Author Ernest J. Gaines, a Louisiana native whose literary works included the books "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," and "A Lesson Before Dying," died Tuesday, WBRZ reported. He was 86.
The Ernest Gaines Center also confiirmed the novelist's death on Twitter.
Gaines, who was presented with the 2012 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama for his contributions as an author and teacher, had four of his novels made into movies. That included his 1971 novel about Jane Pittman, a young slave at the end of the Civil War who lived to participate in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. The book was adapted into a 1974 television movie starring Cicely Tyson.
The Ernest Gaines Center also confiirmed the novelist's death on Twitter.
Gaines, who was presented with the 2012 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama for his contributions as an author and teacher, had four of his novels made into movies. That included his 1971 novel about Jane Pittman, a young slave at the end of the Civil War who lived to participate in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. The book was adapted into a 1974 television movie starring Cicely Tyson.
"I was born here, stayed here, lived here until I was 15. It was because I could not go to a high school around here, in New Roads or Pointe Coupee," Gaines told WBRZ in February.
In addition to novels, Gaines wrote short stories and taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as a writer-in-residence from 1981 to 2004, The Advocate reported.
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