Cultural Front: August 2019

Friday, August 30, 2019

110 novels by black men, 2000 - 2019

Here's another roundup of works -- this one focusing on novels published by black men since 2000. I've produced a few lists lately in an effort to share some of my bibliographic work. As always, it's a partial list.

[Related: 160 novels by black women, 2000 - 2019]

110 novels by black men, 2000 - 2019
2019
• The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Bivouac by Kwame Dawes
• A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin
• Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
• We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
• In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

2018
• Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
• Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley
• John Woman by Walter Mosley

2017
• So Much Blue by Percival Everett
• The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest Gaines
• To Funk and Die in LA by Nelson George
• August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones
• The Changeling by Victor LaValle
• As Lie Is to Grin by Simeon Marsalis
• Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell

2016
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
• Charcoal Joe by Walter Mosley
• Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

2020
• February 23: A checklist of Black Arts-related scholarship, 1999 - 2018

2019
• December 24: Poetry by black writers, 2000 - 2019
• December 21: Novels by black writers, 2000 - 2019
• December 17: Books about Hip Hop, 2000 - 2019
• December 16: Short story collections by black writers, 2000 - 2019
• November 19: A Roundup of African American single-author studies
• November 19: A Bibliography of Black Writer Biographies
• November 16: 50 Black Autobiographies and Memoirs, 1845 - 2019
• August 30: 110 novels by black men, 2000 - 2019
• August 25: 160+ novels by black women, 2000 - 2019
• June 29: 160 volumes of poetry by black women, 2000 - 2019
• June 9: From Jubilee to The Water Dancer: 25 novels about slavery

2018
• August 19: 50 scholarly books on black poetry, 1997-2018

2016
• May 29: Black men writers and creativity, 1995 - 2016
• May 27: The greatest 25 years in African American women's writing?

2015
• October 17: Books on Hip Hop

Related:
• Books noted lists

Sunday, August 25, 2019

160+ novels by black women, 2000 - 2019

It should go without saying, but I gotta say it: this is a partial, non-exhaustive list. Back in June, I produced a list of 160 volumes of poetry by black women, and I wanted to provide a complementary list of novels. Plus, I've been talking fiction with a few of my graduate students, and I realized that we did not have any single working list of what's been published.

2019
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

• My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi
• Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon
• American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
• Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
• The Travelers by Regina Porter
• Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

2018
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
• Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• Pride by Ibi Zoboi
• The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
• Mouths Don't Speak by Katia D. Ulysse
• The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• Children of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

2017
• An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

• Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
• Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
• American Street by Ibi Zoboi
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
• Copycat by Kimberla Lawson Roby
• The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard
• A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
• The Wide Circumference of Love by Marita Golden
• The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
• Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
• Binti 2: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
• Binti 3: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
• An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
• No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts
• What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

Black women artists by birth year for fall class

Here's a list of many of the black women poets, writers, and performers we'll cover this year in one of my African American literature courses.

Lucille Clifton

• Margaret Walker (1915-1998)
• Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
• Mari Evans (b. 1919 – 2017)
• Maya Angelou (b. 1928 - 2014)
• Toni Morrison (1931-2019)
• Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934)
• Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992)
• Jayne Cortez (1934 - 2012)
• Lucille Clifton (1936 – 2010)
• June Jordan (1936 – 2002)
• Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943)
• Marilyn Nelson (b. 1946)
• Wanda Coleman (1946 - 2013)
• Angela Jackson (b. 1951)
• Rita Dove (b. 1952)
• Harryette Mullen (b. 1953)
• Opal Palmer Adisa (b. 1954)

