About I Got Somebody in Staunton

Author: William Henry Lewis

Published: 2005

Honors: I Got Somebody in Staunton was a finalist for the 2005 PEN Faulkner Prize for Fiction. The book was also selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2005 and it was chosen as a Fiction Honor Book for 2005 by the Black Caucus of The American Library Association.

From the publisher: In twelve graceful, sensual stories, William Henry Lewis traces the line between the real and the imaginary, acknowledging the painful ghosts of the past in everyday encounters. Written in a style that has been acclaimed by our finest writers, from Edward P. Jones and Nikki Giovanni to Dave Eggers, I Got Somebody in Staunton is one of the most highly praised literary events to take on contemporary America.

In the title story, a young professor befriends an enigmatic white woman in a bar along the back roads of Virginia, but has second thoughts about driving her to a neighboring town as his uncle's stories of lynchings resonate through his mind. Another tale portrays a Kansas City jazz troupe's travels to Denver, where they hope to strike it big. Meanwhile, a man in the midst of paradise must decide whether he will languish or thrive.

With I Got Somebody in Staunton Lewis has lyrically and unflinchingly chronicled the lives of those most often neglected.

About the Author:

William Henry Lewis was born in Denver, and grew up in many cities, most significantly Chattanooga, Tennessee. In addition to teaching elementary, junior, and senior high school students, he has taught at the University of Virginia, Denison University, Mary Washington College, Trinity College, the College of the Bahamas and Centre College and most recently, as an English Professor at Colgate University in New York.

Lewis’ fiction has appeared in America’s top literary journals and several anthologies, including Gumbo and Best American Short Stories of 1996. His first book, In the Arms of Our Elders, was published by Carolina Wren Press in 1995. He has been honored with many awards, including a Prize for Short Fiction from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, the first Fellowship of Southern Writers’ Special Award for Fiction and the University of Virginia’s Balch Prize for Best Short Story. Lewis was recently named a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Fiction Award.

Praise for I Got Somebody in Staunton:

• Finalist for the 2005 PEN Faulkner Prize for Fiction
• Selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2005
• A Fiction Honor Book for 2005, Black Caucus of The American Library Association

"The art of the short story is closest to poetry...you start in the middle and end before its over. You entice the reader with your warmth and keep her with your intelligence. The art of the short story is seduction. And how lovely it is to visit ever so briefly with William Henry Lewis. I Got Somebody in Staunton just cries out for a rainy day where you can cuddle this loving vision of urban life while being excited by this new and amazing voice." --Nikki Giovanni

"There is greatness here, all over the place, plain and simple. Sentence by sentence, this deeply felt and lyrical collection proves that Lewis is a master of the short story. I Got Somebody in Staunton has more warmth than almost any recent book I can remember; I'd urge it on anyone." --Dave Eggers

"Resplendent. The stories are beautifully written and carefully crafted." -- Los Angeles Times

"Lewis's second collection ranges in setting from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Denver, showing him a storyteller with a superb sense of place... Evocative stories with a potent kick." --Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"Moving but unsentimental, these are stories of hard-won wisdom, potent intelligence, and compassion for the cadence of everyday life, establishing Lewis as a writer to be appreciated and admired." -- Boston Globe

"Lewis offers 10 short stories that convey the complexity and variety of life in black America with an easy style and sharp character portraits. Lewis ably captures the subtleties and shifting emotions of everyday life in small towns." --Booklist

“Lewis is not a trendy hip-hop stylist or a viciously satirical postmodernist with a knack for making fun of America's racial obsession. He is a quieter sort of writer who reminds us that beneath the hype are ordinary people…” --Washington Post Book World

"The cumulative effect of these 10 pieces is unquestionably powerful." --Publishers Weekly

"…magnificent description [that] brings to life characters we all have encountered, but Lewis has done it exactingly and with a minimum of words. That is the mark of an accomplished writer no matter what his genre. Or his race. Lewis also has a knack for relating a specific place to particular music, exactly in the way our minds recall such things in all our lives." --Richmond Times Dispatch

"A reader who delights in such small but effective suggestions of place and mood will find plenty to love in this collection of stories. Lewis beautifully renders the odd quiet moments before and after life’s explosive events. Lewis creates unique characters…individuals defined by much more than their race, whose complexity leads to surprising destinations." --Entertainment Weekly