After I got to my MFA in Wisconsin, I didn’t write the whole first semester because I was just struggling so hard with imposter syndrome that I was like, “Oh, god, they’re going find out that I don’t belong here and they’re going to send me back.” But at some point, I had this idea […]
We’ll share more news as the publication day approaches.
On April 20, 2021, 60-plus years after his death, the Library of America (LOA) will publish Wright’s The Man Who Lived Underground. This landmark novel, which his daughter, Julia Wright, unearthed at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and brought to LOA, tells the story of Fred Daniels, a Black man framed for a double murder […]
Library of America announces the release of Octavia E. Butler: Kindred, Fledgling, Collected Stories—the first volume in the projected complete works of a writer whose impact and influence on the genre can rightly be called transformative. Follow the link below for an interview with the volume’s editors, Nisi Shawl and Gerry Canavan. https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1824-the-worlds-of-octavia-e-butler-theres-real-danger-in-these-stories?fbclid=IwAR1qVgUfeW9ngzNo2eTxH02GZRWJNMMCNXsQWstveulK3EjUuQfDrIdlnm8
At a time in which video game references are still mostly consigned to YA and sci-fi books, Leilani has made them a central component of a literary novel. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/mar/11/raven-leilani-luster-video-games-final-fantasy?fbclid=IwAR3ZTiwCEwn28HzOQtB7Rl4vrOE7lPc_rP2c_lk11dXQ8NmwLVd7VDzzMGg
Congratulations to Kimbilio Fellow Deesha Philyaw for winning The Story Prize for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, published by West Virginia University Press! Kimbilio faculty member Danielle Evans was a runner up for her collection The Office of Historical Corrections (Riverhead Books). The Story Prize’s $20,000 top prize is among the largest first-prize amounts […]
We have learned of the passing of one of the leading lights in the African American literary community. Gloria Naylor inspired generations of writers, including many of our Kimbilio Fellows. Celebrate her life by grabbing your favorite Gloria Naylor novel from the shelf and remembering all she taught us. Ebony.com confirmed her passing and published a […]
When a Character Returns Edward P. Jones connected recurring characters through his short stories, providing a blueprint for one writer. From Catapult Woodrow and Rita Cunningham’s fifteen-year-old daughter Elaine left home after arguing with her father about the boys she entertained in the house while her parents were away. I turned the pages of “A […]
