Yesterday we lost great novelist Louise Meriwether at her great age of 100. She was born on May 8, 1923 in Haverstraw, New York. She passed away in Harlem where she had lived most of her life, with influence from the Harlem Renaissance in her youth and membership in the famed Harlem Writers Guild.
Ms. Meriwether wrote DADDY WAS A NUMBER RUNNER (1970) and SHADOW DANCING (2000), won the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016, and was great friends with Maya Angelou. She was one of the very few living Black women novelists I heard of in my youth besides Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara and Alice Walker. She was beautifully hosted by Harlem Arts Salon in conversation with Bridgett Davis in one of her last rare appearances just a few years ago. Today the Feminist Press and TAYO Literary Magazine extend the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize for debut women/nonbinary writers of color.
It is disappointing The New York Times has no obituary for her as of this post despite just asking people to discover her in a 2021 in-depth profile. ABC News does, although it does not feature her photo. Please read it HERE. Enjoy her on this PBS American Masters Interview in 2014. And of course start or continue to read, teach and share her books.
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