Connecticut College prides itself on inviting engaging and intelligent speakers to discuss various important topics that impact not only student life here at Conn, but also the world outside our stone buildings and dining halls. On Wednesday night, Oct. 28, students and faculty alike crowded into the Ernst Common Room to hear Kiese Laymon speak.
Laymon is a black Southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. His works include the novel Long Division and the collection of essays How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. He is also working on a new novel that will be out in the Spring of 2017 and finishing a memoir that he will release in the Fall of 2016. Laymon graduated from Oberlin College and earned his MFA from Indiana University; he is now an Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies at Vassar College.
Numerous English and Africana Studies courses’ syllabi at Conn teach either Long Division or his collection of essays because they are valuable additions to each of these subjects. Many of the professors of these courses, as well as their students were present at the lecture. People filled the room and even had to stand in the back as Professor Courtney Baker introduced him. He stepped up to the podium with a smile on his face and spoke warm words of thanks to the audience of eager listeners. This lecture was not at all typical because Laymon’s confident, yet friendly demeanor allowed for conversation to flow easily during the question and answer session at the end.
Rather than simply discussing a topic, he began the lecture by reading a passage from his upcoming memoir. He is writing the memoir with his grandmother, whom he sees as his most important source of inspiration in his writing. Laymon spoke of very real, very emotional topics. As he plunged into the detailed account of the conversations he had with his grandmother about his childhood, his confidence and passion for literature were clear. He spoke of the trials his grandmother had to go through during her time gutting chickens on an assembly line as well as his own sexual abuse and violations as an adolescent.
Laymon spoke frequently about the way his grandmother impacted his life. He connected with the audience, using anecdotes about the way she dressed and was always “on fleek.” He explained that she would never leave the house for church unless she was sure she would be the best dressed woman there. Laymon said he wants to “carry the same desire to be fresh and innovative in [his] literary work.” Any student who has read any of his work would notice that he spoke with the same realness and raw emotion that can be found in his writing. There was not one person in the audience whom he did not captivate with his honest reading.
After this intense reading, students were eager to ask him questions, which were almost always answered with a question to the student. He was genuinely interested in the lives of the students, and he explained that as an educator himself, he used to even get too caught up in the lives of his students. He wants his students, and all students, to succeed.
Laymon spoke about his methods as a writer, explaining that “most of what we write isn’t good, but it’s healthy.” He gave examples that were easily relatable to school environments and our own writing. Laymon was incredibly humble about his work and did not try to act as the be-all and end-all of knowing how to write. He even said that it took him 60 pages to get one that he was satisfied with.
When the conversation turned toward more solemn questions about race relations in America, he was serious and honest. Laymon did not hold back his opinions and views about the ideas of shame and privilege. He explained, “I think privilege is just a fluffy way to talk about the shit. I think it’s a privilege that I wrote with my grandmother.”
His inspiration to write came from countless hours of reading African-American literature, by writers like Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler (whom he names characters after in Long Division), watching movies and listening to music. In speaking with him after the lecture, he also explained that the short essays in How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America were inspired by his mother, grandmother, uncle and three of his friends. Laymon called this “community literature” and paying homage to the people of the community who made his work possible. His primary goal in writing is “for people to know the importance of honesty and community.” Laymon believes communities need to talk honestly whether it be “hard, joyful, or painful” and listen in order to collectively act on things together.
What started out as a typical lecture by an author of African-American literature became an honest conversation with one of the most intelligent and sincere writers of our time. As Conn students, we may not have an extra hour or two to read “for fun,” but investing a little bit of time into the work of Kiese Laymon is time well spent and will open us all up to think more deeply about ourselves and the society in which we live.
