Would You Shut Up, Please

“If you call yourself a serious reader but still haven’t discovered Lewis Nordan, shame on you.” —The Seattle Times

Lewis Nordan’s cult following began in 1991 when Algonquin published his first novel, Music of the Swamp. His second novel, Wolf Whistle, was inspired by one of the nation’s most volatile and notorious racial incidents. Nordan was fifteen years old at the time, and living in Mississippi, just down the road from where young Emmet Till was murdered for daring to whistle at a white woman. Wolf Whistle was hailed by Randall Kenan in The Nation as “an immense and wall-shattering display of talent.” It was Nordan’s most acclaimed work and winner of the Southern Book Award. He published four more books with Algonquin, including Lightning Song, The Sharpshooter Blues, Sugar Among the Freaks, and a memoir, Boy with Loaded Gun. His fictional works, all set in the American South, have the ability to break your heart and keep you laughing at the same time. The Los Angeles Times review got it exactly right: “Lordy, Lordy, can Lewis Nordan write!Horrible things happen, and horribly funny things, too, in the Delta town of Arrow Catcher, Miss.”

When Lewis Nordan died in 2012, he was working on a collection of stories. This story, Would You Shut Up, Please, is the tale of a man who investigates a disturbance at his elderly neighbors’ home and discovers more about their lives than he cares to know.

Algonquin is committed to keeping all of Lewis Nordan’s remarkable work available in print and as e-books, to ensure that new generations of readers will continue to discover his wild imagination, his boundless talent, and his singular voice. We hope you’ll enjoy Would You Shut Up, Please and will want to read more from this legendary storyteller.