“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”

American novelist and playwright of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, known for his stark, poetic prose and exploration of violence, morality, and the American South. His works like *Blood Meridian* and *No Country for Old Men* redefine literary Westerns and existential fiction.