Brandon Taylor Books
Brandon Taylor is an American writer and editor. He grew up in Alabama and earned degrees in biochemistry and creative writing.
Known for: Real Life
Books by Brandon Taylor
Real Life
A novel set over a spring weekend at a Midwestern university, following Wallace, a Black biochemistry graduate student, as he navigates friendship, desire, and alienation in a predominantly white academic environment. The story explores themes of race, sexuality, and the search for belonging with psychological depth and emotional precision.
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At the Lake: A Weekend Begins
The novel opens on a humid Friday afternoon in late spring. Wallace lingers in his lab, reluctant to leave, not because of the work but because of the heaviness that always follows him. He has promised to join his friends—a group of mostly white graduate students—for a lakeside gathering, a routine ...
From Real Life
The Past That Shadows the Present
Throughout the weekend, Wallace’s memories surface unbidden like bubbles in water. He thinks of his boyhood in Alabama—the hot, endless days, the small house where silence meant danger. His mother’s anger was a constant pulse; his father’s absence, a hollow space that never filled. Racism did not ar...
From Real Life
About Brandon Taylor
Brandon Taylor is an American writer and editor. He grew up in Alabama and earned degrees in biochemistry and creative writing. His debut novel, 'Real Life,' was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, and he is also the author of the story collection 'Filthy Animals.'
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Brandon Taylor is an American writer and editor. He grew up in Alabama and earned degrees in biochemistry and creative writing.
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