Ernest J. Gaines facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ernest J. Gaines
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Gaines at Fall for the Book
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| Born | Ernest James Gaines January 15, 1933 Oscar, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | November 5, 2019 (aged 86) Oscar, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable works | A Lesson Before Dying The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman A Gathering of Old Men |
| Notable awards | National Humanities Medal Ordre des Arts et des Lettres |
| Spouse | Dianne Saulney |
Ernest James Gaines (born January 15, 1933 – died November 5, 2019) was a famous American writer. His books are read in colleges and have been translated into many languages, like French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Chinese. Four of his stories were even made into TV movies!
His novel, A Lesson Before Dying, won a big award called the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1993. Gaines also received other important honors, including the National Humanities Medal. He was also recognized by France with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters).
Contents
Ernest J. Gaines: His Life Story
Ernest Gaines was born in Oscar, Louisiana, on a farm called a plantation. His family had lived there for five generations, working the land as sharecroppers. This place became the setting for many of his books. He was the oldest of 12 children. His aunt, who had a disability and had to crawl, raised him. Even though slavery had ended long before he was born, Ernest grew up very poor. He lived in old slave quarters on the plantation.
Early School Days
Ernest's first years of school took place in the plantation church. When the children were not picking cotton in the fields, a teacher would visit. This teacher taught them basic lessons for about five or six months each year.
Later, Ernest spent three years at St. Augustine School. This was a Catholic school for African Americans in New Roads, Louisiana. At that time, African-American children in Pointe Coupee Parish could not go to school past the eighth grade.
Moving to California
When he was 15, Ernest moved to Vallejo, California. He went to live with his mother and stepfather, who had moved from Louisiana during World War II.
Ernest wrote his first novel when he was just 17 years old. He was babysitting his youngest brother, Michael, at the time. He sent his story to a publisher in New York, but it was rejected. Ernest burned that first story. However, he later rewrote it, and it became his first published novel, Catherine Carmier.
College and Army Service
In 1956, Gaines published his first short story, The Turtles. It appeared in a college magazine at San Francisco State University (SFSU). The next year, he earned a degree in literature from SFSU. After college, he spent two years serving in the Army. Then, he won a special writing fellowship to attend Stanford University.
Teaching and Later Life
From 1981 until he retired in 2004, Gaines was a Writer-in-Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. This means he was a special writer who taught and helped students there. In 1996, Gaines spent a whole semester teaching at the University of Rennes in France. He taught the very first creative writing class ever offered in the French university system.
In his final years, Gaines lived in Oscar, Louisiana, on the same old plantation where he grew up. He and his wife built a home there. He even had the building where he attended church and school moved to his property.
Ernest Gaines passed away from natural causes at his home on November 5, 2019. He was 86 years old.
Awards and Honors
Ernest J. Gaines received many important awards for his writing. Here are some of them:
- National Medal of Arts (2012)
- The F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature (2001)
- Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Art and Letters from France (2000)
- National Humanities Medal (2000)
- National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (1993)
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow (1993)
- Dos Passos Prize (1993)
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Fellow (1971)
- National Endowment for the Arts grant (1967)
- Wallace Stegner Fellow (1957)
- In 2023, the USPS honored him with a special Forever stamp as part of their Black Heritage series.
Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
In 2007, a special book award was created to honor Ernest Gaines. It is called the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. This award encourages new African-American fiction writers. A group of five well-known literary judges chooses the winner. The winner receives a US$10,000 prize and a special sculpture made by Louisiana artist Robert Moreland.
See also
