ESSENCE of WOMANIST Black Women Writers

As we burrow deeper into the 21st Century, Author Alice Walker's definitive label for womanish BLACK women from all walks of life, "WOMANIST", has grown in stature and bittersweet meaning.  For it was Alice Walker who said, "Womanist is to feminist what lavender is to purple".  This page is an introduction to (just some) of the great womanist women of Black Women's literature--as chosen by myself and other female students at Howard University in Washington, D.C.  We give props to these bold, brave and brazen big-hearted mother-women and we highly recommend that those who discover this page...discover THEM, too.

TONI MORRISON, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature is, without peer, the greatest writer of the 20th Century.

ALICE WALKER, the womanist who started it all!  As an author, humanitarian, environmentalist and MEDIUM, she has come to embody the very meaning of the word she gave to us, "WOMANIST".

Christened by Toni Morrison as one of the fresh new voices of the future--England's ZADIE SMITH has us all waiting for her next masterpiece.

The only woman whose work could be placed alongside that of Walker and Morrison, GLORIA NAYLOR is fast becoming an icon in her own right.  We call her "MAMA DAY".

SISTER SOULJA..the womanist writer of the HIP HOP revolution..and President Clinton's least favorite American..has become the voice for URBAN womanlife of our generation.  She's the Lauryn Hill of lit, yall..and she singlehandedly turned non-reading "HOOD GIRLS" into a new generation of womanist bookbuyers!  OK..she RULES.

Sudanese-American KOLA BOOF...is easily the most controversial womanist writing today.  Born on Sudan's White Nile but adopted and raised by African-Americans right here in D.C., this revolutionary novelist-poet was voted Favorite Woman of 2002 by the Student Reader's Union.  Unfortunately, as this honor was being bestowed, the New York Post reported that Boof's African publisher had been firebombed, forcing her books out of print.  Boof currently lives under fatwa death sentence by Sudanese officials.

One of American literature's most underrated voices, JAMAICA KINCAID is truly a stylist of the written word.  Anyone who has read "At the Bottom of the River" knows that this woman is a literary genius!  Much love, Jamaica!

TERRY McMILLAN..the modern womanist who finally (in 2001) showed off her literary chops with "A Day Late, Dollar Short"...and is also the #1 BESTSELLING African-American author of all time!  We love you, Terry.