UNC English professor, key writer on Black and gay culture, passes away
Randall Kenan, a professor at UNC, has died at 57.
“He was one of the leading lights at Carolina. He was a Tar Heel alumnus, a native North Carolinian who loved writing about his roots, beloved by his students, a mentor to younger writers and a master craftsman and storyteller. We will miss him greatly," according to Terry Rhodes, Dean of UNC's College of Arts & Sciences.
Kenan was known for his contribution to the Black and gay community, where he wrote several notable works. His collection of short stories, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, is set in the town of Tims Creek, North Carolina. The book, written in 1992, received a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and was named a New York Times Notable Book.
Kenan grew up in Chinquapin, NC and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. He has taught at numerous universities including Columbia and Duke Universities, and the University of Mississippi.
Kenan has received several awards for his writing, including the North Carolina Award for Literature.
As an undergraduate, Kenan attended the University of North Carolina in the 1980s and recently wrote about the toppling of Confederate monuments at UNC. Kenan left us a "Letter from North Carolina: Learning from Ghosts of the Civil War," published on August 18.
"The country’s oldest public university is truly haunted by its mythical Confederate past. Even ghosts can teach us a thing or two," he wrote in his letter.
The last of Kenan's works -- If I Had Two Wings, a collection of ten short stories taking place in North Carolina -- was published on Aug 4.
Chapel Hill Library posted a reading list of Kenan's works, short stories, essays and letters in remembrance of him.
Oprah Magazine also sent condolences to his family. According to their tweet, Kenan passed away Friday night.
