About
Poet and fiction writer known for River of Earth, a novel set in a Kentucky coal mining town. His other works include The Wolfpen Poems, Chinaberry, and On Troublesome Creek.
Before Fame
He attended Vanderbilt University and the University of Illinois. He published his first literary work, Hounds on the Mountain, in 1937.
Trivia
He worked for a time as a Bible salesman and a Texas cotton-picker.
Family Life
He and his nine siblings grew up on a farm in Alabama.
Associated With
He shared a Southern Author's Award with Thomas Wolfe.
