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Black History Month Author Roundtable
9.
AOTW: Who are your literary influences?
Stephanie Perry Moore: I love the drama of Terry McMillan's books and the truth of Max Lucado. I believe my books are a cross between the two.
Olympia Vernon: I don't have any, although Donald Goines is gutsy.
Nalo Hopkinson: Ai. That's a question I could spend days answering. I usually think first of Samuel R. Delany, one of the first black science fiction writers I ever encountered, and an amazing stylist and thinker.
Diane McKinney-Whetstone: Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, James Baldwin, Louise Erdrich to name a few.
Y. Blak Moore: Donald Goines, the master of Black urban literature. Raw stories, no apologies, simple enough formula.
Marcus Major: Anybody I have ever read. I don't pattern my writing after anybody but I have enjoyed authors such as Claude Brown, Piri Thomas, Toni Morrison, Hurston, Morrison and many others
Benilde Little: Philip Roth, Paule Marshall, Edith Wharton, Marita Golden, Anne Lamott (nonfiction). There are many.
Ray Shannon: Mostly authors who work, or have worked, in the crime genre. Ross MacDonald, Chester Himes, Lawrence Block, Martin Cruz Smith.
Jenoyne Adams: My literary influences are Gabriel García Márquez, Gloria Naylor, Toni Morrison, Kahlil Gibran and Terry McMillan, who always has a caring ear.
Victor LaValle: Paul and Jane Bowles. V.S. Naipaul. Lucille Clifton. Stanley Crouch's essays. Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno" is one of the two or three greatest stories ever written. Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is still one of the great comedies of the 20th century (if you read it as a serious, serious book, then you're reading it wrong).
Nikki Giovanni: I came up in an age of limited product. I loved, of course, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks among others. DuBois, J.A. Rogers, legal briefs anything about history.
Harriette Cole: These days I am particularly influenced by my spiritual teacher Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. A great book that I often refer to by her is called My Lord Loves a Pure Heart. Also Bertrand Russell, "The Conquest of Happiness," and Henry David Thoreau, "Walden," "Civil Disobedience," and more.
Stanice Anderson: As a child, my mother and baby-sitter who always read the most wonderful stories to me.
Mr. Adams, a neighbor and family friend. He was one of the first scholars I met. His had built-in shelves throughout his home, filled with books. Mr. Adams took the time to introduce me to the works of many great writers. He also gave me $5.00 for each "A" on my report card.
Mrs. Beauregard, my 12th grade English teacher was a great influence. She nurtured my love of writing and taught me a lot about the craft of writing. She taught me how to appreciate the beauty of the written word-through poetry, short stories, novels, and plays. Mrs. Beauregard took us on class trips to plays and other cultural events.
David and the other psalmists who wrote the "Book of Psalms" contained in the Holy Bible. The psalmist gave accounts of how they felt no matter the despair nor the joy. Even when they were depressed, scared, angry, or confessing their sins, they always closed the psalm out with praise, thanksgiving, and a look at how might God is-bigger than any problem.
Max Lucado…so heartfelt…his writing has the ability to make me weep with joy. I remember praying and asking God to give me the same ability to write stories that mesmerize and touch the cords of the soul --- to make myself and my readers weep.
Frank Peretti --- fiction based on the spiritual battle that is ever present within the spiritual realm. His writing forever changed my feeling of being alone in this universe --- I know I am never alone never again --- Angels are watching over me and God is alive and cares about every detail of my life.
Patrice Gaines --- In 1994, while in North Carolina, a friend, excitedly gave me a copy of Laughing in the Dark, and said, "Stanice, if she can write a book so can you." Once I read the book and saw that we overcame similar circumstances, I believed that I could write books-that it was part of God's will for my life. Later, we met as a result of the publishing of my first book, 12-Step Programs: A Resource Guide for Helping Professionals. She became my publishing coach and subsequently my dear friend.
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