Brad Watson (writer)
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Wilton Brad Watson (July 24, 1955July 8, 2020) was an American author and teacher of creative writing. Originally from Mississippi, he worked and lived in Alabama, Florida, California, Boston, and Wyoming. He was a professor at the
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...
from 2005 until his death in 2020. In his lifetime Watson published four books – two novels and two collections of short stories – to critical acclaim. His fifth (posthumous) book is
There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories
' (July 2024).


Early life

Watson was born in
Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, eighth most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 35,052 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, ...
on July 24, 1955. He was the second of three sons of Robert Earl Watson and Bonnie Clay. He married his high school sweetheart while still in school, and they had a son together. They moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
after finishing high school, and Brad worked as a
garbage truck A garbage truck is a truck specially designed to collect municipal solid waste and transport it to a list of solid waste treatment technologies, solid waste treatment facility, such as a landfill, materials recovery facility, recycling center ...
driver while aspiring to become an actor. He subsequently returned home to Mississippi after his older brother, Clay, died in a
car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...
. At the urging of his family, he furthered his education, first at Meridian Junior College and then
Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...
, where he graduated with a degree in English. Subsequently, he undertook
postgraduate studies Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...
at the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...
, obtaining a
Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
in writing and American literature.


Career

After working as a newspaper reporter and editor and at an advertising agency, he returned to the University of Alabama to teach creative writing; he also worked for the university's public relations department. While at Alabama he published ''Last Days of the Dog-Men'' (1996), which had taken him ten years to write and won him the
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction is an American literary award presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain ex ...
and The Great Lakes New Writers Award. Amy Grace Lloyd, writing for ''The New York Times'' twenty years later, called it "a near-perfect story collection". In 1997 he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he was the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
until 2002. He was a writer in residence at the
University of West Florida The University of West Florida (West Florida or UWF) is a public university in Pensacola, Florida, United States. Established in 1963 as a member institution of the State University System of Florida, the University of West Florida is a comprehe ...
, the University of Alabama, the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...
, and the
University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
. Beginning in 2005, he taught at the
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...
, where he was a professor of creative writing and literature in the Department of Visual & Literary Arts. Watson's 2002 novel ''The Heaven of Mercury'' was a finalist for the
National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
. His 2010 collection of short stories ''Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives'' received positive reviews in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and the ''
Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct ''Boston Phoenix'', '' ...
''; its stories contained "divorces, miscarriages, an argument that ends in bungled gunplay, a joint-custody visitation, even a touch of incest", and Watson himself considered some of them some of the funniest stuff he'd ever written. His work has appeared in ''The New Yorker''. The book was a finalist for The PEN/Faulkner Award in 2011. Two years later, Watson received the Award in Letters from The American Academy of Arts and Letters. His 2016 novel ''Miss Jane'' is set in Depression-era Mississippi; its main character, Jane Chisolm, is inspired by one of his great-aunts, a woman with an unknown (to family survivors) urogenital condition that rendered her incontinent and possibly made her incapable of having vaginal sex. Watson has stated in interviews that he could not write the book until he found a medical condition that would seem to fit what little family survivors knew and remembered about his great-aunt's condition. The novel was praised by critics, with
Silas House Silas Dwane House (born August 7, 1971) is an American writer best known for his novels. He is also a music journalist, environmental activist, and columnist. His fiction is known for its attention to the natural world, working-class characters, a ...
saying it "takes Watson's writing to new heights". The novel was one of ten books long-listed for The National Book Award in Fiction in 2016. It was an ebook bestseller on Amazon.com in 2020.


Subject matter and style

Watson is frequently called a Southern writer, and acknowledged his heritage and his love for family and friends, particularly after moving to Wyoming in 2005. At community college in Meridian, he became inspired by
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
,
Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern ...
, and
Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. O'Connor was a Southern writer who of ...
. He is praised for his portrayal of Southern issues and problems (racism and segregation being one of the subject matters of ''Heaven of Mercury''), but commented also on stereotypical simplifications of the South in other parts of America:
For all the ways he Southis struggling and, yes, deficient, or failing, flailing, it is also a place full of wonderful people, and possibly one of the most diverse places in the country. Not that everyone gets along. There is ignorance, there is racism. There are also more proud people trying to change that than might be apparent from the results at the polling booths. But writing the book, I was just thinking about these people, trying to make them real people in the reader’s mind. Here’s an anecdote, though. I was at a tea party or the like at a famous university in the early stages of researching ''Miss Jane'', and I asked the host--who was a pediatrician, for goodness sake--if he could speculate on what might have been my great aunt’s condition. His response was, "You're from Mississippi, right? Is there any history of incest in your family?"


Death

Watson died on July 8, 2020 at his home in
Laramie, Wyoming Laramie () is a List of municipalities in Wyoming, city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States, known for its high elevation at , for its railroad history, and as the home of the University of Wyoming. The population wa ...
. He was 64.


Books

* * * *
''There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories''
W.W. Norton. 2024 ISBN 978-1-324-07642-1


Anthologies

*


Awards

*
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction is an American literary award presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain ex ...
, American Academy of Arts and Letters (''Last Days of the Dog-Men'') * Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award * Finalist for the
National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
(''The Heaven of Mercury'') * Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Fiction (2003 and 2011) * Southern Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction * 2004 National Endowment of the Arts Grant in Fiction * Finalist, 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (''Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives'') * Finalist, 2011 St. Francis College Literary Award ("Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives") * 2011
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
* 2013 Award in Letters, American Academy of Arts and Letters * 2016 Longlist, National Book Award in Fiction, "Miss Jane" * 2017 Harper Lee Award


References


External links

*
Interview with Brad Watson
in ''Granta'', Winter 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Brad Mississippi State University alumni University of Alabama faculty University of Wyoming faculty People from Meridian, Mississippi 1955 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American novelists PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Novelists from Alabama