Harry Crews

Harry Eugene Crews (June 7, 1935 – March 28, 2012) was an American novelist, playwright, short story writer and essayist.

Life and work

Crews was born in Bacon County, Georgia, in 1935 and served in the Marines during the Korean War. He attended the University of Florida on the GI Bill, but dropped out to travel. Eventually returning to the university, Crews finally graduated and moved his wife, Sally, and son, Patrick Scott, to Jacksonville where he taught Junior High English for a year.

Crews returned to Gainesville and the university to work on his master's in English Education. It was during this period that he and Sally divorced for the first time. Crews continued his studies, graduated, and – denied entrance into UF's Creative Writing program – took a teaching position at Broward Community College in the subject of English. It was here in south Florida that Crews convinced Sally to return to him, and they were remarried. A second son, Byron, was born to them in 1963. Crews returned to University of Florida in 1968 not as a student, but as a member of the faculty in Creative Writing. Crews formerly taught in the creative writing program at the University of Florida. In 1964, Patrick Scott drowned in a neighbor's pool. This proved to be too heavy a burden on the family, and Crews and Sally were once again divorced.

Harry Crews (band)

Harry Crews was a short-lived No Wave-influenced hardcore punk and crossover thrash supergroup made up of Lydia Lunch (guitar), Kim Gordon (bass), and Sadie Mae (drums). The band was only musically active in 1988, therefore they only officially produced and released one album, Naked in Garden Hills. The album was released in 1989, and was a compilation of live recordings played at clubs in London, UK and Austria. Shortly after the release of the album, the band split up, due to their involvement in other bands and projects. The bands' name was taken after the author of the same name, hence the album's title being taken from a novel by Crews. The majority of the songs were also named after Crews' various novels. They also covered "She's In A Bad Mood" (originally by Gordon's band, Sonic Youth), and "Orphans" (originally by Lunch's band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.)

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