The Female Writers That Inspire Me To Write

Today my sister and I decided to visit the local bookstore. I wandered to the poetry section. I was surprised to see a copy of my book “You Don’t Know Me” on the shelf. My sister was shocked as well. Feelings of sadness and despair washed over me as I picked up a copy of “You Don’t Know Me”. I just wish “You Don’t Know Me” was better it could of been so much better. I wonder if this is it? Will I ever get another book published? Am I doomed forever I wonder?

My sister decided to purchase a copy of Tupac Shakur’s poetry book “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”. I was impressed with Tupac’s poetry especially the poem about his close friend Jada Pinkett Smith. I decided to buy a book of selected poems by Emily Dickinson because I am a fan of her work.

I never really thought about writing until I started university. Very few male writers actually interest me and I don’t know why? The only male writers I have read a lot are James Baldwin and Langston Hughes perhaps its due to the black gay male connection? Most of the writers I read tend to be female. I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and he says I liked depressed and suicidal female writers a lot. I laughed I never thought about this before. I don’t think Evelyn Lau’s literary work is suicidal although her work does tend to be very depressing. Lau writes with such clarity about fractured male and female heterosexual relationships. I love Lau’s short story collection “Choose Me” every single story is written with great precision.

Lorraine Hansberry has a very special place in my heart because her play “A Raisin In The Sun” was the first broadway play produced by a black lesbian playwright. Although Hansberry had to conceal her lesbianism due to male supremacy and heterosexism. I gained an appreciation for theater when I read Hansberry’s work. Some people forget that Hansberry actually wrote a second successful play “The Sign In Sidney Bustein’s Window” ran for 100 performances and closed the night she died on March January 12th 1965.

I have read a few of E Lynn Harris books he’s certainly a good writer but he writes from a perspective I find a bit too much like a soap opera. I prefer to read books that are more pragmatic and realistic. Harris books are about rich blacks that have amazing jobs, always fly first class and basically are celebrities. I guess for some people they like this kind of fantasy writing but this doesn’t interest me. I do like Harris first novel “Invisible Life” I feel this is his best and most honest book. I wonder why Harris has never gotten the mainstream attention that Terry McMillan has? Harris book sales are incredible he sells a ton of books and yet none of his books have been made into movies yet. I wonder why?

I wouldn’t say I only like reading works by female writers and poets that are depressed. Emily Dickinson was an incredible poet. My favorite poem by Dickinson is “The Chariot”. Dickinson became reclusive later on in her life and may have suffered from depression. Although I feel a connection to this form of writing. I will admit I love Angelina Weld Grimke’s poetry and yes her poetry does tend to be depressing but so honest and true. I also love Evelyn Lau’s poetry she is a young Canadian feminist writer and poet. Lau actually is very famous in Canada she because a superstar in the Canadian literary world at the tender age of eighteen in the year 1989.

Of course I cannot forget about Zora Neale Hurston she’s perhaps the most controversial writer I have ever read in my life. Hurston’s memoir “Dust Tracks On A Road” is pure fiction. A lot of scholars have bashed Hurston for writing her autobiography. It is true Zora does lie about her age, where she was born, and a few other things. However, some scholars ignore the fact Zora’s publisher had the ultimate control she wasn’t able to publish everything she had written on her own terms.

Evelyn Lau’s first book “Runaway: Diary Of A Street Kid” is a depressing tale about the two years she spent living on the streets of Vancouver as a prostitute. Lau wrote a second memoir in 2001 “Inside Out A Reflection Of A Life So Far” looking back on her past experiences. Lau also explores about the turmoil she endured in her life dealing with father figures, the literary battle with an ex lover, eating disorders, depression, and about the present. The odd thing about Evelyn Lau is she always ignores the issue of race in her writing. In Lau’s fiction and sometimes even in her non fiction she always concentrates on white society. I am also interested in learning about Lau’s views about race from an Asian Canadian woman’s perspective.

I have a fascination with Anne Sexton I never understood why Sylvia Plath is considered more famous then Sexton? I always felt Anne Sexton was a bit underrated and she was the superior poet.

I used to be a big Terry McMillan fan until I realized this woman is bat crazy and bonkers and not in a good way. Terry’s last novel “The Interruption of Everything” was so sloppy and poorly written. The characters weren’t developed enough, the narrative was slow and the book dragged a bit.

Two writers that I read often are Makeda Silvera and Dionne Brand. Silvera and Brand are both black Canadian lesbians and they both have been instrumental in bringing the black lesbian experience to the masses. Silvera used to run her own publishing company in the 1990s called “Sister Visions Press”. Brand is one of Canada’s most successful black woman writers ever. Brand’s poetry is just amazing but I love her fiction and non fiction works too.