0 ratings | 0 reviews | avg rating:0.0

John Edgar Wideman’s Followers (405)

John’s Bookshelves

to-read (0)
currently-reading (1)
read (0)

John’s Friends

John hasn't connected with his friends on Goodreads, yet.

John Edgar Wideman

Goodreads Author

Born

in Pittsburgh, PA, The United States

Website

http://www.lulu.com/johnedgarwideman

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Short Stories, Biographies & Memoirs

Member Since

March 2010

edit data

A widely-celebrated writer and the winner of many literary awards, he is the first to win the International PEN/Faulkner Award twice: in 1984 for Sent for You Yesterday and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. In 2000 he won the O. Henry Award for his short story "Weight", published in The Callaloo Journal.

In March, 2010, he self-published "Briefs," a new collection of microstories, on Lulu.com. Stories from the book have already been selected for the O Henry Prize for 2010 and the Best African-American Fiction 2010 award.

His nonfiction book Brothers and Keepers received a National Book Award. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and much of his writing is set there, especially in the Homewood neighborhood of the East End. He graduated fr ...more

2 posts
John Edgar Wideman's Blog

An Interview about Self-Publishing

I recently sat down with Jonathan Cox at Lulu for an interview about why I chose to self-publish after 40+ years in the traditional publishing game. Here's an excerpt:

Jonathan's Introduction:
Our press release said it best: John Edgar Wideman is a literary lion. He has more than 20 traditionally published works to his name and a catalog of accolades — including two Faulkner Awards for Fiction. He h

Combine Editions
John Edgar Wideman’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 11,489 ratings · 1,096 reviews · 94 distinct works • Similar authors

	Brothers and Keepers: A Memoir 3.86 avg rating — 1,149 ratings — published 1984 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Philadelphia Fire 3.44 avg rating — 863 ratings — published 1990 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File 3.40 avg rating — 444 ratings — published 2016 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sent for You Yesterday 4.02 avg rating — 350 ratings — published 1981 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	DAMBALLAH 4.13 avg rating — 230 ratings — published 1986 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best American Short Stories 1996 by John Edgar Wideman (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Katrina Kenison (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 3.85 avg rating — 167 ratings — published 1996 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fanon 3.36 avg rating — 184 ratings — published 2008 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	American Histories: Stories 3.47 avg rating — 165 ratings — published 2018 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cattle Killing 3.63 avg rating — 155 ratings — published 1996 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fever 3.81 avg rating — 143 ratings — published 1989 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Edgar Wideman…

John is Currently Reading

John is currently reading

Uncle Tom's Cabin

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Mar 14, 2010 10:11AM

Quotes by John Edgar Wideman (?)

“Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.”
― John Edgar Wideman

tags: book-lovers, importance-of-words, insightful, writing-craft

31 likes

“Kids use words in ways that release hidden meanings, revel the history buried in sounds. They haven't forgotten that words can be more than signs, that words have magic, the power to be things, to point to themselves and materialize. With their back-formations, archaisms, their tendency to play the music in words--rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition--children peel the skin from language. Words become incantatory. Open Sesame. Abracadabra. Perhaps a child will remember the word and will bring the walls tumbling down.”
― John Edgar Wideman

tags: brothers-and-keepers, children, language, words

10 likes

“All Stories are True.”
― John Edgar Wideman

tags: stories, truth

6 likes

See all John Edgar Wideman's quotes »

Polls

Here is the poll for our May group read, the theme is Historical Fiction written by Black Male Authors.

- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

23 votes, 53.5%

- Yonder by Jabari Asim

6 votes, 14.0%

- In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

4 votes, 9.3%

- Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.

4 votes, 9.3%

- Africaville by Jeffrey Colvin

3 votes, 7.0%

- Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman

1 vote, 2.3%

In West Mills (write-in)

1 vote, 2.3%

Freeman (write-in)

1 vote, 2.3%

43 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
2025 & 2026 Readi...: Chelsea's 40-book Challenge for 2012	6	25	Jun 11, 2012 02:33PM
Around the Year i...: Hélène' s 2018 plans	8	71	Oct 18, 2017 02:54AM
Around the Year i...: Around the Year Reader's Choice Awards - Second Quarter 2018	24	114	Aug 05, 2018 06:07PM
Tournament of Books: 2019 TOB Contenders	361	562	Dec 19, 2018 10:14AM
Book Riot's Read ...: 2018 Read Harder Challenge plans	289	2382	Dec 24, 2018 06:28AM
Around the World ...: Hélène - Tourist 2018	93	152	Dec 30, 2018 02:03AM
A Million More Pages: Comic Book Spell-Out	143	167	Jun 04, 2019 10:48PM

More…

John’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.