Elizabeth Nunez | |
|---|---|
 Nunez at 2016 Fall for the Book | |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Marian College (
BA) New York University ( MA, PhD) |
| Genres | novel, memoir |
| Signature | |
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Elizabeth Nunez is a Trinidadian American novelist and Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College– CUNY, New York City.
Her novels have won a number of awards: Prospero's Daughter received The New York Times Editors' Choice and 2006 Novel of the Year from Black Issues Book Review, [1] Bruised Hibiscus won the 2001 American Book Award, [2] and Beyond the Limbo Silence won the 1999 Independent Publishers Book Award. [3] In addition, Nunez was shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Discretion; [1] Boundaries was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice and nominated for a 2012 NAACP Image Award; and Anna In-Between was selected for the 2010 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence as well as a New York Times Editors' Choice, and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. [4] Nunez is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby. [5]
Biography
Early life
Nunez began writing as early as nine years of age and won the first-place prize for the "Tiny Tots" writing contest in the Trinidad Guardian. [6] She emigrated from Trinidad to the United States after completing high school at the age of 19 in 1963. [1]
Career overview
Having arrived in the United States aged 19, Nunez earned a BA in English from Marian College in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and an MA and PhD in Literature from New York University. [6] She began teaching at Medgar Evers College in 1972, a year after the college was established, and was instrumental in developing its writing curriculum. [6] She is a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, where she teaches courses on Caribbean Women Writers and Creative Writing. [7]
The author of eight novels, she is also co-editor with Jennifer Sparrow of Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad, co-editor with Brenda M. Greene of the collection of essays Defining Ourselves: Black Writers in the 90s, [8] and author of several monographs of literary criticism. [1] Her memoir "Discovering my Mother" was published in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa edited by Margaret Busby. [5]
In addition to developing her writing and teaching career, Nunez has developed programming to support other writers of color. She is the co-founder of the National Black Writers Conference, [9] which received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the Reed Foundation under her direction as its co-director from 1986 to 2000. Nunez also hosts a radio program on WBAI 99.5FM and is chair of the PEN American Open Book Committee. [1]
Nunez was also the Executive Producer of the 2004 New York Emmy-nominated CUNY TV series Black Writers in America. [1]
Novels
- When Rocks Dance (1986)
- Beyond The Limbo Silence (1998)
- Bruised Hibiscus (2000)
- Discretion (2002)
- Grace (2003)
- Prospero's Daughter (2006)
- Anna In Between (2010)
- Boundaries (2011)
- Not for Everyday Use (2014)
- Even in Paradise (2016)
- Now Lila Knows (2022)
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Hunter College Faculty Profile". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ American Book Awards#2000 to 2009
- ^ "CUNY News". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ "Elizabeth Nunez's Website".
- ^ a b Delgado, Anjanette. "New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent". New York Journal of Books. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
- ^ a b c "Voices from the Gap". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ "Elizabeth Nunez". Akashic Books. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
- ^ Nunez, Elizabeth, and Brenda M. Greene, Defining Ourselves: Black Writers in the 90s, P. Lang, 1999, ISBN 9780820442617
- ^ Lee, Felicia R. (3 April 2000). "Black Writers Warn of Losing The Momentum". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- Living people
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American novelists
- 20th-century American women writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American novelists
- 21st-century American women writers
- American academics of English literature
- American Book Award winners
- American women academics
- American women non-fiction writers
- American women novelists
- Hunter College faculty
- New York University alumni
- Novelists from New York (state)
- PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners
- Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States
- Trinidad and Tobago novelists
- Trinidad and Tobago women novelists