Afrekete ─ An Anthology of Black Lesbian Writing

Destined to become a classic in the tradition of the best-selling Black-Eyed Susans/Midnight Birds and Erotique Noire/ Black Erotica. Afrekete gives collective voice to the tradition of black lesbian writing. In the vast and proliferating area of both African-American and lesbian and gay writing, the work of black lesbians is most often excluded or relegated to the margins. Afrekete meshes these seemingly disparate traditions and celebrates black lesbian experiences in all their variety and depth.

Elegant, timely, provocative, and inspiring, the fiction, poetry, and nonfiction in Afrekete -- written in a range of styles -- engage a variety of highly topical themes, placing them at the center of literary and social discourse. Beginning with "Tar Beach," an excerpt from Audre Lorde's celebrated memoir Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, which introduces the character Afrekete, the collection also includes such prominent writers as Michelle Cliff, Carolivia Herron, Jewelle Gomez, and Alexis De Veaux. Other pieces are by Jacqueline Woodson, Sapphire, Essence editor Linda Villarosa, and filmmaker Michelle Parkerson, with other contributions by exciting new writers Cynthia Bond, Jocelyn Taylor, Jamika Ajalon, and Sharee Nash.

Afrekete is a collection whose time has come. It is an extraordinary work, one of lasting value for all lovers of literature. A fresh, engaging journey, Afrekete will both inform and delight.

Contents:

Tar beach by Audre Lorde
American dreams by Sapphire
Testimony of a naked woman by Jocelyn Maria Taylor
Water call by Helen Elaine Lee
Tuesday, August third by Jacqueline Woodson
Dear Aunt Nanadine by Alexis De Veaux
Odds and ends by Michelle Parkerson
What has yet to be sung by Malkia Cyril
The old lady by Carolivia Herron
Wink of an eye by Jewelle Gomez
Kaleidoscope by Jamika Ajalon
Queen for 307 days by Jackie Goldsby
Where will you be? by Pat Parker
Screen memory by Michelle Cliff
Revelations by Linda Villarosa
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Dare by Melanie Hope
Take care by Sharee Nash
Ode to Aretha by Evelyn C. White
Today is not the day by Audre Lorde

Catherine E. McKinley is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she and L. Joyce DeLaney began their creative collaborations. She is a writer whose work has appeared in Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia and various magazines and journals. including Essence, Emerge, and Ms. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. L. Joyce DeLaney is a screenwriter and independent videomaker. She lives in Los Angeles.