Two New Authors
It is no secret that white women my age did not gravitate to black authors in the same way we did to white authors. I am referring to my reading life as an adult, beginning in the 70’s. Through the years, thankfully, from book clubs, Oprah and other media sources, black authors across all literary genres have earned respect from a host of readers from all backgrounds, including myself. I share with you this entry after learning about two black authors years apart in time but grounded by the same purpose.
‘beckyonbooks’ featured Glory Edim’s new book Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books that Saved Me. Glory Edim is a Nigerian-American writer and entrepreneur who established a reading network entitled Well-Read Black Girl. Her purpose was to develop a space for Black women to discuss books by Black women writers. She went so far as to hold a literary festival in Brooklyn in September of 2017 that was completely sold out.
Rebecca Peace featured Edim’s new book because she recently came upon it and realized the value of looking at books that are important to someone who has different life experiences than oneself. What would be on your list of ‘books that saved me’?
Edim writes, “Books have been my ladder, my stepping stone, my therapist, my teacher, my medicine, my parents, my religion, my lover, my fool, my instructional manual for life……Books taught me to bloom.”
Time travel back to 1857 when an enslaved African escaped from a North Carolina plantation and ended up in New York. While hiding, she worked on the story about her escape to freedom. Somehow, the manuscript survived over one hundred years with no one really knowing for sure who the wrote the story. In 2001, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. bought the manuscript and published it under the name of The Bondwoman’s Narrative. Now, biographer Gregg Hecimovich has identified the author to be Hannah Crafts, the first known Black woman to write a novel. Heimovich has researched who Hannah Crafts was and heralds her talent as a gifted writer who, by all standards, was not educated or trained in literary matters. The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts was named as one of the ten best books of 2023 by the Washington Post.
Just as interesting as the life of Hannah Crafts is the way in which Gregg Hecimovich played detective to find the true name of the author of The Bondswoman’s Narrative. This is one story you will appreciate on several levels.