Novelist Ernest Gaines to be honored on U.S postage stamp

Novelist Ernest J. Gaines, whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation inspired stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty, will be depicted on a U.S. postage stamp to be issued in January. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette said in a release that the stamp will be the 46th in the U.S. Postal Service's Black Heritage series. It will feature an oil painting of Gaines, based on a photograph that portrays Gaines wearing his trademark beret. The acclaimed author died in November 2019 at age 86. He was writer-in-residence emeritus at UL-Lafayette, where he taught creative writing from 1983 until his retirement in 2010.