Practice Makes…
Working on Moonrise one last time. Loving my novel more than ever and thankful for the journey to get here. Though an artist of a different time, medium, and stratosphere, Michaelangelo approached...
View ArticleReaching Forward, Reaching Back
I jumped up with the bell, prepared to make good my escape. But as my classmates milled around, blocking any speedy exit, He asked me to stay behind. Again. It was the second time in as many days that...
View ArticleTracks
“Her eyes seek permission to settle next to me. To me. Yet in her eyes and slight, polite smile, there is no recognition of my face. Just the muted, demure acknowledgment of a similarly aged,...
View ArticleWriting to Preserve My Family on the Page
“Family has blessed my life and trusted me to tell our stories for true. To render us on the page in recognizable ways. From the first word to the last.”artwork courtesy of Catapult; Jacket design...
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The PEN TEN: An Interview with Jamila Minnicks
“The words truth and fiction seem at odds because fiction is, by definition, a product of our imagination. But bell hooks told us: “To be truly visionary, we have to root our imagination in our...
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The Rumpus Most Beautiful Books of 2022
“Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a thought-provoking and enchanting debut about a Black woman doing whatever it takes to protect all she loves at the beginning of...
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Poets&Writers Ten Questions for Jamila Minnicks
“My approach to historical fiction is to write from a place of honesty, creativity, compassion, and intelligence to avoid creating historical distortion, and I always believed that if I wrote with...
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The Rumpus Interview: Connecting our Past to our Present
“Our language reflects our personal history and culture. I try my best to preserve language because it is one way we can connect our past to our present. Alice didn’t just fall out of the sky and land...
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To Have, To Hold
Judging by the way victory drained from Malachai’s eyes, he never expected another key. I guess that all-important, all-French phone call wasn’t so urgent after all. Without the espresso to his lips,...
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Footprints In Alabama
Photo (c) Cole Thompson “My mama’s family is Alabama for at least four generations. Though I grew up in Illinois, my soul is rooted here. So whenever anyone narrows their eyes and cocks their head to...
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