A Good Influence: Writers on the Authors and Texts that Influenced Them

[by Meredith Wiggins] The pleasures of Shay Youngblood’s Black Girl in Paris (2000) are many and vast, but one of the most prominent is the chance to follow along as main character Eden, a would-be writer, attempts to grapple with the literary legacy of James Baldwin, whose writing inspired her to move to Paris.  The novel is rich with references to Baldwin and his body […]

Afro-Latin@ Writers and Scholars: Piri Thomas

[by Meredith Wiggins] In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), the HBW Blog will be featuring short weekly posts on Afro-Latin@ writers and scholars.  Today, we feature Nuyorican writer and poet Piri Thomas. In a 1998 interview with In Motion Magazine, Piri Thomas said that he was inspired to begin writing when, as a child, he noticed that “The stories […]