealist impulses. I think the book was more Afrofuturist when it was like 700 pages. — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
“Y'all taught me that unacknowledged scars accumulated in battles won often hurt more than battles lost.” — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
First of all, the novel should be a critique of the novels that have come before it in a language that broadens the audience… — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
I'm also, than anything else, a teacher and a student. And without the four hours, I'm pretty monsterish. For real. — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
I'm an obsessive writer who needs and loves revision. Writing helps me learn and helps me teach. — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
I'm accountable - this sounds emo - to black American writing, Southern writing, Southern black American writing, American writing and my people. That's kind… — Kiese Laymon Copy Share Image
