Sunday, February 20, 2011

#blacklitchat with Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Wow! We just finished a wonderful chat with Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of Wench.

She was our guest author for our February 20 chat, our second one this month. And the questions and comments were flying. Wench is a New York Times bestseller and the story imagines the life of slaves who spend summers at a northern resort with their Southern masters. The novel began with a slender bit of history that Dr. Perkins-Valdez noticed in a book about W.E.B. DuBois. The resort in the novel actually existed.

The novel raises questions about the nature of love in the midst of slavery and whether or not the slaves, given the opportunity, will try to escape.

Check out the transcript.

If you haven't read it, put it on your to-be-read list. And check out Dr. Perkins-Valdez' tour schedule on her web site. One of her upcoming events is the UCF Book Festival in Orlando, April 16, so I'll get to hear her in person!

2 comments:

BarbaraJo said...

My mom is trying to compose a book. She needs the motivation to actually sit down and finish it, because she already has a publisher that is interested. Any quick tips on getting those creative juices flowing would be greatly appreciated.

Phyllis said...

I'm looking forward to meting her at the UCF book festival too! Great chat and recap! Thanks so much for your hard work and dedication - I (and many others) appreciate it!