Shaking the Tree: A Collection of Fiction and Memoir by Black Women

by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah (Editor)

"Not since Breaking Ice has an anthology so freed the spirits of African American women."―Ai Showcasing the newest generation of black women writers, including ZZ Packer, Edwidge Danticat, and Shay Youngblood, Shaking the Tree gathers twenty-three voices that came of age in the wake of the civil rights, black arts, gay rights, and feminist movements. Their literature embodies the tragedies and triumphs of contemporary black women in their struggle to negotiate a sense of individual identity beyond the limited scope of gender and race.

Shaking the Tree offers a panorama of both fiction and memoir, revealing perspectives as diverse as they are dynamic: asha bandele recounts how she fell in love with a prisoner charged with murder; Rebecca Walker explores a childhood split between disparate racial and cultural landscapes; ZZ Packer remembers her near-abduction from summer camp at a time when local black children were being found murdered; Danzy Senna and Carolyn Ferrell tell tales about being young and biracial in a society that sees only in black and white.

This anthology is as urgent as it is historical―these voices are the future of American literature.

Genres: Short Stories, Memoir, Anthologies

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[RK Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm SHOCKED by how many of these i'd already read. guess i like Black women even more than i thought.

[Tara Betts]

Meri Danquah's Shaking the Tree pulls from a diverse group of contemporary Black women writing (in fiction and memoir) about a range of topics that impact their lives.

[Shlby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed and am grateful for this fiction/nonfiction anthology of black women writers. Spanning topics on the African diaspora/colonization, racism in the American South, queer (and not queer) black love, being biracial/mixed race, coming of age as a woman of color, the prison industrial complex, and more, my favorites were:
-"Lover" by Shay Youngblood
-"Nepenthe" by Lisa Teasley
-"Girl in the Mirror" by Natasha Tarpley
-"The Body of Luce Rivera" by Danzy Senna
-"Leila, 1998" by Nelly Rosario
-"The Stranger" by ZZ Packer
-"What's Love Got to Do with It" by Itabari Njeri
-"The Serpent's Gift" by Helen Elaine Lee
-"It's Racier in the Bahamas" by Lisa Jones
-"Children of the Sea" by Edwidge Danticat
-"Mama's Girl" by Veronica Chambers

Good introduction to talented writers I've never heard of and whose works I now want to read! Filed under "white girl reading important perspectives that challenge her own" and "learning to be a better intersectional feminist."

[Alise]

This book is a good introduction to a lot of black female authors. I think where I struggled was there was more memoir than fiction and because they were excerpts, it was hard for me to connect with those chapters because I didn't have the full context of the memoir. I think it does a great job at giving you a look at their writing styles and seeing if you are interested in them. If you want to widen your knowledge of authors, it's a good choice.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

(FROM JACKET)Showcasing the newest generation of black women writers, "Shaking the Tree" gathers twenty-three voices that came of age in the wake of the civil rights, black arts, gay rights, and feminist movements. Their literature embodies the tragedies and the triumphs of contemporary black women in the struggle to negotiate a sense of individual identity beyond the limited scope of gender and race. The anthology offers panorama of both fiction and memoir published since 1990, revealing perspectives as diverse as they are dynamic: asha bandele recounts how she fell in love with a prisoner charged with murder; Rebecca Walker explores a childhood split between disparate racial and cultural landscapes; ZZ Packer remembers her near-abduction from summer camp at a time when local black children were being found murdered; Danzy Senna and Carolyn Ferrell tell tales about being biracial in a society that sees only in black and white.

This anthology is as urgent as it is historical-these voices are the future of American literature.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories written by African-American women. I spent a lot of time on the first 3/4 of the book, but it was due so I skimmed through the rest of the book while kids screamed at the library. So I'm sure I missed some good stories by not being able to read in depth. I may need to check out this book again.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short fiction/memoir by black female authors.

[Safa Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, excepts from noels and memoirs by the 'new generation' of African American Women writers. Some are better then others.