Bernice L. McFadden — Firstborn Girls - with Glory Edim

<p>On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died in a car crash near Detroit, only to be resuscitated after her mother pulled her from the flaming wreckage. <em><strong>Firstborn Girls</strong></em><strong> </strong>traces her remarkable life from that moment up to the publication of her first novel, <em>Sugar</em>.</p><p>Growing up in 1980s Brooklyn, Bernice finds solace in books, summer trips to Barbados, and boarding school to escape her alcoholic father. Discovering the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, she finally sees herself and her loved ones reflected in their stories of &quot;messy, beautiful, joyful Black people.&quot;</p><p>Interwoven with Bernice's personal journey is her family's history, beginning with her four-times enslaved great-grandmother Louisa Vicey Wilson in 1822 Hancock County, Georgia. Her descendants survived Reconstruction and Jim Crow, joined the Great Migration, and mourned Dr. King's assassination during the Civil Rights Movement. These women's wisdom, secrets, and fierce love are passed down like Louisa's handmade quilt.</p><p>A memoir of many threads, <em>Firstborn Girls</em> is an extraordinarily moving portrait of a life shaped by family, history, and the drive to be something more.</p><p><br /></p><p>PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593184974?ic_referral=REZTfrFZ9-USTGhIzfbUOWA69mMcBAktSUZkrySl3xUwM-JIp8wJseEWLDClGIPBobWG5k582k0xsq_QwpYGaQtOAwzZgsFrJ40exzmPqVqDgFx1UIDt_7pnmpUoX9V9r5vT_Q</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Bernice L. McFadden</strong> is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Tulane University and the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including <em>Sugar, The Warmest December, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, Glorious</em>, <em>Gathering of Waters</em> (a <em>New York Times </em>Editors' Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), <em>The Book of Harlan</em> (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction), and <em>Praise Song for the Butterflies</em> (long-listed for the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction). She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.</p><p>McFadden is in conversation with <strong>Glory Edim</strong>, a literary tastemaker, entrepreneur, and advocate for diverse voices in literature. In 2015, she founded Well-Read Black Girl (WRBG), an online platform and book club dedicated to celebrating the works of Black women authors and creating a supportive online community for readers. Under Edim's leadership, WRBG has grown into a nonprofit organization, hosting events, book festivals, and author conversations that highlight the richness and diversity of Black literature. Her efforts have earned her accolades such as the 2017 Innovator's Award from the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Prizes </em>and the Madam C.J. Walker Award from the Hurston/Wright Foundation. As an author herself, Edim has contributed to the literary landscape with her bestselling anthologies <em>Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves , </em>and <em>On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library </em>and her recently published book <em>Gather Me</em>.</p><p>*recorded 3/6/2025</p>