AUTHORS' CORNER

Fred Smith, born and raised in Detroit, is a graduate of the University of Missouri Journalism School and Loyola University Chicago. He worked as a TV anchor and reporter before making a career move to education administration and now fiction writing. A finalist for the 2004 PEN Center Emerging Voices Fellowship, and a member of the 2004 VONA Writers of Color novel group, Fred is an advocate for social justice and equality issues. He currently lives in the Los Angeles area. Down For Whatever is his first novel, and his new book Right Side of the Wrong Bed is scheduled to be released Fall 2007.

Fiona Zedde moved to the United States from Jamaica as a sweet, yet misunderstood, preteen. After spending a few years in Tampa and getting her undergraduate degree in Gender Studies and British and American Literature at New College of Florida. She is featured in Best Lesbian Erotica 2004 (Cleis), Va-Va-Voom: Hot Lesbian Erotica (DIVA), and Hot Lesbian Erotica (Cleis). Her first novel, Bliss, was published by Kensington Books in August 2005, and her latest book, A Taste of Sin, was released in 2006.

Clarence Nero is a third generation Ninth Ward resident and writes about that in the preface of his new novel, Three Sides To Every Story, which tackles many timely issues in our communities today from black men in prison, HIV and AIDS, to a taboo topic of homosexuality. "It was in the Ninth Ward that I lost two brothers to violence and a close female cousin to AIDS."

After much tragedy and loss, Nero is now looking towards his bright future and getting geared up for his national book tour that will be sponsored in part by bestselling author E. Lynn Harris, who offered the following quote on the book's front jacket: "Nero has written a sizzling, scintillating love triangle set in the Ninth Ward of our beloved New Orleans."

Lisa Moore is the founder and editor of Redbone Press, which publishes work that celebrates the culture of black lesbians and gay men. She is the co-editor of Spirited and in her podcast she participates in a Q&A about the book.

Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity

In Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity, more than 40 writers address the question of how we, as same-gender-loving black people, affirm ourselves as sexual and spiritual people. These sacred narratives are a canon for our survival—holy texts proclaiming the divinity of our lives, the righteousness of our love, and the sanctity of our being. Spirited is a must-read for those on a journey toward spiritual and self-acceptance.

G. Winston James is a Jamaican-born poet and short fiction writer. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-nominated poetry collection Lyric: Poems Along a Broken Road.

Bahiyyih Maroon is an author, architectural anthropologist and infinitely appreciative mother warrior. Her poetry, essays and prose have been published in several anthologies including Spirit and Flame: An anthology of young black poets, Free Mumia: A Literary Response, Shock and Awe: War on Words, and the recently published PostCards, a collection edited by Devorah Major.

Marvin K. White, author of the Lambda Literary Award-nominated collections of poetry Last Rights and Nothin' Ugly Fly, is a poet, performer, playwright, visual artist as well as a community arts organizer.

AUTHOR WEBSITE

Patrice Suncircle is a native of Tennessee and mainly writes dark fantasy. She is currently working on a Vampyr novel, which takes place during the Harlem Renaissance. She is glad to be a part of the Spirited book project.