UGA author Kilgo dies at 61

ATHENS - Author Jim Kilgo, who wrote ``Daughter of My People,&#39;&#39; died Sunday in Athens as friends sang hymns outside his hospital room. He was 61. <br> <br> Kilgo had been battling cancer more than 10 years and had been in intensive care for nearly a week. He was a professor at the University of Georgia from 1967 to 1999 and headed the creative writing department from 1994 to 1996. <br> <br> Kilgo, of Darlington, S.C., published ``Daughter of My People&#39;&#39; in 1998, and it later won the Townsend Prize for Fiction. Set in rural South Carolina in the early 20th century, the novel explores race, ties to the land and familial bonds in the post-Civil War South. <br> <br> He also wrote ``Deep Enough for Ivory Bills,&#39;&#39; ``Inheritance of Horses,&#39;&#39; ``The Hand-Carved Creche&#39;&#39; and ``Colors of Africa,&#39;&#39; which is scheduled for publication in March 2003. <br> <br> Kilgo was ``one of the great lovers of language, and one of the great storytellers,&#39;&#39; retired University of Georgia professor Coleman Barks told the Athens Banner-Herald.