Gaines is a graduate of San Francisco State College (now University) and pursued advanced studies at Stanford University. He holds several honorary degrees and has received numerous literary awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Louisiana Library Association Award, the Black Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, or "genius" award. He is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters and the Chevalier Order of Arts and Letters, France's highest literary honor. His works have been translated into several languages, including French, Japanese, Chinese, German, Norwegian, and Russian.
Although Gaines resists being categorized as a "black" or "Southern" writer, he believes that "much of our [African-American] history has not been told; our problems have been told, as if we have no history." Consequently, his novels provide a chronicle of American history from a black (Afrocentric) perspective. A recurring theme throughout Gaines' fiction is the search for dignity and masculine identity in a hostile, racist environment. As he points out in an interview, "The major conflict in my work is when the black male attempts to go beyond the line that is drawn for him." Although he consistently celebrates the pride and dignity of African Americans, he has often been criticized by black writers who feel that his works do not adequately portray the harsh realities of black life. During the late 1960s, at the height of the Black Arts/Black Power movement, Gaines was severely criticized by Black Power advocates for refusing to become emotionally involved in the Civil Rights movement. Convinced that "a writer should be as detached as a heart surgeon is from his work," Gaines refused to be swayed by his critics. In a 1993 interview, reflecting on that turbulent era, he remarked, "When Bull Connor turned the hoses on the marchers, I just said to myself, 'Write a better paragraph.'
