Background
Albert French was born on July 5, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
(Albert French lights up the monstrous face of American ra...)
Albert French lights up the monstrous face of American racism in this harrowing tale of ten-year-old Billy Lee Turner, who is convicted and executed for murdering a white girl in Banes County, Mississippi, in 1937. Constructed in a series of powerfully lean vignettes, Billy is a tour de force of dramatic compression, focusing on how this outrageous event affects an entire community. The high-spirited Billy, his mysterious and passionate mother, Cinder, and his friend Gumpy are realized with depth and authority.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140179089/?tag=2022091-20
1995
(A poor, white girl in 1944 North Carolina finds her lonel...)
A poor, white girl in 1944 North Carolina finds her lonely life transformed by a handsome, educated black soldier, but their romance is met by turmoil and hostility from the girl's hometown.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670857467/?tag=2022091-20
1995
(The crowded joys and familiar despair of poor, back-alley...)
The crowded joys and familiar despair of poor, back-alley life in postwar Pittsburgh have a hold on most people there. Still, there are those who need to escape. Jeremiah Henderson and his woman, Willet Mercer, who keep to themselves and look far too pretty for their own good, have set their sights on New York City. As they learn, however, making good is easier said than done. Left with no choice but to give in to the pimp who'd like to try Willet on for size before selling her to his clientele, Jeremiah and Willet try to focus on the future. But in the last moments before letting the pimp have his way with her, Willet balks, stabbing him to death in the back of his parked Buick.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385483643/?tag=2022091-20
1998
Albert French was born on July 5, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
After serving the United States Marine Corps, Albert French attended college for one semester.
At the age of nineteen, Albert French enlisted in the Marine Corps. During his six-year career in the military, he served in the Vietnam War, where he suffered a life-threatening injury in 1965. French also had to cope with the loss of several friends who died in the war. He would eventually struggle to deal with these traumatic events in his writing.
When he came back to the United States, French encountered segregation in Pittsburgh. After working in the Pittsburgh steel industry for a few years, French got a job as a photographer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where he worked from 1971 to 1983. In 1980, he started his own magazine, the Pittsburgh Preview Magazine, which was in production for eight years.
In order to deal with the collapse of the magazine, the death of his father, his memories from the Vietnam War, and his experiences with racism, French turned to writing. His cousin John Edgar Wideman, also a published writer, was impressed by the resulting manuscript. Wideman supported his cousin’s decision to write and sent the manuscript to his agent.
His first book, "Billy", takes place in the American South in the 1940s. A young Black boy, Billy Lee Turner, stabs a white girl after she and a friend assault him for trespassing. The girl dies, and a judge gives Billy the death sentence. French’s second novel, "Holly", shares the 1940s South as its setting. A young white woman, Holly Hill, turns to a Black World War II veteran, Elias Owens, after her fiancé is killed and her brother is injured in the war. Their relationship ends when Holly gets pregnant and is attacked by her father. Holly survives, but Elias is arrested and dies in prison. French’s memoir, "Patches of Fire", is the product of his decision to write as a means of coping with difficulties in his life.
"I Can’t Wait on God" is set in Homewood, the Pittsburgh neighborhood where French grew up. The story switches back and forth between several characters who live in the neighborhood. One of French’s themes in "I Can’t Wait on God" is racism. In addition to racism, the novel also explores the different ways people cope with crises in their lives.
The author's most recent work, Cinder, appeared in 2007.
(Albert French lights up the monstrous face of American ra...)
1995(A poor, white girl in 1944 North Carolina finds her lonel...)
1995(The crowded joys and familiar despair of poor, back-alley...)
1998Quotations: “I was on the lucky list to graduate from high school. I passed anything I studied for. It was just getting me to study.”