James Alan McPherson has died. He (pictured, via) was 72 years old.
The Washington Post reports that as a writer, McPherson became well-known for his nonfiction and short stories. His 1977 short story collection, entitled Elbow Room, won him the Pulitzer Prize. He served as professor at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop from 1981 to 2014.
Here’s more from NPR: “He put himself through Harvard Law School working as a janitor; the month he graduated he sold his first manuscript to the Atlantic Monthly magazine. In 1972, he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1978, he became the first African-American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, for his collection Elbow Room.” (Photo Credit: Tom Langdon)