Author Ernest J. Gaines died in his sleep of cardiac arrest at his home in Oscar, Louisiana today. He was 86 years old… Support our news coverage by subscribing to our Kindle Nation Daily Digest. Joining is free right now!

A native of Pointe Coupee Parish, Mr. Gaines’ critically acclaimed novel, “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” was adapted into a 1974 made-for-TV movie that received nine Emmy awards. His 1993 book, “A Lesson Before Dying,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and is a part of high school curricula across the nation. He was Writer-in-Residence Emeritus at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

In addition, Mr. Gaines was active in the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, established 13 years ago to honor outstanding literary work from rising African-American authors while also recognizing Gaines’ extraordinary contribution to the literary world.

He was born on River Lake Plantation near False River and became one of the greatest writers of his generation, earning a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature and winning numerous other awards for his literary achievement, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the MacArthur Prize, also known as “the genius grant” for creativity.

In 2007, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation established the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Mr. Gaines and his wife Dianne have met with each of the winners in Oscar and he has publicly shared words of insight and encouragement at each Gaines Award ceremony. The Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence will continue as his legacy. It will be presented to a new awardee January 30, 2020.

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