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This inaugural collection of fiction brings together authors across the rich and varied African diaspora experience. Organized into short stories, novel excerpts, and young adult fiction, the collection offers a range of styles, textures, and settings. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies story is set in Nigeria, where American gangster-rap culture is permeating and guns and tortured loyalties became common. The U.S. and the Caribbean are the settings for Tiphanie Yaniques story of intergenerational show more and mixed-race tensions between two families. The collection includes an excerpt from Mat Johnsons historical novel set in eighteenth-century New York and an excerpt from Junot D-azs novelset in a contemporary urban ghetto. Also included are works by young adult authors Jacqueline Woodson and Walter Dean Myers. Not meant to be a definitive quasi-Norton edition, this engaging collection still shows the incredible range of talent and focus of fiction written by African Americans. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I love anthologies; they always introduce us to the fledgling efforts of new authors and the newest work of seasoned writers and thus set themselves apart from any other reading. This particular volume, the first of an anticipated series, has successfully done both things, and has tapped both the adult and young adult audiences with the selections.
I ran into some old friends (ZZ Packer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Helen Elaine Lee), was introduced to new ones (Amina Gautier, Tiphanie Yanique), and was pleasantly surprised by the 'young adult' selections made by the guest editor (E. Lynn Harris).
I actually purchased two books based on what I read in this anthology, and, that's the goal of the publisher, right? Moreover, I'm really show more looking forward to next year's volume of fiction writers. The editor next year is bound to bring another flavor and a new and different set of african american writers to further expand my reading experience. show less
I ran into some old friends (ZZ Packer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Helen Elaine Lee), was introduced to new ones (Amina Gautier, Tiphanie Yanique), and was pleasantly surprised by the 'young adult' selections made by the guest editor (E. Lynn Harris).
I actually purchased two books based on what I read in this anthology, and, that's the goal of the publisher, right? Moreover, I'm really show more looking forward to next year's volume of fiction writers. The editor next year is bound to bring another flavor and a new and different set of african american writers to further expand my reading experience. show less
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Author Information
Born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, E. Lynn Harris graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1977, earning a degree in journalism with honors. After college, Harris sold computers for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and AT&T for 13 years before quitting his job to write his first novel. The resulting book, show more Invisible Life, was self-published in 1992 and sold mostly at beauty salons and black-owned bookstores. After being published in trade paperback by Anchor Books, Invisible Life became the #1 book on the Blackboard Bestseller List of African-American Titles and spent a total of 25 consecutive months on the list. Harris was an openly gay African American and was best known for his depictions of African American men on the down low or in the closet. He won numerous awards for his work including two Novel of the Year Prizes by the Blackboard African-American Bestsellers, Inc. for Just As I Am and Any Way the Wind Blows, the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence for If This World Were Mine, and the Lambda Literary Award for the anthology Freedom in This Village. His other books include And This Too Shall Pass; Abide with Me; Not a Day Goes By; A Love of My Own; I Say a Little Prayer; What Becomes of the Brokenhearted; Just Too Good to Be True, and Basketball Jones. His work also appeared in American Visions, Essence, Washington Post Sunday Magazine, Sports Illustrated and the award-winning anthology Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America. He died on July 23, 2009 at the age of 54. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
All Editions
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Best African American Fiction (2009) (2009)
- Original publication date
- 2009-01-20
- Publisher's editor
- Early, Gerald (Series Editor)
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Teen, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 813.0108896073 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Short fiction
- LCC
- PS647 .A35 .B47 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 53
- Popularity
- 572,271
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
