Hays, Donald 1947–

PERSONAL: Born February 14, 1947, in Jacksonville, FL; son of Donald E. (a sailor and factory worker) and Mary (a teacher) Hays; married Patricia Chambers (a teacher), September 29, 1968; children: Gabriel David. Education: Southern State College (now Southern Arkansas University), B.A., 1969; University of Arkansas, M.F.A., 1983.

ADDRESSES: Home—Fayetteville, AR. Office—Programs in Creative Writing & Translation, Department of English, 333 Kimpel Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer and educator. Farmer in Mountainburg, AR, 1973–75; Arkansas Social Services, Van Buren, child welfare worker, 1976–79; University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, assistant professor, then associate professor, 1984–. Wartime service: Conscientious objector; served as psychiatric aide at University of Arkansas Medical Center, 1970–72.

AWARDS, HONORS: Finalist for P.E.N./Faulkner Award, 1985, for The Dixie Association.

WRITINGS:

The Dixie Association (novel), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1984.

The Hangman's Children (novel), Atlantic Monthly Press (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor) Stories, Contemporary Southern Short Fiction, University of Arkansas Press (Fayetteville, AR), 1989.

Dying Light and Other Stories, MacAdam/Cage (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

Short stories have appeared in periodicals, including the Southern Review.

SIDELIGHTS: Donald Hays once described his book, The Hangman's Children as "a novel set in 1968, concerned with the relationship between a father (a hard-nosed con man) and his son (a mystic and pacifist), who is trying to determine a moral way of facing the draft."

Hays told CA: "The writers who have most influenced me are William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I want to write novels that are political without being doctrinaire, comic without being 'light' or silly, mythic without sacrificing a very particular realism. I want the voice of my novels to be strong, clear, American, and unique. I want every character in them to be alive and to matter. I will, of course, fail."

In his collection of short stories titled Dying Light and Other Stories, Hays presents ten tales of estrangement, lost love, betrayal, and revenge. In the title story, octogenarian Bud McMahon is dying from esophageal cancer and has a meeting with his son, arranged by his wife, so the two might reconcile before he dies. In another story, "Private Dance," a high school football coach's life goes into a downward spiral after being caught by his wife watching pornography. She leaves him for another coach in a different town, and he is soon living in a motel and visiting strip clubs. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that the author "offers exemplars of the genre, with tight plotting, deep idiosyncrasies, strong dialogue and everyday difficult situations."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2005, review of Dying Light and Other Stories, p. 496.

New York Times Book Review, August 13, 1989, Deborah Mason, review of The Hangman's Children, p. 10.

Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2005, review of Dying Light and Other Stories, p. 31.

ONLINE

Arkansas Programs in Creative Writing and Translation Web site, http://www.uark.edu/depts/english/pcwtfaculty/ (October 23, 2006), faculty profile of author.