William Melvin Kelley (November 1, 1937 – February 1, 2017) was an African American novelist and short-story writer. He is perhaps best known for his debut novel, A Different Drummer, published in 1962. He was also a university professor and creative writing instructor. In 2008, he received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. Kelley is credited with being the first to commit the term "woke" to print, in the title of a 1962 New York Times op-ed on the use of African-American slang by beatniks: If You're Woke, You Dig It.
Born |
1 November 1937 New York City, New York, United States
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Died |
1 February 2017 (aged 79) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
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Zodiac | Scorpio |
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