Nikky Finney

• Patricia Smith (b. 1955)
• Nikky Finney (b. 1957)
• Khandi Alexander (b. 1957)
• Elizabeth Alexander (b. 1962)
• Bahni Turpin (b. 1962)
• Vievee Francis (b. 1963)
• Evie Shockley (b. 1965)
• Allison Joseph (b. 1967)
• MC Lyte (b. 1970)
• Erykah Badu (b. 1971)
• jessica Care moore (b. 1971)
• Treasure Redmond (b. 1971)
• Lauryn Hill (b. 1975)
• Mahogany L. Browne (b. 1976)
• Nicki Minaj (b. 1982)
• Danielle Hall (b. 1983)

Jae Nichelle

• Cindy Reed (b. 1983)
• Angel C. Dye (b. 1994)
• Megan Thee Stallion (b. 1995)
• Alexandria Redfield (b. 1995)
• Samantha Adams (b. 1995)
• Carmin Wong (b. 1996)
• Jae Nichelle
• Porsha Olayiwola
• Airea D. Matthews

Related:
• Black women, creativity, and styles of delivery
• Poets by birth year

A tough summer of gun violence in St. Louis

What a brutal summer for families, especially black families in St. Louis. We've had at least 11 children homicides. Most of the deaths were gun-related.

Just yesterday, a 7-year-old boy was killed, a day before he was to begin second grade.

Earlier in the summer, I saw an article about gun legislation in Missouri. The reporter noted at one point that St. Louis Children’s Hospital "treats more gunshot wounds than almost any children’s hospital in the country."

Overall, according to many reports, violent crime is down in the U.S. But stats like those probably do little to console the families of those children killed this summer.

I clearly haven't found all the words yet, but I wanted to note that I've been thinking on these issues.

Related:
• Gun Violence

Monday, August 12, 2019

The modalities of Angel C. Dye

Early on this semester in my literature course on black women, creativity, and styles of delivery, I'll talk to students about Angel C. Dye, an emergent poet and scholar. Off the top when we met a few years back, Angel made two things about herself known: she was a proud Howard University student and a huge fan of Janelle Monáe. A bit after that, I learned that she's a poet.

I'll point out Angel to my students as someone their age who moves across various creative domains. I predict someone will note, "You mean, she code switches?" Ok, yeah, but it's more than that.

I mean, I know that code switching is a popular concept, but it doesn't always fully capture what it means for people to build expertise in distinct realms of knowledge. Nor does it account for the routes of an academic journey. That is, more than only switching, such journeys involve immersion and commitments.

Angel graduated from Howard University, went on to earn her MFA from the University of Kentucky, and is now beginning a PhD program in literature at Rutgers University. At the same time, she remains up-to-date as a pop culture aficionado -- a keen follower of Queen Sugar and all things J. Monáe.

Since my students and I are discussing styles of delivery, I'll note listening to Angel in multiple contexts. As a student in classroom discussions. As a presenter at academic conferences. As a homegirl talking among a group of black women. And as a poet on stage. A consideration of the modalities of Angel C. Dye, I'm hoping, will assist my students in thinking more about their own voices in the world.

Related:
• Black women, creativity, and styles of delivery

Generations and genres of black women writers

Nikki Giovanni listening to Carmin Wong

Margaret Walker. Gwendolyn Brooks. Toni Morrison. Nikki Giovanni. Lauryn Hill. Mahogany L. Browne. Megan Thee Stallion. Those are some of the writers/public presenters we'll cover in one of my literature courses this semester. We'll check out people who've published books, and we'll cover some whose works appear primarily on YouTube. I received cell phone recordings of poems from emergent poets Samantha Adams, Angel C. Dye, and Carmin Wong that we'll cover as well.

None of the 35 first-year collegiate black women currently enrolled in the class I'll teach are aspiring English majors. So more than preparing them for future studies in literature, we'll think about the continuities and variance among black women artists and delivery styles. In the process, we'll give thought to generational and genre shifts.

For all kinds of reasons, literature professors usually privilege printed texts in their classrooms. But what happens if we elevate sound texts? And what can first-year collegiate black women learn and contribute when listening and responding to a wide variety of black women ~~poets~~ presenters?

