Bo Bryan

Bo Bryan (born October 17, 1948) is a Southern writer, novelist, best known for nonfiction, a regional bestseller SHAG,The Legendary Dance of the South. SHAG won awards for design and content. Bryan’s novel, Bitsty Nickel Might Have AIDS, generated controversy in the early ‘90‘s. The novel was optioned for film. Bryan abruptly departed the Southern literary scene in 1997. He is known to have produced a quantity of work since then but has published nothing in recent years.

Early life

Born George Waller Bryan, Junior, the author writes under his family nickname “Bo”. He was raised in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a seaside resort and carnival town. Bryan’s writing often explores the vacation mentality, the desire for escape from ordinary life, the temporary disregard of ordinary morality and its consequences.

Bryan’s ultra-conservative family was instrumental in founding and developing Myrtle Beach, which Bryan finds ironic, given the libertine nature of many amusements found there. His locally legendary grandfather was a carnival boss and village tycoon. His father, a lawyer and no less a local legend, prosecuted war criminals in Germany after WWII. George Waller Bryan, Senior (nicknamed “Buster”) went on to develop real estate, a hotel, and several golf courses, including the famed The Dunes Club. Buster Bryan was considered visionary for packaging golf course greens fees and hotel accommodations, attracting tens of thousands of new customers to Myrtle Beach. Bo Bryan was expected to follow in the footsteps.