{"id":124,"date":"2009-09-29T14:39:40","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T19:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/?p=124"},"modified":"2014-09-23T08:36:01","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T13:36:01","slug":"brandon-grisham-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/brandon-grisham-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"Acclaimed Novelist John Brandon Is New Grisham Writer-in-Residence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nOXFORD, Miss. &#8211; When Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Barry Hannah calls, always answer.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nA year ago, novelist John Brandon did. Now he is the 2009-10 John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 5px; padding: 5px; width: 203px; float: left; background-color: #ffffff\" class=\"jce?caption\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/wp-content\/uploads\/stories\/rkj?1247-a-brandon.jpg\" alt=\"rkj?1247-a-brandon.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0pt; float: left; width: 203px; height: 300px\" title=\"rkj?1247-a-brandon.jpg\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px; color: #000000; text-align: center; clear: both\" class=\"jce?caption?text\">\n<b>John Brandon<\/b>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;I really didn&#8217;t know anything about the program before Barry&#8217;s call<br \/>\ncame,&#8221; Brandon said. &#8220;When he informed me about it and invited me to<br \/>\ncome, I didn&#8217;t have to think about it; my answer was &#8216;yes.'&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\nBrandon, whose debut novel &#8220;Arkansas&#8221; (McSweeney&#8217;s Rectangulars, 2008)<br \/>\nhas earned critical acclaim, assumed the prestigious teaching post in<br \/>\nUM&#8217;s Department of English in August. At 33, he is among the youngest<br \/>\nwriters ever recruited for the 16-year-old program, which embraces<br \/>\nemerging Southern writers. The annual appointment, including housing<br \/>\nand a stipend, is funded by the best-selling author and his wife, who<br \/>\nwere Oxford residents for several years. Recipients are invited to<br \/>\nteach writing workshops and participate in department activities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nA Florida native, Brandon is an MFA graduate of the writing<br \/>\nprogram at Washington University. During the writing of his first book,<br \/>\nhe traveled the country with his wife, Heather, following her work as<br \/>\nan occupational therapist. Each migration provided research for his<br \/>\nbook. Along the way, he was employed at various businesses, including a<br \/>\nlumber mill, a windshield warehouse, a Coca-Cola distributor and<br \/>\nseveral small factories.\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 5px; padding: 4px; width: 204px; float: right; background-color: #ffffff\" class=\"jce?caption\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/wp-content\/uploads\/stories\/arkansas.jpg\" alt=\"arkansas.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0pt; float: left; width: 204px; height: 300px\" title=\"arkansas.jpg\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<div style=\"color: #000000; text-align: center; clear: both\" class=\"jce?caption?text\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n&#8220;I like to write about places I&#8217;ve been to only briefly,&#8221; Brandon said.<br \/>\n&#8220;If I know a place too well, and there&#8217;s no mystery, I lose interest.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;Arkansas,&#8221; a darkly comic novel, is plenty interesting. Filled<br \/>\nwith men who become dissatisfied with the straight life, his characters<br \/>\nbecome part of an illegal drug-running operation based in the Ozarks.<br \/>\nBrandon centers his story on Kyle Rib, a 20-something who was orphaned<br \/>\nas a teenager by his mother&#8217;s accidental electrocution; Swin Ruiz, a<br \/>\ncollege dropout; and Pat Bright, a minor drug boss posing as a park<br \/>\nranger.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;Arkansas seemed mysterious; it was hard for me to get a feel for it,&#8221;<br \/>\nBrandon said. &#8220;I felt like I had a lot of wiggle room because anything<br \/>\ncould be going on in this state.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\nCritics have likened Brandon&#8217;s work to that of Raymond Chandler, Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O&#8217;Connor and Mark Twain.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nHis first book has received positive reviews: &#8220;&#8216;Arkansas&#8217; is a whooping<br \/>\ndebut,&#8221; wrote a reviewer in The San Francisco Chronicle. &#8220;Brandon&#8217;s<br \/>\npremiere novel is a must for those who love the criminal and the stern,<br \/>\nyet dark optimism of the existential,&#8221; according to PopMatters, a<br \/>\ncultural criticism Web site. Another critic, at The Portland Mercury,<br \/>\nwrote, &#8220;Add novelist John Brandon to your list of hipster-sanctioned<br \/>\nmust reads.&#8221; And a writer for Library Journal said, &#8220;Some readers may<br \/>\nhave difficulty with the violence, but this uncomfortable book will<br \/>\nfind an audience in most large public libraries.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- Video Embed --><\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 8px; padding: 8px; width: 560px; float: right; background-color: #ffffff\" class=\"jce?caption\">\n<div width=\"560\" height=\"340\">\n<div name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/TuZMLck6p7s&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;\">\n<\/div>\n<div name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\">\n<\/div>\n<div name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\">\n<\/div>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\"><param name=\"width\" value=\"560\" \/><param name=\"height\" value=\"340\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/TuZMLck6p7s&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/TuZMLck6p7s&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1&#038;\"><\/embed><\/object>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 8px; color: #000000; text-align: left; clear: both\" class=\"jce?caption?text\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--End Video Embed --><\/p>\n<p>\nBrandon acknowledges that great Southern writers have influenced his literary style.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;If you read folks like Barry Hannah, Joy Williams and Padgett Powell, you know how powerful good sentences can be,&#8221; he said.<br \/>\nAlong with Hannah, other faculty in UM&#8217;s Department of English are enthused about Brandon&#8217;s arrival on campus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;I did not know John or his work before, but I am certainly enjoying<br \/>\nbecoming acquainted with both,&#8221; said Ann Fisher-Wirth, professor of<br \/>\nEnglish who teaches creative writing. &#8220;He is a generous and genial<br \/>\nperson, and a talented and very funny writer.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIvo Kamps, UM English chair, said he expects students to be equally impressed with Brandon.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;His novel is a briskly moving tale, driven by crisp dialogue,<br \/>\nand is full of dark humor,&#8221; Kamps said. &#8220;I know that our students are<br \/>\ngoing to love him.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\nBrandon is working on his second novel, which is set in Florida and deals with middle-school students. He has published fiction in anthologies and journals such as Subtropics.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nFor more information about the John and Renee Grisham<br \/>\nWriter-in-Residence program, call 662-915-7439. To learn more about the<br \/>\nDepartment of English, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olemiss.edu\/depts\/english\/\" target=\"?blank\">http:\/\/www.olemiss.edu\/depts\/<wbr><\/wbr>english\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OXFORD, Miss. &#8211; When Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Barry Hannah calls, always answer. A year ago, novelist John Brandon did. Now he is the 2009-10 John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. John Brandon<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Acclaimed Novelist John Brandon Is New Grisham Writer-in-Residence - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/brandon-grisham-writer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acclaimed Novelist John Brandon Is New Grisham Writer-in-Residence - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. &#8211; When Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Barry Hannah calls, always answer. 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