“I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have from reading novels. The understatements in the tenor saxophone of Lester Young, the crystal, haunting, forever searching sounds of John Coltrane, and the softness and violence of Count Basie's big band - all have fired my imagination as much as anything in literature.” PeopleWritingBigsYoungReadingLiteratureSoundImaginationNovelForeverViolenceListeningBandJazzI Have LearnedMy ImaginationHauntingCrystalsSoftnessSaxophoneTenorsUnderstatementColtraneReading NovelsLester Young Author:Ernest Gaines
“I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels.” PeopleWritingReadingNovelListeningJazzI Have LearnedReading Novels Book:Mozart and Leadbelly Source: Mozart and Leadbelly
“In all my stories and novels, no one ever escapes Louisiana. Maybe that is because my soul never left Louisiana, although my body did go to California.” SoulStoriesBodyLeftNovelMy SoulCaliforniaLouisiana Author:Ernest Gaines
“I suppose I started writing seriously at 16 years old. I thought I wrote a novel at 16 and sent it to New York! They sent it back because it wasn't novel.” WritingYearsNovelNew York Author:Ernest Gaines
