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William Kennedy (Novelist)

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Author

The Resume

    (January 16, 1928- )
    Born in Albany, New York
    Journalist and novelist
    Investigative reporter for the 'Albany Times Union' and columnist for the 'Miami Herald'
    Known for a cycle of novels set in Albany: 'Legs' (1975), 'Billy Phelan's Greatest Game' (1978)< 'Ironweed' (1983), 'Quinn's Book' (1988), 'Very Old Bones' (1992), 'The Flaming Corsage' (1996), 'Roscoe' (2002) and 'Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes' (2012)
    With his son Brendan, wrote the children's books 'Charlie Malarkey and the Belly Button Machine' and 'Charlie Malarkey and the Singing Moose'
    Wrote screenplays for 'The Cotton Club' (1984) and 'Ironweed' (1987)

Why he might be annoying:

    He worked as a literary critic but gave it up because 'It was painful to read bad or disappointing books and worse to write about them.'
    'Ironweed' was rejected by 13 publishers, with Kennedy summarizing their assessment as 'Who cares about bums? And especially bums in Albany?'
    Jack Nicholson said of him, 'That man can drink.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He has been married to Dana Sosa for over 50 years.
    'Ironweed' won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award.
    He received a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius Grant.'
    He is said to have done for Albany what James Joyce did for Dublin and William Faulkner did for Mississippi.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying