Dorothy Allison Obituary Greenville SC Death: American literary giant, true warrior, lesbian feminist icon, and truth-teller, Dorothy Allison has died. The 75-year-old passed away on Wednesday, November 2024. Allison was the author of the groundbreaking novel BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA.
The self-identified lesbian femme her work focused on class struggle, sexual abuse of children, and lesbianism. Allison died unexpectedly leaving her entire family devastated. Allison’s poetry chapbook, The Women Who Hate Me, was released in 1983 by the feminist publisher Long Haul Press in Brooklyn. Nancy Bereano of Firebrand Books published her collection of short tales, Trash, in 1988, and it received two Lambda Literary Awards and the American Library Association Award for Gay and Lesbian Writing
Allison’s novel Bastard Out of Carolina, released by Dutton in 1992, garnered widespread notice and praise; it was a best-seller and a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award. Bastard Out of Carolina tells the story of Bone, who is abused by her stepfather, just as Allison was. Bastard Out of Carolina remains popular among lesbian and feminist readers. It has been translated into over a dozen languages and adapted into a television film in 1996, directed by Anjelica Huston.
Allison’s essay collection, Skin: Talking about Sex, Class, and Literature, was released by Bereano’s Firebrand Books in 1994. Dutton’s memoir Two or Three Things I Know for Sure was published in 1995, and her second novel, Cavedweller, was released in 1998. Lisa Cholodenko turned Cavedweller into a film, which stars Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon.
Allison was a popular creative writing instructor, lecturer, and keynote speaker at several schools and universities, including Emory University and Davidson College. Throughout her life, she created erotica, or “smut,” which she shared with a select group of readers. She was a prolific correspondent, as were many of her generation’s writers. In 2024, she received the Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Alix Layman, Allison’s wife (after marriage equality, she always termed their relationship as “street legal”), died before her. She is survived by her beloved son Wolf, as well as a large number of close friends and acquaintances. Dorothy Allison’s life will be commemorated with memorial celebrations.
