In a country that claims hockey, maple syrup and a turpentine-flavored cough medicine called Buckley’s as pillars of its national identity, it’s rare to find a black woman at the center of a media frenzy. But such was the case last week when Esi Edugyan, a 33-year-old writer, won the most prestigious literary award in […]
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison (1931-2019) was a celebrated novelist best known for her works such as Beloved, Sula and Song of Solomon. She was the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Sex, Power and Truth: Anita Hill 20 Years Later
Almost everyone has an Anita Hill story. Some of us remember exactly where we were when that theater of sex, race and gender called a “hearing” was broadcast in primetime. Others recall water-cooler and sidewalk conversations and debates about guilt and innocence, about sexual harassment as a “white lady’s problem,” about the effect of the […]
Writing Children’s Books While Black and Feminist
As an emerging young-adult author and activist blogger, I jumped at the opportunity to talk diversity in publishing with Jacqueline Woodson–one of the few queer, Black or feminist writers of bestselling contemporary children’s books. An author of 30 acclaimed books for young readers, Woodson is a legend in the world of children’s literature. I was […]
Ending Black History Month With Gusto
We’ve reached the fateful end of February–it had to happen at some point–and Black History Month has come to a close. Not sure how to commemorate the end of the month? Ms. has a few suggestions for you: First, try taking a walk with Sojourner Truth or maybe talking about race and reproductive rights with Dorothy […]
Haiti One Year Later: Edwidge Danticat Wants Us To Create Dangerously
“Truth is trouble,” wrote Toni Morrison in the 2009 anthology she edited, Burn This Book. Trouble for a comatose public, for a corrupt justice system: Certain kinds of trauma visited on peoples are so deep, so cruel, that … only writers can translate such trauma and turn sorrow into meaning, sharpening the moral imagination. And […]
Beyond “For Colored Girls”: The Quiz
The recent release of Tyler Perry’s film For Colored Girls has sparked a resurgence of interest in Ntozake Shange’s work. But let’s not forget about all the other incredible African American women who have shaped our view of the world through their plays, poetry, prose and dramatic performance. How well do you know these trailblazing […]
Black-Grrl Power: Willow Smith and Sesame Street
There has been quite the response–supportive and enthusiastic–to Sesame Street‘s ode to loving black girls’ hair, and it’s deserved: Not since bell hooks’ children’s book Happy to Be Nappy has there been such an enthusiastic celebration of black hair for kids. For so many of us black women, who grew up with external messages informing […]
How I Picked 10 Best Feminist Teen Books of All Time
For my new Ms. magazine article on feminist young-adult fiction (YA), I set out to pick 10 Must-Reads–those books which every 13-year-old with a spark of gender consciousness should have on her (or his) bookshelf. Or, as I say in the piece, those books that offer young protofeminists “refuge or escape–or provide our first ‘click!’ […]
Dare to Read a Banned Book Today!
September 25th through October 2nd is the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, showcasing those dangerous tomes that might warp the minds of young and old alike! Perhaps they touch on–lower your voice–sex. Or sexism. Or racism. Or on progressive politics. Perhaps they’re anti-war! In any case, someone or some group has either challenged these […]