http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/books/story/061CED12B94DFC9586257303006DFF59?OpenDocument

Professor gears up for 100th birthday of ‘Native Son’ author
By Sarah Bryan Miller
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Author Richard Wright (1908-1960) is coming up on his centenary next year. That means that Jerry Ward’s work is moving into high gear.
Wright, born in Natchez, Miss., was best known for his novel “Native Son” and autobiography “Black Boy.” He did most of his important work from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, devoting much of his time to writing haiku toward the end. He died of a heart attack in his adopted city, Paris. His carefully wrought sentences are often long and dense by today’s standards, but his voice was striking in his time.