Beetlecreek
A Novel
$29.16
- Paperback
224 pages
- Release Date
13 January 2026
Summary
A rediscovered classic of Black American literature first published in 1950, about an unlikely friendship in a West Virginia town.
“One of the great novelists of the last 100 years.” - Ishmael Reed, author of Mumbo Jumbo
After several years of seclusion in the Black quarter of Beetlecreek, West Virginia, in the precarious 1930s, a retired carnival worker named Bill Trapp strikes up a chance friendship with Johnny Johnson, a Pittsburgh teenager transplanted into his uncle’s hom…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798217007318 |
|---|---|
| Author: | William Demby |
| Publisher: | Random House USA Inc |
| Imprint: | Vintage Books |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 224 |
| Release Date: | 13 January 2026 |
| Weight: | 369g |
| Dimensions: | 132mm x 203mm |
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Critics Review
“One of the great novelists of the last 100 years.”—Ishmael Reed, author of Mumbo Jumbo
“[Demby is] a true artist.” —Arna Bontemps, author of Black Thunder
“[A] quiet masterpiece.” –Kirkus Reviews
William Demby
William Demby was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 25, 1922, and attended college in Clarksburg, West Virginia, before enlisting in World War II and serving in Italy. He graduated from Fisk University in 1947 then moved abroad to Rome, where he spent the next two decades working as a novelist, journalist, and script translator and screenwriter for the Italian cinema. In the late 1960s, Demby joined the faculty at The College of Staten Island, dividing his time between the United States and Italy. His works include Beetlecreek, The Catacombs, Love Story Black, and King Comus. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. He died in Sag Harbor, New York, in 2013.
S. A. Cosby is a New York Times bestselling writer from southeastern Virginia. He is the author of All the Sinners Bleed, which was on more than forty best of the year lists, including Barack Obama’s; Edgar Award finalist Razorblade Tears; and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Blacktop Wasteland. He has also won the Anthony Award, ITW Thriller Award, Barry Award, Macavity Award, Black Caucus American Library Association Award, and Audie Award and has been longlisted for the American Library Association Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.
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