My conversations with dozens of black women students over the years, as well as my interactions with sound studies scholars have enhanced my approaches. I've been less inclined to tie myself too closely to the page. There's just so much dynamic, recorded verbal art out there to ignore.

I'm also excited about the range of creators we have to consider, even just within black women's poetry. This past June, I observed Dye and Wong interacting with Giovanni, who is five decades older than those two young poets. How do we account for all that has shaped their approaches to composing and presenting their works?

Related:
• Black women, creativity, and styles of delivery

Black women, creativity, and styles of delivery

This semester, I'm teaching an African American literature course focusing on black women, creativity, and styles of delivery. The course is comprised of 35 first-year, collegiate black women.

We'll cover a variety of topics and materials, and we'll have a recurring focus on varied ways that black women present ideas -- vocally and in print. I'll provide blog entries concerning the content, plans, and reflections about the course.

Entries
• Collegiate black women as reader-listener-viewers
• Black women's poetry: from Margaret Walker to Megan Thee Stallion
• Generations and genres of black women writers
• The modalities of Angel C. Dye
• Black women artists by birth year for fall class

Previous entries
• A notebook on the sound of black women poets
• 53 black women poets, 104 poems: Audio recordings
• Why some collegiate black women might find contemporary black poetry boring
• Understanding the favorite poets of black women students
• Dynamic black women speakers vs. flat sounding poets
• Why some black poetry sounds boring to black students (abstract)

Related:
• A Notebook on Collegiate Students

Friday, August 9, 2019

Visiting Heroic Adventures

Comic book wall at Heroic Adventures, 2013

Alright, it's been years since I wrote about Heroic Adventures, the main comic book store where I shop. But that's not a reflection of my real world activities. For the last 7 or so years now, I've stopped by the store nearly every Wednesday, which is New Comic Book Day, or #NCBD as folks say over on Twitter. Put another way, I've visited Heroic Adventures somewhere around 350 times since 2012.

I've now been frequenting the shop longer than many of the current employees. But that's not a big deal, as there are many folks who've been regulars there longer than me.

When I first started visiting, the only comic book on my pull list was The Walking Dead. I would pick up other titles here and there, and I eventually added Chew. I progressed to a few more comics, including Thief of Thieves, Noble, Clones, Superb, and more.

Comic book wall at Heroic Adventures, 2017

These days, I'm reading Black Panther, Ironheart, Farmhand, a few different titles written by Bryan Hill, and other selections. My pull is modest. I still enjoy chatting with the folks in the store, and I'm always down to do some browsing.

Checking out the dozens of colorful titles on the wall each week energizes my creativity. Or maybe just my curiosity. Who's writing, drawing, and reading all these various comic books? And who knew so much was out there?

I take some time to look over things and ponder. But I almost always stick to my pull list. It feels like I work hard to keep up with what I have. Plus, I tend to want to read several reviews and commentary before settling on a single title.

Comic book wall Heroic Adventures, 2019

For the last year, I have co-taught a course on comic books. I'll continue co-teaching the course this coming semester. I'm always encouraging students to visit a comic bookstore, which give an even broader sense of the culture surrounding the books we cover.

Related:
• A Notebook on Comic Books

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Coverage of Toni Morrison's passing

Toni Morrison died on August 5, 2019. News of her death began to circulate the following day.

• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88 - Margalit Fox - New York Times
• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison, a Writer of Many Gifts Who Bent Language to Her Will - Dwight Garner -New York Times
• Aug. 6: The Essential Toni Morrison Reader - Tina Jordan - New York Times
• Aug. 6: Beyond the Books: Toni Morrison’s Essays and Criticism - Tina Jordan - New York Times
• Aug. 6: What Do Toni Morrison’s Books Mean to You? - Amy Zerba - New York Times

• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison was both a mirror and a map - Lynell George - Los Angeles Times
• Aug. 6: 12 of Toni Morrison’s Most Memorable Quotes - New York Times

