University students have the chance to take a creative writing class from a renowned and nationally-acclaimed Southern writer who was mentioned recently in Entertainment Weekly’s “It” List.
The “It” List is Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 100 most creative people in entertainment today.
Actress Patricia Clarkson, who has a leading role in “Six Feet Under” and was one of the 100 entertainers mentioned, said she “dearly” loves James Wilcox because he is a “real Southern writer.”
Wilcox is the director of LSU’s Creative Writing program. He came to LSU in 2001 and has written eight novels. The most recent, “Heavenly Days,” was reviewed in the New York Times as “deliciously funny.”
Wilcox teaches a class on publishing and literature for graduate students in creative writing. He said it teaches students “how business and publishing intersect with literature over the years.”
Wilcox has both literary and life experience that he brings to his position.
Several of Wilcox’s novels are set in the fictitious Tula Springs, La. He said the setting of these comedies of manners is “an imaginative amalgamation” of different small towns in the South.
Wilcox, who grew up in Hammond, played the cello for the Baton Rouge Symphony as a high-schooler. The daily commute took him through the several small towns in southeast Louisiana that form the basis of the imaginary town of Tula Springs.
He studied under famous author Robert Penn Warren at Yale University. He graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in English and moved to New York City.
Wilcox lived there for 27 years, working as an editor for several years in a job setting he said was “very demanding.”
“Although I loved the job, it didn’t leave enough time for me to be really serious about writing,” he said.
Wilcox quit his job and focused all his time on writing but getting published did not come easily.
“I think it took a full year of submissions,” he said.
The submissions paid off when The New Yorker published one of Wilcox’s stories. The money from these stories gave him time to stay in New York and write his first novel, “Modern Baptists.”
Wilcox said getting mentioned in Entertainment Weekly was “very nice,” but the first call from The New Yorker was “the biggest thing right there.”
Wilcox’s eight novels and short stories have garnered praise in outlets ranging from GQ Magazine to The Western Canon, a collection of literature collected by distinguished professor Harold Bloom. “Modern Baptists” was named one of the 45 best novels in the past 45 years by GQ.
Wilcox’s decision to teach at LSU came after a professorship at Mississippi State University. Working at LSU allows him to be nearer to his hometown of Hammond and the Southern roots from which he hails.
Wilcox said the creative writing program is “becoming better known nationwide,” and the accolades he has received only can add to that prestige.