The Practical Heart

Allan Gurganus (born June 11, 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist best known for his debut novel Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1989), a New York Times bestseller that sold over four million copies, won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was adapted for television and Broadway. Other notable works include White People (1991), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Plays Well with Others (1997), The Practical Heart (2001), and Local Souls (2013); he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.