Wiley Cash

Cash was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina.{{cite news |last= Poteat |first= Bill |date=October 8, 2020 |title= New Wiley Cash novel set on North Carolina coast |url= https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2020/10/08/new-wiley-cash-novel-set-on-north-carolina-coast/115000290/ |work=The Gaston Gazette |location=Gastonia, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} His mother was a nurse, and his father was a pharmacist.{{cite news |last= Neufeld |first=Rob |date=September 29, 2017 |title= UNC Asheville grad Wiley Cash introduces new novel about Loray Mill strike |url= https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2017/09/29/unc-asheville-grad-wiley-cash-introduces-new-novel-loray-mill-strike/710361001/ |work= Asheville Citizen-Times |location=Asheville, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} He was raised Southern Baptist.{{cite news |last= Smith |first= Kathryn |date=November 5, 2017 |title= Spokane is Reading: Wiley Cash's 'A Land More Kind Than Home' is steeped in Southern flavor |url= https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/nov/05/spokane-is-reading-wiley-cashs-a-land-more-kind-th/ |work=The Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} His brother is the comedian Cliff Cash;{{cite news |last= Staton |first= John |date=December 14, 2018 |title= Comedian Cliff Cash talks touring, doing shows for charity and his upcoming album |url= https://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20181214/comedian-cliff-cash-talks-touring-doing-shows-for-charity-and-his-upcoming-album |work=Star-News |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} they also have a sister.{{cite news |last= Marshall |first= Alli |date= October 24, 2019 |title= Comedian Cliff Cash on living his best life |url= https://mountainx.com/arts/comedian-cliff-cash-on-living-his-best-life/ |work=Mountain Xpress |location=Asheville, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} Cash attended Ashbrook High School and Gaston Day School in Gastonia.{{cite news |last=Kelley |first=Pam |date=February 14, 2014 |title= The amazing Cash brothers of Gastonia tell stories, find success |url= https://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/article9097148.html |work=Charlotte Observer |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Cash earned an M.A. from UNC-Greensboro,{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Bio |url=https://www.wileycash.com/bio |access-date=January 26, 2021 |website=Wiley Cash |publisher=}} then a Ph.D. in American Literature from University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he was mentored by writer Ernest J. Gaines.{{cite news |last=Romine Powell |first=Dannye |date=October 7, 2017 |title= Bestselling author Wiley Cash brings Gastonia mill strike to vivid life |url= https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/books/article177639286.html |work=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

In 2016, he became writer-in-residence at UNC-Asheville, his alma mater.{{cite news |last= |first= |date=September 8, 2015 |title= Wiley Cash named writer-in-residence at UNC Asheville |url= https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/09/08/wiley-cash-named-writer-residence-unc-asheville/71895552/ |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |location=Asheville, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} He previously taught at Southern New Hampshire University.

He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.

Cash's writing has been praised for his ear for Southern dialect, Southern Gothic qualities, and blending of family drama with suspense. He often uses a multi-character perspective in his works, shifting chapters between a number of characters to tell the story. The Last Ballad uses eight.

Vanity Fair jokingly dubbed him "the Justin Timberlake of American literature" after Cash was mistaken for the singer at Timberlake's New York restaurant.{{cite news |last=Butler |first=Tray |date= October 2, 2017 |title= Mill strike of 1929 is backdrop for story of class warfare |url= https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/books--literature/mill-strike-fuels-class-warfare/hW6QvsbO4ljmw20ZWGHVlK/ |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |location=Atlanta |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

All of Cash's books are set in his home state of North Carolina. He told an interviewer for National Public Radio that North Carolina plays a central role in his writing: "Every time I put pen to paper, it's an act of trying to reclaim a place I love."{{cite news |last= |first= |date=February 2, 2014 |title= Gothic Thriller Takes Two Young Girls Down A 'Dark Road To Mercy' |url= https://www.npr.org/2014/02/02/265706063/gothic-thriller-takes-two-young-girls-down-a-dark-road-to-mercy |work=National Public Radio Weekend Edition |location= |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

Cash's 2012 debut novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, a thriller with Southern Gothic elements which follows the destructive wake of a deceptive snake-handling faith healer, was positively reviewed by The Washington Post and other national publications.{{cite news |last= Yarbrough |first= Steve |date=May 8, 2012 |title= Wiley Cash's "A Land More Kind Than Home" |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/wiley-cashs-a-land-more-kind-than-home/2012/05/08/gIQAn6yPBU_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} It was named one of the 100 most notable books of 2012 by the New York Times, which called it "mesmerizing".{{cite news |last= |first= |date= November 27, 2012 |title= 100 Notable Books of 2012 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2012.html |work=New York Times |location=New York City |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

His second novel, This Dark Road to Mercy, tells the story of two young girls who are thrown together with their estranged father, a washed-up baseball player. It is set during the 1998 home run battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Chicago Tribune reviewer Hope Reese praised Cash's "knack for flow and dialogue" but said that the story felt rushed and underexplored.{{cite news |last=Reese |first=Hope |date=January 31, 2014 |title= Review: 'This Dark Road to Mercy' by Wiley Cash |url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-this-dark-road-to-mercy-wiley-cash-20140131-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago |access-date=January 26, 2021 }} Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles felt that This Dark Road to Mercy was overly predictable and flat in comparison to Cash's debut.{{cite news |last= Charles |first= Ron |date=January 28, 2014 |title= Books: 'This Dark Road to Mercy,' by Wiley Cash |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/this-dark-road-to-mercy-by-wiley-cash/2014/01/28/7e055258-81e3-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

