These stories come from years of listening to and learning from many wonderful storytellers, advice-givers, coconspirators and supports. The first of these have been my parents, Martha and Jamal, who taught me early on to love books and value my imagination, and my brother, Malik, one of the smartest writers I know.
I am so fortunate to have had such a fabulous team of people collaborating on this project. I’m incredibly grateful to Magnus editor Don Weise, and Riverdale Avenue books publisher, Lori Perkins, whose time and care with this book have been invaluable, and to my agent, Janet Silver, from whose brilliance and generosity I learn new things with every step.
Thanks to the many teachers who have pushed me to pursue my writing to its best possible ends: Amy Kissell, Nancy Gannon, Daniel Rouse, Kevin Quashie, Suzanne Gauch, Salamishah Tillet, Heather Love, Herman Beavers, and Thadious Davis, who have shown me what it is to teach and learn from literature. And to the incredible writers whose encouragement and rich critique have made these stories better: Cheryl Clarke, Howard Norman, Randall Kenan, Jim Sheppard, Percival Everett, and especially Joan Mellen, Chip Delany, and Darryl Pinckney, whose time, thoughtfulness, and support over the years have meant everything.
This book wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, the Hedgebrook Writers’ Retreat, the Pan-African Literary Forum in Ghana, the Hambidge Center, the New York State Summer Writers’ Institute, and the Center for Fiction, whose incredible vision and tireless staff—especially Noreen Tomassi and Kristin Henley—have been nothing short of gifts for me. Thank you to the department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, the Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies department at Williams College, the English department at Temple University, the English department at Rutgers University, and all of my colleagues in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for providing the best kinds of intellectual homes, and for supporting me in this project, and in all of my work. I’m grateful also for the resources at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University,
One of the best things about writing is that it puts you in touch with a world of writer friends. I’m grateful to all those who’ve read drafts, offered comments, and clinked glasses in joy and commiseration through the writing and rewriting: Quincy Scott Jones, Kamilah Aishah Moon, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Kristen-Page Madonia, Aracelis Girmay, Marie-Helene Bertino, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Xoaquima Diaz, LaMonda Horton-Stallings, Marci Blackman, Tiphanie Yanique, and so many more. Thank you to my homies—my family of the heart—who have supported me and my dreams since forever: Erica Khan, Keisha Warner, Nicole S. Junior, Lecynia Swire, Julia Jarcho, Ásta Hostetter, LaMarr Jurelle Bruce, and Effie Richardson, my fellow foodie, long-distance roommate, and middle-school kindred soul. Thank you to Patreese Johnson, Terrain Dandridge, Venice Brown, Renata Hill, Chenese Loyal, Lania Daniels, and Khamysha Coates for your fierceness and your courage. Thank you, Jeanette Aycock, for showing me what love and support look like, for years and years and years. C. Riley Snorton, thank you for being a true homie and showing me new depths of laughter; hope to see you on the AC soon. Nina Sharma, Fufs, the world’s finest writer friend—and one of its greatest souls—your generosity and perceptiveness astound me every time; these stories owe so much to you.
And to Hanifah Walidah, the beautiful one, who has been down for me in every sense, supporting and loving me since the beginning in ways that have known no bounds—and to everyone I haven’t named whose voices move through these pages—thank you, thank you, thank you.