• Aug. 6: Remembering Toni Morrison - Wendi Maloney - Library of Congress Blog
• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison: The Woman Who Taught Me That I’m Not Alone - M. Yvonne Taylor - Daily Beast
• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison’s Song of America - Tracy K. Smith - New York Times
• Aug. 6: Don’t Call Toni Morrison a Poet - Emma Goldberg - New York Times
• Aug. 6: Writers and Thinkers Remember Toni Morrison - New York Times
• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison Dancing: Photos of the Author at Work and Play - Veronica Chambers - New York Times
• Aug. 6: What Toni Morrison’s Words Meant to Readers - Amy Zerba - New York Times

• Aug. 6: Toni Morrison, 'Beloved' author and Nobel laureate, dies at 88 - Melonyce McAfee - CNN

• Aug. 7: ‘Goodness: Altruism and the Literary Imagination’ - Toni Morrison - New York Times

• Aug. 7: Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Others React to Toni Morrison’s Death - New York Times

• Aug. 7: Yearning for a Blessing From Toni Morrison - Imani Perry - The Cut
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison Taught Me How to Think - Wesley Morris - New York Times

• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison, Revolutionary Political Thinker - Angela Davis and Farah Jasmine Griffin - New York Times

• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison refused to frame her work for a white audience - Janell Ross - NBC News