His 2017 novel The Last Ballad is a fictionalized version of the 1929 Loray Mill strike in Gastonia, centered on the murder of activist and musician Ella May Wiggins. He was drawn to the subject by the fact that its history had been seemingly forgotten despite its close proximity to his own family and hometown; his parents both grew up in nearby milling communities, and his mother's maiden name was Wiggin. He also took inspiration from music of the 1920s and 1930s thanks to his friendship with members of the string band Old Crow Medicine Show. New York Times reviewer, Amy Rowland, praised the novel's blend of fact and fiction, saying "Cash vividly blends the archival with the imaginative. .... Cash, with care and steadiness, has pulled from the wreckage of the past a lost moment of Southern progressivism."{{cite news |last= Rowland |first= Amy |date= November 17, 2017 |title= A Novelist Revisits a Deadly Textile Union Strike From 1929 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/books/review/wiley-cash-last-ballad.html |work= New York Times |location=New York City |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}

Cash also contributed an essay to the 2009 book This Louisiana Thing that Drives Me: The Legacy of Ernest J. Gaines.{{cite book|author1=Reggie Scott Young|author2=Wiley Cash|authorlink2=Wiley Cash|author3=Marcia Gaudet |title=This Louisiana Thing that Drives Me: The Legacy of Ernest J. Gaines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_0QoOAAACAAJ|year=2009|publisher=University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press|isbn=978-1-887366-83-0}}

His fourth novel, When Ghosts Come Home, is a murder mystery set in the town of Oak Island, North Carolina. It was published by Morrow in 2021. Reviewing the book for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Phil Kloer called it a "gripping, multi-layered novel about the South and race and how the past keeps a grip on the present."{{cite news |last=Kloer |first=Phil |date= September 13, 2021 |title=Book review: Wiley Cash spins a web of deceit in 'When Ghosts Come Home' |url=https://www.ajc.com/life/arts-culture/book-review-wiley-cash-spins-a-web-of-deceit-in-when-ghosts-come-home/PD6CDCRNHZFUXDGIDQD4Y4SJSY/ |work=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |location= |access-date=2024-01-06 }}

• A Land More Kind Than Home (2012){{cite book|author=Wiley Cash|author-link=Wiley Cash|title=A Land More Kind Than Home|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p0JIt4mjaeoC|date=March 27, 2012|publisher=William Morrow|isbn=978-0-06-219677-4}}
• This Dark Road to Mercy (2014){{cite book|author=Wiley Cash|author-link=Wiley Cash|title=This Dark Road to Mercy: A Novel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTsHAQAAQBAJ|date=January 28, 2014|publisher=William Morrow|isbn=978-0-06-208827-7}}
• The Last Ballad (2017){{cite book|author=Wiley Cash|author-link=Wiley Cash|title=The Last Ballad: A Novel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSveDQAAQBAJ|date=October 3, 2017|publisher=William Morrow|isbn=978-0-06-231313-3}}
• When Ghosts Come Home (2021)

• CWA New Blood Dagger, 2012, for A Land More Kind than Home
• PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize shortlist, 2013, for A Land More Kind than Home{{cite web |url= https://pen.org/2013-penrobert-w-bingham-prize/ |title=2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize |last= |first= |date= July 25, 2013|website= |publisher= |access-date=January 26, 2021}}
• Southern Book Prize, 2013
• Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, 2014 for A Land More Kind Than Home{{cite news |last= O'Sullivan |first=Joanne |date=January 31, 2014 |title=Wiley Cash wins Thomas Wolfe award, reads at Malaprop's |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/entertainment/events/asheville-scene/2014/01/30/wiley-cash-wins-thomas-wolfe-award-reads-at-malaprops/5057493/ |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |location=Asheville, North Carolina |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}
• CWA Gold Dagger, 2014, for This Dark Road to Mercy{{cite news |last= Flood |first= Alison |date=October 27, 2014 |title= Robert Harris's novel about Dreyfus affair named thriller of the year |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/27/robert-harris-an-officer-and-a-spy-dreyfus-affair-crime-writers-association-thriller |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}
• Edgar Award (finalist), 2015, for This Dark Road to Mercy{{cite news |last=Kellogg |first=Carolyn |date=January 21, 2015 |title= Finalists for the 2015 Edgar Awards are announced |url= https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-finalists-for-the-2015-edgar-awards-announced-20150121-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles |access-date=January 26, 2021 }}
• Southern Book Prize, 2018, for The Last Ballad
• American Library Association Book of the Year, 2018, for The Last Ballad
• Southern Book Prize, 2022, for When Ghosts Come Home

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.wileycash.com/ Wiley Cash official website]
• [https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/wiley-cash Wiley Cash at HarperCollins website]

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Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American male novelists

Category:Novelists from North Carolina

Category:Writers of American Southern literature

Category:Living people

Category:University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni

Category:University of North Carolina at Asheville alumni

Category:University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni

Category:People from Gastonia, North Carolina

Category:People from Wilmington, North Carolina

Category:1976 births

Category:21st-century American male writers