Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1959, Wallace came to Chapel Hill to attend the University of North Carolina. In 1984 he returned to the United States after living in Japan and began writing in earnest. Wallace has received a North Carolina Arts Fellowship and a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. He currently lives in Chapel Hill with his son, Henry. Wallace joins D.G. Martin to discuss "Ray in Reverse," his newest novel.

Bibliography:

Big Fish

Ray in Reverse

Excerpt:

RAY IN REVERSE
Ray in Heaven

Ray, like the rest of us here, is dead. He sits in a folding metal chair toward the back of the group, right on the fringe, as though he's unsure of himself, of where he belongs. That's fine, he's new here, and there's always a transition from one world to the next. He doesn't know how lucky he is though! First of all, he's in Heaven, which clearly makes him at least a little special. Second, he's in Last Words. In Heaven these days Last Words is more popular than ever, so securing a place here in our group has become quite difficult. There's the waiting list, which is longer than most, and then of course the words themselves have to be of a certain caliber (there's a screening committee). Still, sometimes strings are pulled, and I wonder if this is what happened with Ray. Certainly that's why Stella Kauffman is here, this slight, pale woman with an eager, ingratiating smile, who joins us today for the first time: it was her ancestor Betty Karnovski who started the group an age or two ago, so we had to take her in.