Thinking of Bebe Moore Campbell and other Black women writers gone too soon...
1950-2006
The beauty of writing and leaving a published body of work is that your words will never truly be gone, even long after you depart this earth. But what do you want your words to say? What do you want them to mean? Some writers say only the art, only the craft, only the beauty of language and the turn and twirl of phrases. And that's good. That's fine. We need more beauty in the world. But some writers, like BeBe Moore Campbell, gave craft an agenda. Made beauty meet truth. Took issues to the art. And made us think about things like race relations in a post-riot LA. Some writers, like Octavia Butler got prophetic with the muse and laced language with the subtle nuances of a stance. You can't read her parables and not be eerily concerned about what path this country might be on. You can't read the fiction of these writers without having some small part of your conscious tapped. Thinking of these writers and others like them makes me seriously consider what I want my words to mean. I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. What legacy do I want to leave?
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
What Do You Want Your Words To Mean?
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15 comments:
This is a lovely tribute, Gwyneth
This was nice -- and it does make me reflect on what I want my "collection of work" to represent.
Absolutely, Michelle. As Patricia Palloca said, "Words have power." Words are immortal. By the way, I love the cover of your new book. Seems like most covers misrepresent the story horribly. Yours seems perfect.
Kimber An -- I agree. I think her work will have an impact for years to come.
Monica -- Thank you. The loss is so profound. I can't really wrap my mind around it.
Michelle -- It really does make you stop and think about what you want people to say about your work when it's all said and done.
A great loss for the literary community and the entire world.
Your question really made me think. Through my fiction I want women to know that there is a God who wants us to live our time on earth experiencing love, joy, peace and passion.
That's a great goal, Denise, a wonderful thing to strive for!
What a lovely tribute! You are a wonderful person and I'm proud to call you friend.
Thanks, Jen. Ditto! -- Gwyneth
Very sweet of you to give a tribute like that. It just shows what a wonderful person you are;))
Kari -- She deserves the tribute and more. She is one of the trailblazers for the recent boom in black commercial fiction and she will be missed.
I am so glad I found your blog through kimber an.
I wish here in Hawaii, there were more trailblazers for my Hawaiian and Samoan students.
Orion,
I'm glad you found my blog, too? What grade do you teach?
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