Remembering Randall Kenan

R E M E M B E R I N G

RandallKenan

When the prolific author and UNC professor passed, the Hillsborough Arts Council and fellow writers paid tribute to him during a live virtual presentation

Steven Petrow It’s a sad honor to remember Randall Kenan, who was our friend, our neighbor, a teacher and a writer. For those of you who are not that familiar with Randall, a biography of him would tell us this: “Born in Brooklyn, he moved to Duplin County as a baby. [His] notable works include “Let the Dead Bury Their Dead,” “A Visitation of Spirits,” “The Fire This Time” and his latest collection, “If I Had Two Wings.” [Randall was] a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award and the John Dos Passos Prize. He was nominated today for the National Book Award for Fiction. Black, gay, Southern, he died too young at age 57 [on Aug. 28]. Beloved.”

Alane Mason, a longtime friend and editor of Randall’s, added [to that bio]: “He had a virtuosic panoply of chuckles, like notes of an organ, from chuckles of delight and whimsy, high in the chest, to those, a bit deeper, of wonder at the absurdity, to a perilously deep, dark chuckle of endurance, a one-has-to-chuckle-because-one-can’t-killthe-damn-fool chuckle.” Jill McCorkle Randall’s chuckle and facial expressions were never singular, but a complicated mix of all that was going on in his orbit. He didn’t miss a beat, and the chuckle was often good humor. He never missed irony. He took it all in and spun it around and put it back out there in brilliant, provocative ways every time – both in his speech and on the page.

Steven Lee, I had asked you via email how you knew Randall, and I loved what you told me: That you have known him so long, you can’t remember not knowing him. [Talk] a little bit about [his] book, “If I Had Two Wings.”

Lee Smith I am just floored by this book. It is filled with vigor and originality and imagination and things you’ve never seen before, heard before, magic realism and absolute up-to-the-minute social commentary. It’s full of humor, it’s full of belief, it’s full of pathos. Who knows what more he might have written. This is the work of our friend, but it’s the work of a great writer, and we are so privileged [and] honored to have known him.

Steven Jaki, you met Randall in the 1980s, and you emailed me this week that you had circled around each other in different social and academic groups. You wrote, “Our first conversation was at a book reading party for ‘Let the Dead Bury Their Dead,’” where you became really fast friends. What was the core of that friendship?

Jaki Shelton Green Randall and I did not have so much a verbal language of communication – we’d be in settings and something would be said from the podium, and he’d turn around and glance back at me, and I knew exactly what that glance meant in context to what was being said. Our relationship was very nuanced, and it was very truthful. I felt like Randall held me accountable as a poet, wanting to make sure that the narratives that I wanted to represent were full of truth and not fear. And that’s really what transpired and continues to transpire through me.

PHOTO BY SARAH BOYD

Steven Tom, as I understand history, you are responsible for bringing Randall to Duke and UNC in the early 2000s.

Tom Rankin Randall and I first met in Oxford, Mississippi, when he was the Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. The amount of gravitas that Randall had, standing there in his quiet, almost retiring way, was so impressive. People say that he knew more than everybody, and I’ve always felt that he understood more than everybody.

And so when I got to the Center for Documentary Studies [at Duke University], the area of the center that we didn’t really have developed [yet] was documentary writing. I called [Randall] and said, “Would you be interested in coming?” Within minutes, he was the next Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professorship for the center. He ended up being hired the next year to stay at UNC.

Steven Daniel, Tom mentioned that Randall taught at UNC, and you teach at UNC. I know you have many intersections in your life with Randall, and it is commonly said that you were the closest of friends.

Daniel Wallace We started teaching at UNC at about the same time, and in the beginning, I was a little bit intimidated by him. He was the kindest person, the sweetest person. His presence was unlike anyone I’ve ever known. He was a presence when he subbed for me. I would actually hate that because when I came back and I tried to teach my class, the students would say, “Well, Professor Kenan said …” It’s always difficult to come back into a classroom after Randall was in it.

Steven I went to Rate My Professors and looked up Randall. Under the headline “Awesome” was: “Dr. Kenan is one of the nicest people you will meet. He cares about the class and will ensure that you learn something if you care. He tells hilarious anecdotes, and his mentorship through this class makes me want to minor in creative writing. Take him.” It sounds like he really enjoyed teaching.

Daniel [He was] probably the only professor who [wasn’t] scared to go look at Rate My Professors.

Steven Jill, for someone who hasn’t read him previously, where should they begin?

Jill I think it’s always good to start at the beginning, but I do think that this amazing collection, if you have not read the earlier work, will send you back, because he has his characters who are ever-present. You’re following the genealogy of these people, this tribe of people – Tims Creek. It’s a very specific world that is also universal. I think that the new collection is pretty amazing in that way and that it really is a strong, fair representation of everything Randall, both as a person and his work. CHM

*This tribute has been condensed and edited. Watch the entire hourlong presentation on the Hillsborough Arts Council's YouTube page.