• Aug. 7: Poet Eugene Redmond on the legacy of Toni Morrison - CBC Radio
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison: farewell to America's greatest writer - Chigozie Obioma - The Guardian
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison saw into the heart of America - Jane Carr - CNN
• Aug. 7: The eternal fruit of Toni Morrison's Iroko tree - Nanjala Nyabola - Al Jazeera
• Aug. 7: They read Toni Morrison in school — and she changed their world - Valerie Strauss - Washington Post
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison and what our mothers couldn't say - Doreen St. Félix - New Yorker
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison taught me to read - Cleyvia Natera - Washington Post
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison Gave My Own Story Back to Me - Brandon Taylor - Electric Lit
• Aug. 7: Black Writers In Boston Remember Iconic Author Toni Morrison - Arielle Gray - WBUR
• Aug. 7: Readers remember Toni Morrison - Guardian readers and Naomi Larsson - The Guardian
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison, author baptized Catholic as child, dies at age 88 - Carol Zimmerman - Crux
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison: 1931-2019 - Robert Daniels - Roger Ebert
• Aug. 7: Daughters of Toni: A Remembrance - Zadie Smith - Pen America
• Aug. 7: I’m still crying. Unpacked my Toni books even though I don’t have a bookshelf yet. - Angel C. Dye - Twitter
• Aug. 7: Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni & Sonia Sanchez Pay Tribute - Democracy Now
• Aug. 7: Remembering Toni Morrison, 'A Friend Of Our Minds' - On Point
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison, Activist - Joy James - Boston Review
• Aug. 7: Meaning, Without the White Gaze - Rebecca Carroll - The Atlantic
• Aug. 7: The Generosity Of Toni Morrison - Hanif Abdurraqib - BuzzFeed
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison and ‘the Human Project’ - Robert Greene II - The Nation
• Aug. 7: Remembering Toni Morrison - R. Spaeth, C. Smith M. Smith, N. Painter, J. Livingtson - New Republic
• Aug. 7: For Toni Morrison, Who Taught Me to See - Jamil Smith - Rolling Stone
• Aug. 7: What I Learned As Toni Morrison’s Personal Assistant - John Hoppenthaler - The Cut
• Aug. 7: Honoring Toni Morrison's Work and Legacy - Tayari Jones - Time
• Aug. 7: Let Toni Morrison's Wisdom Guide You Through Life - Elena Nicolaou - Refinery29
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison Told the Story of America - Britt Julious - Vice
• Aug. 7: Morrison was wickedly funny and made a mean carrot cake - Christie D'Zurilla - Los Angeles Times
• Aug. 7: That Time Toni Morrison Thought Her Nobel Prize win was a hoax - Mark Burger
• Aug. 7: Deborah McDowell lauds powerful prose of her friend, Toni Morrison - Anne E. Bromley - UVAToday
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison: America's truth-teller - The Editorial Board - The Toledo Blade
• Aug. 7: Going to the movies with Toni Morrison - Kevin Young - New Yorker
• Aug. 7: Baltimore artist honors Toni Morrison with mural - Sameer Rao - Baltimore Sun
• Aug. 7: Reflecting on the Literature and Legacy of Toni Morrison - KQED
• Aug. 7: Toni Morrison’s Black Art Spoke in a Nation That Would Silence Us - Eisa Nefertari Ulen - Truthout
• Aug. 8: RC Flags at Half-Staff to Honor Toni Morrison - Rockland County Times
• Aug. 8: The lessons of Toni Morrison - Mary C. Curtis - Roll Call
• Aug. 8: Toni Morrison leaves a literary legacy that's larger than words - Jamyra Perry - Philadelphia Tribune
• Aug. 8: Toni Morrison: A radical ancestor - Danielle Bowler - New Frame
• Aug. 8: Toni Morrison: American literary giant - Tessa Roynon - This is Africa
• Aug. 8: Toni Morrison Was Game Changer - Ron Wynn - The Tennessee Tribune
• Aug. 8: Kara Walker’s Toni Morrison - Françoise Mouly - New Yorker
• Aug. 8: Artists Expressing How [Morrison] Moved Them - Victoria L. Waletine - Culture Type
• Aug. 8: Visionary: Toni Morrison - 1A
• Aug. 8: America readers remember Toni Morrison - American Magazine
• Aug. 8: An American great - Michiko Kakutani - The Guardian
• Aug. 8: The imaginative worlds of Toni Morrison - Jade Bentil - Prospect
• Aug. 8: Celebrating Toni Morrison’s D.C. Roots And Legacy - Kojo Nnamdi Show
• Aug. 8: Remembering Toni Morrison - Irma McClaurin - Insight News
• Aug. 8: Toni Morrison’s Cosmos - Jesse McCarthy - The Nation
• Aug. 8: Remembering Toni Morrison: UW–Madison Professor Offers Reading Recommendations - Public Now
• Aug. 8: I Was Hesitant To Write About The Holocaust — Until Toni Morrison - Rachel Kadish - Forward
