On this day in Alabama history: Acclaimed author died
Writer Paul Hemphill during a reading of "Lovesick Blues," his book about country musician Hank Williams, at the Alabama Bound literary fair in Birmingham in April 2006. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library)
July 11, 2009
Acclaimed journalist and novelist Paul Hemphill died in Atlanta on this day in 2009. The Birmingham native wrote fiction and nonfiction books after graduating from Auburn University, interning at The Birmingham News and covering sports for newspapers in Augusta, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; and Atlanta. In 1968, he was named a Nieman Fellow by Harvard University, which gave Hemphill time to write “The Nashville Sound: Bright Lights and Country Music.” He became a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner in 1976. Hemphill went on to write about Hank Williams in “Lovesick Blues” and about his father in “Leaving Birmingham” before his final book, “A Tiger Walk Through History,” about Auburn football.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
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