Order of William Gay Books

William Gay (1941-2012) was an American author of Southern literature. From Hohenwald, Tennessee, Gay joined the U.S. Navy and served in the Vietnam War. Upon returning back to the States, he lived in New York and Chicago before going back to Tennessee (where he would remain). He wrote from the age of 15 onwards, but didn’t get anything published until 1998.

William Gay made his debut as a published novelist in 1999 with the novel The Long Home. It won the 1999 James A. Michener Memorial Prize. Below is a list of William Gay’s books in order of when they were first released:

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Poetry Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Note: The Alumni Grill was co-edited with Suzanne Kingsbury.

If You Like William Gay Books, You’ll Love…

• Tom Franklin
• Mary Downing Hahn
• John Connolly

William Gay Synopsis: Twilight is a standalone title by William Gay. Feeling not everything is right with his father’s burial, teenager Kenneth Tyler and his sister Corrie head to his gravesite and make a horrific discovery: their father, a whiskey bootlegger, was not actually buried in the casket they bought for him. Worse, they learn that the undertaker, Fenton Breece, has been grotesquely manipulating the dead. Armed with incriminating photographs, Tyler becomes obsessed with bringing the perverse undertaker to justice. But first he must outrun Granville Sutter, a local strongman and convicted murderer hired by Fenton to destroy the evidence. What follows is an adventure through the Harrikin, an eerie backwoods filled with tangled roads, rusted machinery, and eccentric squatters – old men, witches, and families among them – who both shield and imperil Tyler as he runs for safety.