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| Flesh and Blood Playwright and SWC faculty member Romulus Linney transforms A Lesson Before Dying into flesh and blood
During the mid-1990s, when Linney and Gaines were faculty members at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, they continued to talk about A Lesson Before Dying and the difficulties of adapting the novel for the theater. With the encouragement of Gaines, Linney began two years ago the task of translating Gaines’ story into a play. He sent his friend early drafts, asking for advice and encouragement. "This is a very special work, and I wanted to get it as right as I could for the theater," says Linney. On September 17, A Lesson Before Dying opened at the Signature Theater in New York. For Linney, this latest achievement is part of the artistic process that has been an integral part of his life for the past forty years. |
Sewanee Writers' Series Publishes Twelfth Book
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In 1993, playwright Romulus Linney first read A Lesson Before Dying, a powerful novel by his friend Ernest Gaines. Linney wrote to Gaines soon after he read the work about a young African-American man in 1940s Louisiana who is unjustly accused of murder and sentenced to death. "I told Ernest that the novel was very unusual," says Linney. "It was built like a play—it reminded me of Euripides and Sophocles. I told him that I wanted to adapt it for the theater."
The Sewanee Writers' Series is pleased to announce the March 2004 release of its twelfth book, Greg Williams's Boomtown. Boomtown is the sharp hip tale of New York City dot-commers after the Y2K panic has passed. Internet start-ups are thriving, the stock market is climbing, and the dawn of the new century is just a little too bright for its own good.