Ernest J. Gaines (1933-2019) was the author of ten books, including
A Lesson Before Dying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Gaines was a MacArthur Foundation fellow, was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of Arts, and was a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
John Wharton Lowe (1945-2023) was Barbara Methvin Professor of English at the University of Georgia and the author or editor of ten books, including
Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston's Cosmic Comedy;
Calypso Magnolia: The Crosscurrents of Caribbean and Southern Literature; and
Conversations with Ernest Gaines. His authorized biography of Gaines is forthcoming.