Kiese Laymon is an award-winning writer and academic. He is currently a professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. Heavy, his 2018 memoir, is his third book, following his novel, Long Division and his essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. He’s also written extensively for a wide range of magazines and newspapers. Heavy won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Laymon’s mother, never named in the book, is a woman of conviction. She’s a passionate and successful academic, a scholar and a professor beloved by her students for her concern and sincerity. She’s also troubled: attracted to a series of violent relationships. She’s violent in turn to her son, beating him and leaning on him for more emotional support than a child can provide.

Laymon’s complex relationship with his mother sits at the heart of Heavy. The story is addressed to her and framed as a refusal of the lies she’d prefer Laymon to tell. Laymon and his mother share a deep love, but also a habit of dishonesty that Laymon feels compelled to break for both their sakes. By teaching Laymon to write, to revise, and to love language, she gives him a way to understand and explore their shared shame.