"Kiese Laymon was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi; he graduated from Oberlin College and earned his master's degree at Indiana University. Since then, Laymon has served simultaneously as an assistant professor at Vassar College in upstate New York and as a contributing editor for Gawker. In 2013, Laymon published two books, a novel and collection of essays. The latter volume, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, addresses Laymon's experiences as a black child in the Deep South, and as a black man in New England. Plumbing the subtleties and intricacies of race in the United States, Laymon's essay collection discusses his family at length. He also explores racial identity and politics, music, celebrity, violence, and writing.
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In Heavy: An American Memoir, Laymon recalls his youth in Mississippi. He focuses primarily on his complicated relationship with his mother, a university professor who loves him dearly but is quick to beat him as punishment for perceived offenses. The volume also revolves around Laymon's relationship with food. After being molested by a babysitter and witnessing a sexual assault, he begins binge eating to cope with the trauma. Laymon is difficult as a teenager, and he gains new addictions as he ages, including gambling and drugs. By the time he enters college, Laymon tips the scales at around 300 pounds. However, while in college, he becomes a diet and exercise fanatic, losing almost half of his body weight before returning to binge eating and gaining nearly all of the weight back. Other topics in the book include Laymon's relationship with his grandmother, racism in America, and his complicated dating history, which all sometimes overlap. His grandmother urges him to resist the pressures of white society to fit into a certain mold to become acceptable as a Black man. Eventually, Laymon makes the difficult steps toward learning to love himself as he begins a career in academia and becomes a published author."
"Kiese Laymon." Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2021. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000307434/GLS?u=phil42304&sid=bookmark-GLS&xid=66ba80a8. Accessed 26 Aug. 2022.
Visit the author's website here for a complete list of his books, essays, and more.