Robley Wilson ’52, H’87 died on August 7, 2018, in Orlando, Florida.
(The following was submitted by the family):
Writer Robley Wilson ’52, H’87, a novelist and poet whose works won numerous awards and who also was an editor and teacher, has died at his home in Florida. He was 88.
His wife, writer Susan Hubbard, confirmed that Wilson died on August 7 in Orlando surrounded by “family, cats, books, and music.”
Wilson was the author of three poetry collections, including Kingdoms of the Ordinary, which won the 1986 Agnes Lynch Starrett poetry prize and was published by the University of Pittsburg Press. His most recent poetry collection, Everything Paid For, was published by the University Press of Florida in 1999.
In addition to poetry, Wilson was the author of many novels and short story collections including After Paradise (Black Lawrence Press, 2017), The World Still Melting (St. Martin’s Press, 2005), and Who Will Hear Your Secrets (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012). He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction and a Nicholl fellowship in Screenwriting awarded by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Science..
Wilson taught creative writing at the University of Northern Iowa from 1963 to 1996, where he was also the editor of the literary magazine North American Review. He also taught at the University of Iowa, Beloit College, Northwestern University, University of Central Florida, and Pitzer College.
He is survived by his wife, fiction writer Susan Hubbard; two sons, Stephen and Philip; two stepdaughters, Kate and Clare; and two grandchildren, Sam and Kate.
I first came across Robley Wilson’s work in (I believe) the Antioch Review some 30 years ago. It was a long short story or novella that made quite an impression on me. Then I found his collection “Terrible Kisses’ in a London bookstore. I quoted from one of the stories in my master’s thesis. I don’t think any of his collections were ever reviewed by the New York Times. Like many people who write and create in other ways, his work and name were out there in the world without ever much making a huge impression. I can see why the poems didn’t impress people, but the fiction was memorable. It’s interesting and sad to contemplate what is read and celebrated and what isn’t. As for me I’ll always remember his work.