Writer Alec Wilkinson remembers his friend and mentor William Maxwell who died Monday at the age of 91. Wilkinson is a staff writer for the New Yorker, and has been there since 1980. His book, “Midnights: A Year With the Wellfleet Police” (Hungry Mind Press) was recently released in paperback.

Writer Alec Wilkinson remembers his friend and mentor William Maxwell who died Monday at the age of 91. Wilkinson is a staff writer for the New Yorker, and has been there since 1980. His book, “Midnights: A Year With the Wellfleet Police” (Hungry Mind Press) was recently released in paperback.

Writer Alec Wilkinson is the author of new memoir, My Mentor: A Young Man's Friendship with William Maxwell (Houghton Mifflin) about his relationship with writer and editor William Maxwell. Maxwell was fiction editor for the New Yorker from 1936-1976 and worked with such authors as J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, John Updike, Eudora Welty and scores of others. Maxwell was the author of a number of novels, including Time Will Darken It, and So Long, See You Tomorrow, as well as several short story collections. He died at the age of 91 in August 2000.

Writer Alec Wilkinson. Cutting sugar cane is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. In Florida, workers are recruited from the West Indies in what some are calling modern day slavery. Wilkinson exposes the sugar cane industry in his new book "Big Sugar." Wilkinson's past books include "Moonshine: A Life in Pursuit of White Liquor," and "Midnights: A Year with the Wellfleet Police." Wilkinson is also a staff writer for the New Yorker; Big Sugar originally appeared as a series of articles in the magazine.