Wirt Williams

Wirt Williams (August 21, 1921 – June 29, 1986) was an American novelist, journalist, and professor of English.

Early life and education Born on August 21, 1921, on the campus of the Goodman, Mississippi-based agricultural school headed by his father (which would later become Holmes Community College), Williams was raised in Cleveland, Mississippi where he was graduated from Cleveland High School (Cleveland, Mississippi). Williams took his undergraduate degree at Delta State University and in 1941, was awarded a master's degree in journalism from Louisiana State University.

Military service Williams joined the Navy in 1942, and was commissioned an ensign in the Naval Reserve. He was stationed on the destroyer the USS Decatur that patrolled the North Atlantic seeking out and destroying German submarines. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Pacific Theater of Operations, where he was the captain of a landing ship (LSM) preparing for the proposed Operation Downfall.. He attained the rank of lieutenant commander.

Death Shortly after retiring as a professor, Wirt Williams died of a stroke on June 29, 1986. He was 64 years old.

Works The Enemy (1951) Love in a Windy Space (1956) Ada Dallas (1959) A Passage of Hawks (1963) The Trojans (1965) The Far Side (1972) The Tragic Art of Ernest Hemingway (1982)