Below is the list of works I’m assigning the students in my "Black Women Writers" course this fall at Chicago State University. Notice the usual suspects are not on there. This is because I’ve found many of my students have already read (and are tired of) them. So, no Beloved, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Bluest Eye, Passing, etc. Those are great novels but I want to open it up a bit. Note: “black women writers” is not synonymous with “African American” writers. It’s the full Diaspora.
So what do you think?
Black Women Writers Fall 2012
Aya of Yop City by Marguerite Abouet
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Hérémakhonon by Maryse Conde
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid
Slave by Mende Nazer
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia