Toni Morrison’s brief description of Zora was: “One of the greatest writers of our time.” It is promising to believe she looks out from somewhere to watch the fruits of her lifelong and formerly underappreciated labor: generations who are the better for the Americana she captured and dignified.
Tag: #NegressionSuggestsBooks
The Best Black & African-American Books of 2013
2013 was a phenomenal year in literature for Black/African-American authors as well as the readers who love them. From a thirtysomething Chicagoan who re-defined the art of the 'rant' in her first book of essays (Samantha Irby's Meaty) to a respected non-fiction author trying her hand for the first time at a novel (Rebecca Walker's Ade: A Love … Continue reading The Best Black & African-American Books of 2013
SULA
In Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel Sula, published by Alfred Knopf at a time when “Black Power” commingled with Blaxploitation and Black revolution, three generations of impoverished Black "whores"—the third generation being educated, city-dwelling and experienced with “White men”—confront each other and their interior mysteries within their grand pre and post-Depression Ohio mansion. How is the home still standing? Who has passed through it? Who dies off within it? Who returns to claim it? Why are all levels occupied by vestiges of characters we would love to know better but almost hate to know at all—
Professor Winfrey*
Oprah Winfrey deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature for all she has done to keep books, writers and stories at the forefront of media today.