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William Gay was born in Hohenwald, Tennessee in 1943. He has spent most of his life working as a carpenter and living in the Hohenwald, but at the age of 55, Gay made his publishing debut with a short story in the Georgia Review.  The story, I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down, with its patient rhythm of measured words, quickly caught the attention of readers and publishers alike.

In 1999, Gay published his first novel, The Long Home and New York Times Book Reviewer Tom Earley placed Gay in the company of Larry Brown and Cormac McCarthy. Earley wrote, “At his best, Gay writes with the wisdom and patience of a man who has witnessed hard times and learned that panic or hedging won’t make better times come any sooner; he looks upon beauty and violence with equal measure and makes an accurate accounting of how much of each the human heart contains.”

His second novel, Provinces of Night, is a dark saga of the Bloodworth clan. His work is steeped in the tradition of southern gothic and filled with the cadences and landscape that makes up this part of the south. His second novel led to careful comparisons to William Faulkner.  His work is darkly humorous and deeply mature.