82 Time February 15/February 22, 2021
Black women have Been honoring and
lifting our voices, sharing our strengths,
broadening our revolutionary scope since
we got here. We tell stories that come
through our hair and our hips, our shoul-
ders and our ride-or-die stride as we walk
alongside one another, tethered to our
tropes, ever strong, mammified, over-
sexualized but ultimately free together. Brit
Bennett, Jasmine Guillory and Jacqueline
Woodson are three of our finest novelists in
America today. They tell narrative stories
with grace and nuance, humor and curios-
ity, and with characters who exist because
Black women called them to live. The four
of us spoke about the long-standing contri-
butions of Black women writers, who holds
the power in publishing and the notion of a
renaissance. —R.C.
Rebecca Carroll: You’ve all had books
on the New York Times best-seller list—
that’s pretty remarkable. My first book
was a collection of interviews with Black
women writers because it was the first
time that three Black women were on
that list: Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan
and Alice Walker. Now that has changed.
What do you attribute that shift to?
Jasmine Guillory: It’s not that sud-
denly Black women are writing more or
buying more books. It’s that the books
are in the marketplace, and they’re get-
ting the power behind them so that the
whole world can see how great we are.
Carroll: The power is a really important
piece of this. Talk a little bit about what
it feels like to be part of this moment
when there are so many Black women
on the mainstream lists.
Jacqueline Woodson: I remember
when I wrote Autobiography of a Fam-
ily Photo back in the ’90s, it was the
White Boy Club: white boys were get-
ting invited to the parties, getting the
film contracts, getting the big advances.
Publishers were saying, “Well, Black
folks don’t buy books.” Out loud. The
time has shifted, and that white-boy
voice is much quieter—and our voices
are amplified. There was one reviewer
who asked me when I won the National
Book Award, “What does it feel like
to win such a big award?” And I was
like, “Are you talking about the Coretta
Scott King, or are you talking about the
NAACP Image Award?” I love being
on the New York Times best-seller list,
but it means nothing if a Black kid in
Brownsville doesn’t know my name.Carroll: The power has shifted not
organically, so that makes me nervous
about the relative quickness that it
could revert. What are your concerns
about the power in publishing turning
its focus on Black women writers?
Brit Bennett: I think of last year as
the most recent surge of attention on
Black writers. My book came out in themiddle of that, and I kept having people
ask me, “Have things changed for good?
Was this a turning point?” I was always
extremely skeptical of that idea. As Jas-
mine and Jackie have said, Black women
have always been doing this work. I
grew up in the ’90s, so I grew up in a
world where I saw Morrison, Walker
and McMillan. The idea that as a Black
woman I could write something about
Black women and achieve some type of
mainstream success was never foreign
to me. But at the same time, I agree that
our work suddenly has been conferred
this additional value because white
people are now paying attention. It was
very strange sitting in the contradiction
of that as my book was published dur-
ing the summer of anti racist reading
lists: of being glad to see my book and
grateful readers were flocking to it, but
also understanding that it was all exter-
nal to the book.Carroll: Jasmine, your genre has also
been busted open and is getting new
attention and love. What do you think
about how people are responding to
romance?
Guillory: I write romance novels for
and about Black women. And I am
grateful that a lot of people who are not
Black women have bought my books
and have appreciated them. But it’s in-
teresting [to see] the different kinds of
reactions I get from people who maybe
don’t understand the things that I talk
about, who don’t think about the ways
in which Black women have not gotten
that kind of love in media or throughout
life. Someone said that one of my books
“missed an opportunity to educate”
them about racism.Carroll: People want a list—they want
a workbook, right? But whenever any-
body asks me what they should be read-
ing, I continue to say Toni Morrison,
James Baldwin, Jackie Woodson, BritThe Black Renaissance BOOKS
WE HAVE ALWAYS
BEEN STORYTELLERS
NOVELISTS BRIT BENNETT, JASMINE GUILLORY AND JACQUELINE WOODSON DISCUSS
ART AND IDENTITY IN A CONVERSATION MODERATED BY REBECCA CARROLL
‘I love beingon the NewYork Timesbest-seller list,but it meansnothing if aBlack kid inBrownsvilledoesn’t knowmy name.’
—JACQUELINE
WOODSON