Doing Toni Proud… Four Black Women Authors Speak

Toni Morrison can be proud of other Black American women authors’ unabashed portrayals of Black American people as honorable but flawed, saintly but imperfect, and whole but struggling in ways both certainly and only gently connected to racism.

Toni Morrison and Boy George Cover Billie Holiday

Morrison has proved to be the most thorough documentarian of African-American female existence in all its forms: in the womb, baby, child, girl, woman, senior, from the afterlife. The mantra of "God bless the child..." is actually her most consistent answer to black women. Enjoy Holiday's original version, as well as a neat cover by Boy George and Micah Paris.

A Story and a Mentor’s Memoir

Look into my new story just published in Crack the Spine Literary Magazine: "The Incredibly Short Love Affair of Sixo Reese"... and the memoir WHAT COMES NEXT AND HOW TO LIKE IT by Abigail Thomas, the magnificent writer and teacher who taught the workshop where the story was born.

I Miss E. Lynn Harris.

20 Years Later: This summer Harlem's famed Apollo Theatre will present the musical adaptation of E. Lynn Harris's debut novel, Invisible Life..

International Women’s Day: 10 Women to Read

Here is a list of diverse women writers around the globe, many of foreign descent but living and writing in the United States. Whether writing explicitly about women's oppression and political unrest in literary fiction or veiling such concerns within the conventions of popular genres, these voices from the mainstream margins are central figures within their own cultures and among women writers everywhere.

Have You Heard? Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Set in Rhodesia in the 1960's, Tsitsi Dangarembga's NERVOUS CONDITIONS (1988) is a classic novel enduring unto today for its memorable protagonist and strong statements about gender inequities of women, stolen educational access and resource gaps in a politically-charged nation.

10 Black Women Writers To Read This Black History Month

These women came before Kindle, and forever changed opportunities available to Black women authors in America.