Tag Archives: black women

Review of Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments

Posted on July 2, 2019 by

I have long been familiar with Dr. Saidiya Hartman’s brilliance; first through Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery and Self-Making in Nineteenth Century America (1997) and then through Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Coast (2008). As a post-doc, I … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday Octavia Butler!

Posted on June 22, 2019 by

Happy birthday Octavia Butler!! The genius writer Octavia Butler would have been 72 years today! An interview with Ms. Butler on “Transcending Boundaries” An NPR interview with Ms. Butler and an essay by her. She was the recipient of several … Continue reading →

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Review of Nafissa Thomas-Spires’ Heads of the Colored People

Posted on March 19, 2019 by

Nafissa Thompson-Spires’ short story collection Heads of the Colored People (2018) is incredibly SMART!! All of the stories are amazing—expertly crafted and honed works of literary genius. Some of them are very clearly connected by the individuals who are their subjects … Continue reading →

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Bonus! Review of Well-Read Black Girl and If Beale Street Could Talk

Posted on February 19, 2019 by

I’ve been thinking a lot about service lately; more specifically, I’ve been thinking about how people serve their communities in ways that ring true to them and are impactful. While there are things that we do that we can easily … Continue reading →

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Review of The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker

Posted on July 6, 2016 by

The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker, 208pp. The New Press, 2012, $13.56 paperback Alice Walker’s The Chicken Chronicles’ full title is The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting with the Angels who have returned with My Memories: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, … Continue reading →

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Review of Chinelo Okparanta’s Happiness Like Water

Posted on May 30, 2016 by

Happiness Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta, 196 pp., Mariner Books 2013, $9.96 paperback I actually finished reading Chinelo Okparanta’s Happiness Like Water several weeks ago, but sat on the review, trying to gain some distance from the work. Let me begin … Continue reading →

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Review of God Help the Child: A Novel

Posted on April 26, 2016 by

God Help the Child: A Novel by Toni Morrison, 192 pp. Alfred A. Knopf 2015. $16.58 hardcover   The ostensible protagonist of writer and critic Toni Morrison’s latest novel, God Help the Child, is Bride, a young woman who is described … Continue reading →

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