Kathy Y. Wilson (d. November 22, 2022) was an American journalist, columnist, playwright, and commentator. She was the creator of an opinion column, a 2004 nonfiction book and a one-woman play all titled Your Negro Tour Guide.

Early life and education

Wilson was born to Clarence Wilson, a steel worker, and Gladine Parrish, a nurse. ^[1] She has two older brothers and a younger half-sister. ^[1] She spent her childhood in Hamilton, Ohio, before her parents divorced and her mother left with the children, eventually settling in Forest Park, Ohio. ^[1] She graduated from Greenhills High School. ^[2] She attended the University of Cincinnati but didn't graduate. ^[1]

Career

She worked for five years as a reporter for the Hamilton Journal-News and described editors sending her out on "black stories." ^{[2] [3] [1]}

Between 1999 and 2007 she created an opinion column, a nonfiction book and a one-woman play all titled Your Negro Tour Guide. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]} Wilson wrote the column for alternative weekly City Beat from 1999 through 2006 and 2012 to 2015; the title refers to a retort she made to white former coworkers' questions about Black culture when Wilson was the only Black person in the newsroom. ^{[5] [8]}

Wilson was a commentator for National Public Radio. ^{[4] [9]} She wrote for City Beat, Cincinnati Magazine, and the Cincinnati Enquirer. ^{[9] [10]} She taught at the University of Cincinnati. ^[9]

In 2014 she was the Cincinnati Public Library's first Writer-in-Residence. ^{[9] [11] [12]} She was awarded the 2016 ArtsWave Sachs Fund Prize. ^{[9] [12] [13]}

As of 2018 she was a senior editor at Cincinnati Magazine and an adjunct professor in University of Cincinnati's Women’s Studies department. ^[2] She was a regular contributor of commentary on NPR's All Things Considered. ^[12] She was twice a fellow for the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland. ^[12]

In 2018 a recreation of Wilson's apartment was featured as an exhibit, "Sanctuary: Kathy Y. Wilson Living in a Colored Museum" at the Weston Gallery at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. ^[5]

She authored two other books, Your Negro City Guide and True Grits: A Short Stack of Food and Family in Over the Rhine. ^[2]

Productions of stage adaptation

Wilson's stage adaptation of Your Negro Tour Guide was produced by Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park in 2007 and by Valdosta State University in 2008. ^{[14] [15]} VSU Sociology professor Tracy Woodward Meyers said, "the show deconstructs and lampoons gender, race, class, and sexuality in America.” ^[14] It was produced that same year by the National Women's Studies Association. ^[16] It was produced in 2011 by the University of Kentucky. ^[17] It was produced for the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. ^[18]

Reception

Publishers Weekly said "her writing works best when it's crackling and clipped". ^[4] Pittsburgh City Paper describes her as 'writing carefree of the " white gaze." ' ^[19] The Cincinnati Enquirer called her the city's "unofficial conscience." ^[9] Tony Norman said, "Wilson's use of language is a virtual bouillabaisse of postmodern negritude, political cunning and psychological insight." ^[20] In July 2020, during the fallout from the murder of George Floyd, Cincinnati Magazine named the book one of five must-read books by local Black authors. ^[21] The Cincinnati Enquirer called her "one of Cincinnati's most fearless 21st-century writers." ^[13]

Personal life

Wilson was a lesbian. ^{[4] [19]} She lived in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati with her partner, Kandice. ^{[4] [9] [6]} She wrote and spoke about her father's pedophilia conviction. ^[22]

In July 2020 she had a kidney transplant. ^[9] Wilson died November 22, 2022, of kidney failure. ^[23]

References