The Big Mama Stories

by Shay Youngblood

Spunky stories set in the Black small-town early 60s South. 1990 Pushcart Anthology selection.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, LGBT, Historical Fiction, African American Literature, African American

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2012

About the author

Georgia born writer Shay Youngblood is author of the novels Black Girl in Paris and Soul Kiss (Riverhead Books) and a collection of short fiction, The Big Mama Stories (Firebrand Books). Her plays Amazing Grace, Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery and Talking Bones, (Dramatic Publishing Company), have been widely produced. Her other plays include Black Power Barbie and Communism Killed My Dog. She completed a radio play, Explain Me the Blues for WBGO Public Radio's Jazz Play Series, featuring Odetta and the music of Olu Dara. The recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Pushcart Prize for fiction, a Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, an Edward Albee honoree, several NAACP Theater Awards, an Astraea Writers' Award for fiction and a 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Sustained Achievement Award.

Ms. Youngblood graduated from Clark-Atlanta University and received her MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University. Her fiction, articles and essays have been published in Oprah magazine, Good Housekeeping, Black Book and Essence magazines among others. She has worked as a Peace Corp Volunteer in the Eastern Caribbean, an Au Pair, Artist's Model, and Poet's Helper in Paris and Creative Writing instructor in a Rhode Island Women's Prison. She is a board member of both Yaddo artists' colony and the Author's Guild. She has taught Creative Writing at NYU and was the 2002-03 John and Renee Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is
currently Writer in Residence at Texas A&M University.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do I review this book? This collection of short stories made me forget at times that I was reading fiction rather than a memoir. The first-person narrator -- a young Black girl who grows up in a town that is sort of (but not quite) Columbus, GA in the 1960s -- feels like a real person. The childhood she describes was not mine; I feel unable to judge it in the way I do most fiction. I'll just say that these stories will stick with me for a long time and that Shay Youngblood's writing brings an uncommon sense of immediacy and reality to her fiction.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This book is pretty intense. There are parts that made me laugh out loud, and parts that made me cry, and parts that made me cringe. Shay Youngblood tells these stories with compassion and frankness. The narrator's voice is amazing. It's not my usual read--for those who care, there is sexual content as well as graphic language--but it is a very moving and thought-provoking read that will stay with me for quite some time.

[Mona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can reread these stories over and over again. Such a gifted storyteller. Each story is so different and unique. This was a quick enjoyable read. I have had this one on my personal bookshelf for years and can always go back to it because it's a a classic.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shay Youngblood was one of the Writers in Residence when I was in grad school at Ole Miss, but I didn't get to interact with her very much.

This collection of short stories is told from the POV of a pre-teen African American girl living in the Deep South in the late 60s, early 70s. The voice is pitch perfect; I've heard people talking this way my whole life.

It's a hard book to read in places (racial and sexual violence, incest, consensual incest), but it's also a funny book and full depictions of kindness and community.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed, I was silent, I cheered, I got angry, and felt loved. Each story was a gem.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful writer!
And a wonderful playwright too!

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short collection of stories about the lives of African-American women in the Deep South

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Blues Ain’t Nothin but a
Good Woman Feelin Bad
By Shay Youngblood

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read. Some stories are funny and make you wish for lazy days again. The stories are more about people around than Big Mama herself and they're told from the mind of a "tween". The only reason it took so long to finish the book is I stopped reading to play candy crush...lol!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

my boyfriend and i read this together. lots of columbus georgia references (where shay youngblood grew up), but also just great stories about some super powerful women.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a decent book. i'm not giving it enough credit probably. but it reminded me strongly of Zami, and it's just not as good as Audre Lorde.

[Sherry Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm anxiously awaiting more books by Shay Youngblood.