Language English Ethnicity African-American | Nationality American | |
Born June 22, 1932New Franklin, Missouri ( 1932-06-22 ) Died 1 October 2008, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States Books Absolutely nothing to get alarmed about | ||
Charles Wright (June 22, 1932 – October 1, 2008) was an American novelist. He wrote the novels The Messenger (1963), The Wig (1966) and Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About (1973).
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Early life
Wright was born in New Franklin, Missouri on June 4, 1932. After the death of his Mother, he was sent at the age of 4 to live with his maternal Grandmother, who encouraged a love of reading. Having dropped out of high school, his only further education was a brief stint at the Handy Writers' Colony in Marshall, Illinois taught by James Jones. Afterward he was enlisted in the Army.
Writing career
In 1955, Wright moved to Manhattan, and worked a number of low-paid jobs while writing his first novel, The Messenger, which was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1963. His second novel, The Wig received positive reviews, with Conrad Knickerbocker calling it "brutal, exciting and necessary" in the The New York Times. His third and last novel, Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About, sections of which were previously published as essays in The Village Voice, came out in 1973.