Kiese Laymon Books in Order

Drawing on his upbringing in Jackson, Mississippi, Kiese Laymon examines American life through personal essays. Family relationships, racial identity, music, celebrity, violence, and writing become ways of confronting national myths and the damage people inflict on themselves and one another.

After a televised outburst, teenager City Coldson visits his grandmother and encounters a mysterious novel featuring another version of himself. Interwoven stories of time travel across generations connect a missing girl, friendship, and the enduring violence of racism in Mississippi.

Addressing his complicated relationship with his mother, Kiese Laymon recounts his Mississippi childhood and adulthood as a writer and professor. He examines abuse, body image, eating disorders, gambling, and family secrets alongside the pressures of race and inequality in American life.