Roy Blount, Jr. | Author

Roy Blount, Jr.
Humorist, cultural observer and journalist, author of twenty books

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After the Writing is Done-Publishing, Promoting & Dodging the Critic's Arrow

Mar.27.2009

After the Writing is Done-Publishing, Promoting & Dodging the Critic's Arrow

A literary panel discusses how to promote finished work.

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PUBLISHED: May.10.2011

Alphabetter Juice, or The Joy of Text

No man of letters savors the ABC’s, or serves them up, like language-loving humorist Roy Blount Jr. His glossary, from ad hominy to zizz, is hearty, full bodied, and out to please discriminating palates coarse and fine. In 2008, he celebrated the gists, tangs, and energies of letters and their combinations in Alphabet Juice, to wide acclaim. Now, Alphabetter Juice. Which is...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.01.2008

Alphabet Juice

Ali G: How many words does you know? Noam Chomsky: Normally, humans, by maturity, have tens of thousands of them. Ali G: What is some of 'em? —Da Ali G Show Did you know that both mammal and matter derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how wince makes you wince? Ever wonder why so many h-words have to do with breath? Roy Blount Jr. certainly has, and after forty years of...

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PUBLISHED: May.01.2007

Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South

Ever since beloved Southern writer Blount moved to Massachusetts, he’s been trying to use his “regional ambivalence ... to get Aunt Dixie and Uncle Sam on speaking terms.” In this diverse collection of humorous essays and occasional verse, Blount tackles a number of topics, including Emmanuel Kant, the mind-boggling “Bushy Juggernaut” and the correct grammatical usage of y’all (...

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PUBLISHED: Feb.01.2005

Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans

“Betcha I can tell ya / Where ya / Got them shoooes. / Betchadollar, / Betchadollar, / Where ya / Got them shoooes. / Got your shoes on your feet, / Got your feet on the street, / And the street’s in Noo / Awlins, Loo- / Eez-ee-anna. Where I, for my part, first ate a live oyster and first saw a naked woman with the lights on. ... Every time I go to New Orleans I am startled by...

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PUBLISHED: Nov.01.2004

I Am Puppy, Hear Me Yap: The Ages of Dog

When puppies yap, people listen—especially when the message is as entertaining and enlightening as I Am Puppy, Hear Me Yap. Valerie Shaff and Roy Blount Jr., have teamed up to offer honest, original, and often hilarious insight into what puppies and young dogs really think. Sixty amazing duotone photos that capture the essence of each dog’s personality are accompanied by puppy...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.25.2004

About Three Bricks Shy... and the Load Filled Up

Any number of writers could spend an entire season with an NFL team, from the first day of training camp until the last pick of the draft, and come up with an interesting book. But only Roy Blount Jr. could capture the pain, the joy, the fears, the humor—in short, the heart—of a championship team. In 1973, the Pittsburgh Steelers were super, but missed the bowl. Blount’s portrait...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.01.2004

I Am the Cat, Don't Forget That: Feline Expressions

What would cats say if they were of a mind to talk? Valerie Shaff and Roy Blount, Jr. have a good idea ... On the heels of their hugely successful I Am Puppy, Hear Me Yap and If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You, Shaff and Blount have paired again, this time for a witty and insightful look at America’s other favorite pet—the cat. Shaff captures the essence of the ever-elusive cat...

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PUBLISHED: May.08.2003

Robert E. Lee

Iconic Virginian, brilliant general, and complex human being—it is this last facet of Robert E. Lee that is rarely seen. But now Roy Blount, Jr. combines acute character insight with lively storytelling and a full-hearted Southern directness to craft this unique, personal portrait.

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PUBLISHED: Nov.01.2001

Am I Pig Enough for You yet?: Voices of the Barnyard

We have all gazed at sheep and cows in fields by the side of the road. And we have seen them gazing back. What are they thinking? And what about those funny looks we get from horses, pigs, geese, ducks, llamas, and yes, chickens? This book opens up the inner lives of livestock, revealing their concerns about relationships, food-chain issues, and why people want to come up to cows...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.01.1998

Crackers

To get at the heart of being Southern, one should turn to Crackers. Roy Blount, Jr., puts readers in touch with possums, heterosexist dancing, men named Junior, a two-headed four-armed three-legged gospel singing man, and their feelings about the Carter administration. “Blount is Andy Rooney with a Georgia accent, only funnier.” –Washington Post Book World

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PUBLISHED: May.19.1998

Be Sweet: A Conditional Love Story

Roy Blount, Jr., Georgia boy turned New York wit, lover of baseball and interesting women, bumbling adventurer, literary lion, salty-limerick virtuoso and impassioned father, journeys into the past and his psyche (also all the way to China, sixty feet underwater and to various Manhattan hot spots) in search of the answers to three riddles that have haunted him intimately: One: the...

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PUBLISHED: May.01.1998

If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You: True Portraits of Dogs

A delight for dog lovers and, until dogs learn to talk, the best way to remember that the “inner dog” is probably much like the outer one, this winning collection teams up dog portraits and humorous verse to offer an honest, original, and hilarious portrayal of what dogs really “think.”

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PUBLISHED: Nov.01.1994

Roy Blount's Book of Southern Humor

There may be no funnier species in the literary universe than a Southern writer on a roll. The richest vein of American humor - the broadest, the earthiest, the most outrageously inventive - can be found below the Mason-Dixon line, where the comic impulse just naturally seems allied to the native storytelling genius, and the sacred and the profane are on intimate terms. Roy Blount...

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Roy's Latest Blogs

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Feb.15.2009 - 5:40 pm

Wait, wait...Waiter, I think there's a duck in my soup

Ivory says I have to blog more regularly, and although she suggested I write about how rude it is for someone to poke someone eles's corn, I've already covered that in an earlier...

Oct.30.2008 - 8:55 am

A message from Roy Blount Jr.

A couple months after I became Authors Guild president in 2006, we met with Google to propose a settlement to our class-action lawsuit. The Guild had sued Google in September 2005...

Dec.01.2007 - 4:12 pm

Language Belongs to "All Y'all"

What a marvel regional speech is, for those who can get into it. People in Greeneville assured me that there are still plenty of folks farther up in the hills, and even there in...

Published Reviews

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May.23.2007

Published by The New York Times

Ever since Roy Blount, Jr. packed his bags and left the South nearly forty years ago, he has been stuck with the job of explaining himself and his people to Northeastern liberals...

Audio & Video

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Video: In Depth Interview on UCTV

Video: Roy Blount, Jr. on "Long Time Leaving"

About Roy

Roy Blount Jr.’s twenty-first book, Alphabet Juice, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in October of 2008. His biography of Robert E. Lee has recently come out in paperback. Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans, which according to The New...

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Causes Roy Blount, Jr. Supports

I am currently President of The Authors Guild.

Roy Blount, Jr.Humorist, cultural observer and journalist, author of twenty books

Latest News & Events

After the Writing is Done-Publishing, Promoting & Dodging the Critic's Arrow

Featured Works

Roy's Latest Blogs

Published Reviews

Audio & Video

About Roy

Causes Roy Blount, Jr. Supports

Roy Blount, Jr.
Humorist, cultural observer and journalist, author of twenty books