August Wilson has passed on.
Story can be found Here
August Wilson was one of America's great playwrights.
Since I'm from Pittsburgh, the place of his birth and the place he wrote about, often, I am especially touched by his life and death. More below.
"How do we transform loss? ... Time's healing balm is essentially a hoax. ... Haunted by the specter of my own death, I find solace in Ben's life."
August Wilson, speaking of the death of his friend and collaborator, Benjamin Mordecai.
Playwright August Wilson was born April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, where he grew up and matured his artist's vision. He moved to St. Paul, Minn., in 1978, and to Seattle, Wash., in 1990. But the Hill District of his Pittsburgh youth is remembered in the rich stream of stories, images and conflicts with which, in a play set in each decade of the 20th century, he has conquered the American theater. In the process, Wilson has opened new avenues for other black artists, changed the way theater approaches race and changed the business of theater, too.
Mr. Wilson was diagnosed with liver cancer in August. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did a lovely editorial shortly after he told the public about his illness.
Rest in peace, August. And thank you, a thousand times over, for making the world a more beautiful place.