William Kennedy, author, screenwriter and playwright, was born and raised in Albany, New York. Kennedy brought his native city to literary life in the books of his Albany Cycle. One of these, Ironweed, was rejected by no less than 13 publishers before finally being published and then winning the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The versatile Kennedy wrote the screenplay for Ironweed, the play Grand View, and co-wrote the screenplay for the The Cotton Club with Francis Ford Coppola.


Kennedy is a professor in the English department at the State University of New York at Albany. He is the founding director of the New York State Writers Institute and, in 1993, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Literary Lions Award from the New York Public Library, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Governor's Arts Award. Kennedy was also named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France and a member of the board of directors of the New York State Council for the Humanities

William Kennedy Book List

Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes Signed First Edition

Roscoe Signed First Edition

Flaming Corsage Signed First Edition

Quinn's Book Signed First Edition