Ficlets

African-American writer Martha Southgate noticed something recently, and in the New York Times, explains what it is:

I am a 46-year-old writer of “literary” fiction. I’ve had three novels published — the first for young people, the last two for adults. All have won minor prizes, been respectfully reviewed and sold modestly. I’ve been awarded a few fairly competitive fellowships and grants. The business is full of fiction writers like me. With one difference: I’m black, born and raised in the United States. At the parties and conferences I attend, and in the book reviews I read, I rarely encounter other African-American “literary” writers, particularly in my age bracket. There just don’t seem to be that many of us out there, and that’s something I’ve come to wonder about a great deal. And so I got on the phone with some editors and African-American writers to talk about it.

Southgate then goes on to explore why it might be there are so few “writers like me” particularly when middle-age is when many literary writers are hitting their stride. I don’t know how solid her conclusions are (being a white male under-40 science fiction writer, it’s not a subject I’ve given a whole lot of thought to), but it’s certainly food for thought.