Raymond Andrews (June 6, 1934 – November 25, 1991) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

novelist.

Early life and education

Raymond Andrews was born June 6, 1934, in

Plainview, Georgia Plainview is an unincorporated community in Morgan County, Georgia, United States, located approximately three miles from Madison, Georgia, Madison. History Plainview has historically been a farming community. Plainview contains Plainview Bapti ...

, and grew up in north central Georgia. He was the fourth child of George Andrews and Viola Andrews, who worked as

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

. In total, he had nine siblings. As a child, Andrews and his siblings assisted their parents by working in the local cotton fields and peach orchards. At age fifteen Andrews moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, where he lived at the Butler Street

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

with his oldest brother. In Atlanta, Andrews began working as a

hospital orderly In healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. These duties a ...

and attended high school at Booker T. Washington High School. Andrews graduated from Washington High School in 1952. Following his graduation, he served four years in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. He spent a portion of his service stationed in Korea.

Career

After he finished his tour of duty, Andrews briefly attended

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

before moving to New York City where he held a variety of jobs. At various times, he worked as an airline agent for

KLM Airlines KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

, an air courier, and a proofreader. While working with KLM Airlines, Andrews traveled extensively and visited countries such as

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Andrews' first national publication was in an issue of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' in 1966 and was written about the first time the game of football had ever been played in the Plainview community where he grew up. On his thirty-second birthday, Andrews quit his airline job and decided to focus solely on making a career as a writer. In the early 1970s

Dial Press The Dial Press is a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bur ...

began publishing his Muskhogean trilogy about the life of an African American in the south from the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

to the beginning of the 1960s. The trilogy consists of'' Appalachee Red, Rosiebelle Lee Wildcat Tennessee,'' and ''Baby Sweet's''. During the 1970s and 1980s, Andrews hosted writing workshops, worked as a guest lecturer, and published several essays and reviews. He published his memoir ''The Last Radio Baby'' in 1990, and the following year he published the novel ''Jessie and Jesus and Cousin Claire''.

Critical reception

Books written by Raymond Andrews have been applauded by numerous critics and other writers. Novelist

Richard Bausch Richard Bausch (born April 18, 1945) is an American novelist, short story writer, and Professor in the Writing Program at Chapman University in Orange, California. He has published thirteen novels, nine short story collections, and one volume of ...

described Andrew's writing as having "a smiling generosity of spirit." ''Appalachee Red'' received the James Baldwin Prize in 1979.

Personal life

Andrews married Adelheid "Heidi" Wenger in 1966 in New York City. The couple divorced in 1980. Andrews died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

, on November 25, 1991.

Published works

*''Appalachee Red'' (Dial Press, 1978) *''Rosiebelle Lee Wildcat Tennessee'' (Dial Press, 1980) *''Baby Sweet's'' (Dial Press, 1983) *''The Last Radio Baby'' (Peachtree Publishers, 1990) *''Jessie and Jesus; and, Cousin Claire'' (Peachtree Publishers, 1991) *''Once Upon a Time in Atlanta'' (

Chattahoochee Review ''The Chattahoochee Review'' is a literary journal published by Georgia State University's Perimeter College. It is widely regarded as one of the leading voices in Southern fiction and was established in 1981. The journal contains fiction, poetr ...

, 1998)

Awards

*1979: James Baldwin Prize *2009: inductee, Georgia Writers Hall of Famehttp://www.libs.uga.edu/gawriters/andrews.html Honorees *1992: American Book Award for Jessie and Jesus; And Cousin Claire

References

External links

Raymond Andrews papers
at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Raymond 1934 births 1991 suicides 1991 deaths African-American novelists People from Morgan County, Georgia Suicides by firearm in Georgia (U.S. state) Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) American male novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American Book Award winners 20th-century African-American writers African-American male writers