Wikipedia

Kathy Y. Wilson

Kathy Y. Wilson (d. November 22, 2022) was an American journalist, columnist, playwright, and commentator. She was the creator of an opinion column, a 2004 nonfiction book and a one-woman play all titled Your Negro Tour Guide.

Kathy Y. Wilson
DiedNovember 22, 2022

Early life and education edit

Wilson was born to Clarence Wilson, a steel worker, and Gladine Parrish, a nurse.[1] She has two older brothers and a younger half-sister.[1] She spent her childhood in Hamilton, Ohio, before her parents divorced and her mother left with the children, eventually settling in Forest Park, Ohio.[1] She graduated from Greenhills High School.[2] She attended the University of Cincinnati but didn't graduate.[1]

Career edit

She worked for five years as a reporter for the Hamilton Journal-News and described editors sending her out on "black stories."[2][3][1]

Between 1999 and 2007 she created an opinion column, a nonfiction book and a one-woman play all titled Your Negro Tour Guide.[4][5][6][7] Wilson wrote the column for alternative weekly City Beat from 1999 through 2006 and 2012 to 2015; the title refers to a retort she made to white former coworkers' questions about Black culture when Wilson was the only Black person in the newsroom.[5][8]

Wilson was a commentator for National Public Radio.[4][9] She wrote for City Beat, Cincinnati Magazine, and the Cincinnati Enquirer.[9][10] She taught at the University of Cincinnati.[9]

In 2014 she was the Cincinnati Public Library's first Writer-in-Residence.[9][11][12] She was awarded the 2016 ArtsWave Sachs Fund Prize.[9][12][13]

As of 2018 she was a senior editor at Cincinnati Magazine and an adjunct professor in University of Cincinnati's Women’s Studies department.[2] She was a regular contributor of commentary on NPR's All Things Considered.[12] She was twice a fellow for the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland.[12]

In 2018 a recreation of Wilson's apartment was featured as an exhibit, "Sanctuary: Kathy Y. Wilson Living in a Colored Museum" at the Weston Gallery at the Aronoff Center for the Arts.[5]

She authored two other books, Your Negro City Guide and True Grits: A Short Stack of Food and Family in Over the Rhine.[2]

Productions of stage adaptation edit

Wilson's stage adaptation of Your Negro Tour Guide was produced by Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park in 2007 and by Valdosta State University in 2008.[14][15] VSU Sociology professor Tracy Woodward Meyers said, "the show deconstructs and lampoons gender, race, class, and sexuality in America.”[14] It was produced that same year by the National Women's Studies Association.[16] It was produced in 2011 by the University of Kentucky.[17] It was produced for the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival.[18]

Reception edit

Publishers Weekly said "her writing works best when it's crackling and clipped".[4] Pittsburgh City Paper describes her as 'writing carefree of the "white gaze." '[19] The Cincinnati Enquirer called her the city's "unofficial conscience."[9] Tony Norman said, "Wilson's use of language is a virtual bouillabaisse of postmodern negritude, political cunning and psychological insight."[20] In July 2020, during the fallout from the murder of George Floyd, Cincinnati Magazine named the book one of five must-read books by local Black authors.[21] The Cincinnati Enquirer called her "one of Cincinnati's most fearless 21st-century writers."[13]

Personal life edit

Wilson was a lesbian.[4][19] She lived in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati with her partner, Kandice.[4][9][6] She wrote and spoke about her father's pedophilia conviction.[22]

In July 2020 she had a kidney transplant.[9] Wilson died November 22, 2022, of kidney failure.[23]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Fagone, Jason (October 2002). Wilson's Doctrine. Cincinnati Magazine.
  2. ^ a b c d Schmitt, Elizabeth (February 16, 2018). "Black Journalists Matter: Wilson discusses why black perspective is important". The News Record. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  3. ^ Daumeyer, Bob (September 1, 2017). "5 Things You Need To Know Today". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Your Negro Tour Guide". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Heyne, Mark (January 8, 2018). "Your Negro Tour Guide". NPR. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Schwartz, Kathy (November 29, 2017). "The Art of Being Kathy Y. Wilson". CityBeat Cincinnati. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  7. ^ Fisher, Marc (September 5, 2014). "Cincinnati still healing from its riots, and has lessons to share with Ferguson". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  8. ^ Davis, Janel (2004). "end papers SUMMER 2004". Memphis Flyer. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Lyman, David. "Writer Kathy Y. Wilson has a new kidney ... but the same ol' spunk". The Enquirer. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  10. ^ Liebling, Heather (May 6, 2004). "Negro Tour Guide enlightens readers". www.library.fordham.edu. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  11. ^ "Kathy Y. Wilson: 2014 Writer-in-Residence". cincinnatilibrary.org. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d "Interview With Cincinnati Journalist, Author Kathy Y. Wilson". Cincinnati, OH Patch. February 3, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  13. ^ a b Lyman, David. "New book tells stories of women who shaped Cincinnati's cultural legacy". The Enquirer. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  14. ^ a b Poling, Dean. "Gender studies program offers monologue Monday". Valdosta Daily Times. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  15. ^ "flyover: Arts News: March 2007 Archives". www.artsjournal.com. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  16. ^ "NWSA, A History 2008 – 29th National Conference - National Women's Studies Association". www.nwsa.org. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  17. ^ "UK Hosts Symposium on Affrilachia". University of Kentucky. March 3, 2011.
  18. ^ "KTC Presents 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival Announcement Party Featuring Performance of YOUR NEGRO TOUR GUIDE". Behind the Curtain Cincinnati. April 12, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Mock, Brentin. "Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  20. ^ Norman, Tony (March 1, 2005). "Cincinnati's firebrand gives up giving 'em hell". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  21. ^ Rosenberger, Chloe (July 29, 2020). "Five Must-Read Books by Local Black Authors". Cincinnati Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  22. ^ "Jackson Case Threatens Misperceptions About Pedophilia". NPR.org. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  23. ^ Lyman, David. "Kathy Y. Wilson, journalist and educator, dies at age 57". The Enquirer. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
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