• Aug. 8: Kara Walker, ‘New Yorker’ produced Morrison cover in less than 24 hours - Sarah Cascone - ArtNetNews
• Aug. 9: What Toni Morrison Understood about Hate - David Remnick - New Yorker
• Aug. 9: The Legacy of Toni Morrison - Roxane Gay - New York Times
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison Showed Us That Our People Were...Enough - Mitchell S. Jackson - Esquire
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison, American author, 1931-2019 - Erica Wagner - Financial Times
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison’s work with Muhammad Ali - Kevin B. Blackistone - Washington Post
• Aug. 9: How Toni Morrison Might Say Goodbye - Jabari Asim - WBUR
• Aug. 9: The Books Briefing: What Toni Morrison Saw - Rosa Inocencio Smith - The Atlantic
• Aug. 9: An Appreciation: Toni Morrison and the Need for Tomorrows - Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison Made Words Burn and Cry - Marlon James - Time
• Aug. 9: Penn remembers and celebrates Toni Morrison - Brandon Baker - Penn Today
• Aug. 9: A Letter to Toni Morrison - Kim McLarin - American Prospect
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison knew the raw power of language - Editorial Board - Toronto Star
• Aug. 9: Toni Toni Toni: On the Death of a Shero - Kierna Mayo - AfroPunk
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison’s Life in Publishing - Calvin Reid - Publishers Weekly
• Aug. 9: Can there be another Toni Morrison? - Mark Chiusano - The Daily Star
• Aug. 9: Eight black women on Toni Morrison’s life, legacy - Michelle Obama et al. - Washington Post
• Aug. 9: I Was Wandering. Toni Morrison Found Me. - Jesmyn Ward - New York Times
• Aug. 9: Toni Morrison Changed Literature and the World - Scott Woods - Legacy.com
• Aug. 10: How Toni Morrison inspired black bookstore on Instagram - Max Marin - BillyPenn
• Aug. 10: ‘We always knew she was on our side’ - Bernardine Evaristo - The Guardian
• Aug. 10: Morrison novels have been borrowed nearly 5,000 - CD Davidson-Hiers - Tallahassee Democrat
• Aug. 10: The Last Great American Novelist - Ross Douthat - New York Times
• Aug. 10: Toni Morrison’s gift was to make black people feel seen - Irenosen Okojie - The Guardian
• Aug. 10: Toni Morrison, Remembered by writers - New Yorker
• Aug. 10: Indelible Substance of a semester with Toni Morrison - Troy Patterson - New Yorker
• Aug. 11: Toni Morrison remembered - multiple writers - The Guardian
• Aug. 11: Toni Morrison remembered - Édouard Louis - The Guardian:
• Aug. 11: Lorain’s Morrison captured African-American lives in luminous fiction - Karen R. Long - Cleveland.com
• Aug. 11: 12 Great Toni Morrison Quotes to remember - Holly Genovese - Book Riot
• Aug. 11: Toni Morrison taught me many things - Kay Wicker - ThinkProgress
• Aug. 11: How much Toni Morrison meant (letter to the editor) - Mary Helen Washington - Washington Post
• Aug. 11: Toni Morrison: here are her five standout writings - The Citizen
• Aug. 12: Book Twitter Remembers Toni Morrison - Susie Dumond - Book Riot
• Aug. 12: Toni Morrison, public intellectual - K. Biswas - New Statesman
• Aug. 12: Timeless words from Toni Morrison's books - Times Live/ Sunday Times
• Aug. 12: A Tribute to Toni Morrison - multiple authors - Publishers Weekly
• Aug. 12: A collaborative tribute to Toni Morrison - multiple authors - New Frame
• Aug. 12: What The Bluest Eye Taught Me About Being a Black Girl - Jamilah Lemieux - Refinery29
• Aug. 12: Toni Morrison's Legacy - featuring Evelyn Schreiber - Studio 5 on AMI-audio
• Aug. 13: How Toni Morrison’s legacy plays out in South Africa’s universities - The Conversation
• Aug. 13: Remembering literary giant Toni Morrison from Lorain - Jeff Darcy - Cleveland.com
• Aug. 13: Toni Morrison, 1931—2019 - Eve R. Stone Light - Socialist Worker
• Aug. 13: The words and worlds of Toni Morrison - Anastasya Eliseeva - New Frame
• Aug. 13: A Tribute to Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison - Marilyn Mobley - Diverse Issues in Higher Education
• Aug. 13: Growing Up With Toni Morrison - The Cut
• Aug. 13: Toni Morrison, 1931-2019 - Danielle A. Jackson - Longreads
• Aug. 13: Our Professor: Toni Morrison Memory - Houston A. Baker, Jr. - Duke University Press
• Aug. 13: What Toni Morrison Knew About Trump - Syreeta Mcfadden - The Atlantic
• Aug. 14: What Morrison Meant To Black Women Writers, In Their Own Words - Kristian Wilson - Bustle
• Aug. 14: Magical realism is for us by us and Toni Morrison was the Queen - Nicole Young - Book Riot
• Aug. 14: In Toni Morrison’s Hometown, the Familiar Has Become Foreign - Tara L. Conley - City Lab

