![]() ![]() He was on tour with the play when he learned that his first novel, Let Me Breathe Thunder (1939), a naturalistic novel about the experiences of two white migrant farmworkers, had been accepted for publication.īlood on the Forge (1941), Attaway's second and most significant novel, encapsulates the mass migration of southern blacks to northern cities as it traces the experiences of three half-brothers in the steel mills of Pennsylvania. With the assistance of his younger sister, Ruth, an actress, he won a role in the road company of You Can't Take It with You. During this period Attaway became involved with the Illinois branch of the Federal Writers' Project and first met Richard Wright.Īfter graduating from the University of Illinois in 1936, Attaway moved to New York City, determined to earn his living as a writer. He returned to Chicago and the university in 1933 there he published his first literary efforts. His father died during his second year in college and Attaway left school to hobo his way west, working along the way as a cabin boy, stevedore, and migrant laborer. He attended local public schools and the University of Illinois, where he pursued literary interests. Novelist William Alexander Attaway was born in Greenville, Mississippi, to William Attaway, a physician, and Florence Parry Attaway, a schoolteacher, and was raised in Chicago. ![]()
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