Kathy Y. Wilson

Wilson was born to Clarence Wilson, a steel worker, and Gladine Parrish, a nurse.{{Cite book|last=Fagone|first=Jason|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UusCAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Your+Negro+Tour+Guide%22&pg=PA69|title=Wilson's Doctrine|date=October 2002|publisher=Cincinnati Magazine|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=en}} She has two older brothers and a younger half-sister. She spent her childhood in Hamilton, Ohio, before her parents divorced and her mother left with the children, eventually settling in Forest Park, Ohio. She graduated from Greenhills High School.{{Cite web|last=Schmitt|first=Elizabeth|date=February 16, 2018|title=Black Journalists Matter: Wilson discusses why black perspective is important|url=https://www.newsrecord.org/news/black-journalists-matter-wilson-discusses-why-black-perspective-is-important/article_8299b310-1314-11e8-bb67-4f1135c9abcb.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=The News Record|language=en}} She attended the University of Cincinnati but didn't graduate.

She worked for five years as a reporter for the Hamilton JournalNews and described editors sending her out on "black stories."{{Cite web|last=Daumeyer|first=Bob|date=September 1, 2017|title=5 Things You Need To Know Today|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/01/five-things-you-need-to-know-today-and-a-toast-to.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=www.bizjournals.com}}

Between 1999 and 2007 she created an opinion column, a nonfiction book and a one-woman play all titled Your Negro Tour Guide.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Your Negro Tour Guide|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-57860-143-1|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 25, 2020|website=www.publishersweekly.com}}{{Cite web|last=Heyne|first=Mark|date=January 8, 2018|title=Your Negro Tour Guide|url=https://www.wvxu.org/term/your-negro-tour-guide#stream/0|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 25, 2020|website=NPR|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Schwartz|first=Kathy|date=November 29, 2017|title=The Art of Being Kathy Y. Wilson|url=https://www.citybeat.com/arts-culture/visual-arts/media-gallery/20983949/the-art-of-being-kathy-y-wilson|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=CityBeat Cincinnati|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Fisher|first=Marc|date=September 5, 2014|title=Cincinnati still healing from its riots, and has lessons to share with Ferguson|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cincinnati-still-healing-from-its-riots-and-has-lessons-to-share-with-ferguson/2014/09/05/2ff8b944-34a1-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html|access-date=September 26, 2020|issn=0190-8286}} 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.{{Cite web|last=Davis|first=Janel|date=2004|title=end papers SUMMER 2004|url=https://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/end-papers-summer-2004/Content?oid=1114642|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=Memphis Flyer|language=en}}

Wilson was a commentator for National Public Radio. She wrote for City Beat, Cincinnati Magazine, and the Cincinnati Enquirer.{{Cite web|last=Liebling|first=Heather|date=May 6, 2004|title=Negro Tour Guide enlightens readers|url=https://www.library.fordham.edu/digital/collection/OBVR/id/5390|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=www.library.fordham.edu}} She taught at the University of Cincinnati.

In 2014 she was the Cincinnati Public Library's first Writer-in-Residence.{{Cite web|title=Kathy Y. Wilson: 2014 Writer-in-Residence|url=https://cincinnatilibrary.org/writer-in-residence/kathy-y-wilson/|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=cincinnatilibrary.org|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=February 3, 2020|title=Interview With Cincinnati Journalist, Author Kathy Y. Wilson|url=https://patch.com/ohio/cincinnati/interview-cincinnati-journalist-author-kathy-y-wilson|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=Cincinnati, OH Patch|language=en}} She was awarded the 2016 ArtsWave Sachs Fund Prize.{{Cite web|last=Lyman|first=David|title=New book tells stories of women who shaped Cincinnati's cultural legacy|url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/08/13/artswaves-power-her-book-tells-stories-key-cincinnati-women/3363953001/|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=The Enquirer|language=en-US}}

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

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.

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

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.{{Cite web|last=Poling|first=Dean|title=Gender studies program offers monologue Monday|url=https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/gender-studies-program-offers-monologue-monday/article_2722c488-eabd-51ec-97b5-a13eba17a988.html|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=Valdosta Daily Times|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=flyover: Arts News: March 2007 Archives|url=http://www.artsjournal.com/flyover/arts-news/2007/03/|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=www.artsjournal.com}} VSU Sociology professor Tracy Woodward Meyers said, "the show deconstructs and lampoons gender, race, class, and sexuality in America.” It was produced that same year by the National Women's Studies Association.{{Cite web|title=NWSA, A History 2008 – 29th National Conference - National Women's Studies Association|url=https://www.nwsa.org/news/509756/NWSA-A-History-2008--29th-National-Conference.htm|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=www.nwsa.org}} It was produced in 2011 by the University of Kentucky.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=March 3, 2011|title=UK Hosts Symposium on Affrilachia|url=https://www.uky.edu/appalachia/articles/uk-hosts-symposium-affrilachia|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=University of Kentucky}} It was produced for the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival.{{Cite web|date=April 12, 2012|title=KTC Presents 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival Announcement Party Featuring Performance of YOUR NEGRO TOUR GUIDE|url=https://behindthecurtaincincy.com/2012/04/11/ktc-presents-2012-cincinnati-fringe-festival-announcement-party-featuring-performance-of-your-negro-tour-guide/|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=Behind the Curtain Cincinnati|language=en}}

Publishers Weekly said "her writing works best when it's crackling and clipped". Pittsburgh City Paper describes her as 'writing carefree of the "white gaze." ' The Cincinnati Enquirer called her the city's "unofficial conscience."{{Cite web|last=Lyman|first=David|title=Writer Kathy Y. Wilson has a new kidney ... but the same ol' spunk|url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2020/09/18/kathy-y-wilson-negro-tour-guide-fame-has-new-kidney-same-spunk/3485034001/|access-date=September 25, 2020|website=The Enquirer|language=en-US}} Tony Norman said, "Wilson's use of language is a virtual bouillabaisse of postmodern negritude, political cunning and psychological insight."{{Cite web|last=Norman|first=Tony|date=March 1, 2005|title=Cincinnati's firebrand gives up giving 'em hell|url=https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/tony-norman/2005/03/01/Cincinnati-s-firebrand-gives-up-giving-em-hell/stories/200503010177|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|language=en}} 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.{{Cite web|last=Rosenberger|first=Chloe|date=July 29, 2020|title=Five Must-Read Books by Local Black Authors|url=https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/five-must-read-books-by-local-black-authors/|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=Cincinnati Magazine|language=en-US}} The Cincinnati Enquirer called her "one of Cincinnati's most fearless 21st-century writers."

Wilson was a lesbian.{{Cite web|last=Mock|first=Brentin|title=Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White|url=https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/your-negro-tour-guide-truths-in-black-and-white/Content?oid=1336333|access-date=September 25, 2020|website=Pittsburgh City Paper|language=en}} She lived in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati with her partner, Kandice. She wrote and spoke about her father's pedophilia conviction.{{Cite news|title=Jackson Case Threatens Misperceptions About Pedophilia|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4564478|access-date=September 26, 2020|website=NPR.org|language=en}}

In July 2020 she had a kidney transplant. Wilson died November 22, 2022, of kidney failure.{{Cite web |last=Lyman |first=David |title=Kathy Y. Wilson, journalist and educator, dies at age 57 |url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2022/11/27/columnist-educator-kathy-y-wilson-obituary/69679991007/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=The Enquirer |language=en-US}}

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Category:People from Cincinnati

Category:People from Hamilton, Ohio