• Aug. 14: My Profound Appreciation for Toni Morrison - Khalilah T. Watson Muhammad - Final Call

• Aug. 14: Toni Morrison: an unapologetic literary ‘prophet’ - Nisa Islam Muhammad - Final Call
• Aug. 14: It's August, so I wanted to let you know about a few books - Barack Obama - Facebook
• Aug. 15: Toni Morrison and the Music of Black Life - Daphne A. Brooks - Pitchfork
• Aug. 15: On the passing of the unparalleled Toni Morrison - Sharma Shields - Inlander
• Aug. 15: New Orleans writers to honor Toni Morrison - Kaylee Poche - Gambit
• Aug. 15: Toni Morrison made a memorable visit to Rochester - Maxine Childress Brown - Democrat & Chronicle
• Aug. 15: Morrison’s Passing Loss for the Racial Justice Community - Marc H. Morial - Charleston Chronicle
• Aug. 16: Grieving Toni Morrison through the words she left behind - Megan Burbank - Seattle Times
• Aug. 16: Morrison’s ‘Beloved’: A Gothic Classic of Black Horror Media - Donyae Coles - Bloody Disgusting
• Aug. 16: Obama’s summer reading list ...nod to Morrison - Michael Schaub - Los Angeles Times
• Aug. 16: A reflection on friendship, banter with Toni Morrison - Brittany Britto - Houston Chronicle
• Aug. 17: Toni Morrison’s former students reflect - Travis DeShong - Washington Post
• Aug. 17: 5 Picture Books by Toni Morrison and her son Slade Morrison - Alison Doherty - Book Riot
• Aug. 17: The Interviews Of Toni Morrison: Beyond The Written Word - Lauren Prestia - Study Breaks
• Aug. 17: Will we read Toni Morrison in troubled times? Yes, we will. - Paromita Patranobish - Scroll
• Aug. 17: The Ancestral Blessings of Toni Morrison and Paule Marshall - Edwidge Danticat - New Yorker
• Aug. 18: Letter to the Editor - Marilyn Valentino - Cleveland.com
• Aug. 18: Toni Morrison and Digital Humanities - Malika Imhotep - Berkeley Center for New Media
• Aug. 22: Toni Morrison and the Black Radical Tradition - Konstantina Karageorgos - Jacobin Magazine
• Aug. 22: Moments, Memories with Toni Morrison - A. Coke. Q & M. Troupe, I. Reed - LA Review of Books

Related:
• Toni Morrison's greeting to the people of Martinique during the Bench Placement in 2013
• An interview with Toni Morrison from 1976 - Richard Asinof - Convergence RI
• A Notebook on Toni Morrison
• Coverage of books, authors & special topics

Friday, August 2, 2019

Slavery and Poetic Imagination

This fall semester, like many in the past, my students and I will cover several poems about ex-slaves such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and others. For decades, African American poets have written about those figures, and in the process contributed to one of the most crucial African American creative domains: slavery.

Creative domains, that is, the general knowledge and creative products in a realm, are what artists and other creators draw from and contribute to as they compose various works. Slavery is often discussed a historical subject, but it is also a realm of knowledge that continually spurs creativity.

In the field of literary studies, slave narratives and novels, especially those known as neo-slave narratives, have generated the most consistent critical acclaim concerning slavery. However, large numbers of poets have written about slavery. They have been particularly inclined to produce writings about ex-slaves.

We have Robert Hayden on Frederick Douglass. Lucille Clifton on Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. Marilyn Nelson on Venture Smith and and Fortune. Frank X. Walker on York. Elizabeth Alexander, Sam Cornish, Opal Palmer Adisa, and Alvin Aubert on Nat Turner. And that's not including the many slavery references in rap music.

Related:
• Poems about slavery and struggles for liberation

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Blogging about poetry in July 2019

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• July 1: "The presence of Nikki Giovanni ... was extraordinary"
• July 1: Blogging about poetry in June 2019

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