Aaron Gwyn’s “All God’s Children” Explores the Paradoxes of the early American frontier, a Place of Enormous Liberty and Terrible Bondage
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In this episode 184, guest hosted by Paul Kurzeja, we visit with Aaron Gwyn, author of “All God’s Children,” an enthralling novel set on the frontier of Texas in the period before the Civil War.
The New York Times says “Gwyn’s novel is a powerful depiction of the rough realities of frontier life, of the vicious influence of racism in a place where ‘men who didn’t dare look at you in daylight might burn you alive come sundown.’”
Booklist says that “Readers will relish these unforgettable characters and this expansive view of Texas’ wild ride to joining the Union” and Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal, observes that “Gwyn has couched his meanings within a swift and skillful western, which allows them to unfold with devastating power. [ . . . ] The very people who founded the American West, this bracing novel suggests, were those most desperate to be independent from it.”
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About the Author:
Aaron Gwyn is the author of two previous, The World Beneath (W.W. Norton), and Wynne’s War ( Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), and the story collection, Dog on the Cross, finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous magazines, including Esquire, McSweeney’s, Virginia Quarterly Review, Garden & Gun, NPR.com, Esquire.com, as well as anthologies such as New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Every True Pleasure: LGBTQ Tales of North Carolina.
He is associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte where he teaches fiction writing and American literature.
In his own words: “I have lived in Charlotte for most of my adult years, but I grew up in the American West. My parents bought the side of a mountain in Colorado’s Front Range back in the early 1950s, and that mountain served as my backyard until I headed off to college at the age of seventeen. Given my Colorado connections, I have long had a particular fondness for books set in the West.”
About the Guest Host
Paul Kurzeja has an MA in Creative Writing from UNC Charlotte. His is a winner of the UNCC James McGavran Award, the Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story Award and the Ruth Moose Flash Fiction Award. He has twice been a finalist for the Doris Betts Fiction Prize. Paul has most recently been published in Atlantis Magazine, Boston Accent Literary Magazine and Terrain. Paul and his writing have also been featured on Charlotte Readers Podcast, here.
More Praise for All God’s Children
“Gwyn creates an overwhelmingly visceral and emotionally rich narrative amid Texas’s complex path to statehood [ . . . ] This is a masterpiece of western fiction in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and James Carlos Blake.”—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“It’s always a pleasure to discover another superb writer who had not been on my radar [ . . . ] Gwyn writes fresh, vigorous sentences, and many scenes pulse with tension, tenderness or both.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Gwyn knows how to tell a story—he builds suspense wonderfully [ . . . ] his excellent writing and gift for pacing make this an enjoyable historical novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
“In his new book, Aaron Gwyn gives us a vivid and piercing depiction of America when it was young and expanding, and of the myriad cruelties and lies that it was built upon. All God’s Children is a page-turner, a tour de force, and a brilliantly savage novel that you will be reckoning with long after you have put it down.”—Nick Arvin, author of Mad Boy and Articles of War
“Gwyn offers us an entertaining tale of misfits finding each other that is also an inspiring, hopeful exploration of an alternate vision of violence and masculinity.”—Lone Star Literary
“All God’s Children is an enthralling historical novel that presents a vision of the American West. Gwyn’s prose is both raw and captivating, and what results is the moving story of the lives of Duncan, Sam, and Cecilia. I couldn’t put it down.”—Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist and author of The Removed
“All God’s Children is a riveting work of historical vision. Once again, Gwyn has crafted a tale that is as tragic as it is gorgeous.”—Smith Henderson, PEN-Award winning author of Fourth of July Creek
“Aaron Gwyn claims his place among the ranks of great American novelists with this richly drawn historical epic. A masterpiece.”—Philipp Meyer, author of The Son
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