biography
| name: |
Motley, Willard (Francis)
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1912–65)
|
| biography:
| Writer, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Schooled in Chicago, he held a variety of jobs, including ranch hand, cook, and interviewer for the Chicago Housing Authority. After deciding to become a writer and settling in Chicago's slums, he wrote Knock on Any Door (1947), a naturalistic account of the degradation of a young boy. His subsequent novels were not as well-received, but his final novel, Let Noon Be Fair published posthumously (1966), won critical praise. An African-American, Motley said, ‘My race is the human race’. He died of gangrene in Mexico City, Mexico, where he lived. |
|
|
