[Review of] Shay Youngblood. The Big Mama Stories

Shay Youngblood learns how to tell stories from her many Big Mamas. The tales answer questions about her biological mother who is dead, what it means to be a woman, and how it feels to be black in Princeton, Georgia, prior to the civil rights movement. The voices of Big Mama, Miss Emma Lou, Aunt Mae and others leap off the page, and take readers on a journey into homes, on porches, and down the river fishing. Each story is a piece of a puzzle that adds to form a complete picture of the protagonist

[Review of] Margaret B. Wilkerson, ed. 9 Plays by Black Women

Black women writers, primarily novelists, have taken center stage for the last two decades, but black women playwrights have not been given similar coverage. The explanation, in part, is that plays are often only published after successful productions, and the plays by the majority of black women have only been produced in local, small theaters. Consequently, their works have not been given serious critical attention. Margaret Wilkerson\u27s 9 Plays by Black Women showcases plays by established and well celebrated black female playwrights, like Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Ntozake Shange, and Beah Richards as well as less well-known playwrights whose works deserve to be produced more widely such as P. J. Gibson, Kathleen Collins, Aishah Rahman and Alexis De Veaux

[Review of] Susheila Nasta, ed. Motherlands: Black Women\u27s Writing from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia

In recent years writings by black women outside of the US have gained acceptance, and many such works have been included in syllabi. Motherlands provides critical, comparative analyses of several important black women (Asian women are included in this category) writing throughout the world, and as such, sets a precedent as it is probably the first such collection. Divided into three sections, Mothers/Daughters/Mother(land), the essays examine writers who have become icons, Bessie Head, Jean Rhys, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, Nawal el Sa\u27 adawi, Michelle Cliff, Joan Riley, Lorna Goodison, and Nayantara Sahgal. Some of the essays, however, explore use of language, Velma Pollard\u27s Mothertongue Voices in the Writing of Olive Senior and Lorna Goodison, and the theme of nationalism in Ranjana Ash\u27s The Search For Freedom in Indian Women\u27s Writing

[Review of] Jewell Parker Rhodes. Voodoo Dreams

Until I read Jewell Parker Rhodes very finely crafted novel, Voodoo Dreams, Marie Laveau, the New Orleans voodoo queen loomed invincible, beyond the reaches of anyone: man, woman, Black, or white. But in this novel Rhodes skillfully humanizes Laveau by presenting the majority of characters, including our heroine, as soared people motivated by their insecurities and fears. Those who are bold enough to seize the opportunities presented to them, such as John, Marie Laveau’s vicious lover, exploit their power and manipulate others for their own glory. The Marie Laveau that we meet in this novel is the third in a line of voodooienne; she is a novice priestess, and a victim of domestic violence, which is perpetuated by her own distorted sexual attraction to John. John was also her mother’s lover and his actions precipitated her mother’s death. Mostly, Marie Laveau is a victim of ignorance

[Review of] Doris Davenport. Voodoo Chile -Slight Return: Poems

doris davenport\u27s poetry collection, Voodoo Chile - Slight Return, firmly connects her to the southern African roots that she embraces. The poems speak from the perspective of a world-traveled feminist as well as a concerned humanist. davenport\u27s poetry moves between being so caustic they singe, to an almost light-hearted, humorous tone. In both extremes, davenport\u27s underlining motive seems to be to expose ills and ridicule contradictions inherent in the society