Elizabeth Nunez

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Elizabeth Nunez
Nunez in 2016
Nunez in 2016
Born(1944-02-18)18 February 1944
Cocorite, Trinidad and Tobago
Died8 November 2024(2024-11-08) (aged 80)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
OccupationProfessor
NationalityAmerican
EducationMarian College (BA)
New York University (MA, PhD)
GenresNovel, memoir
Signature

Elizabeth Nunez (18 February 1944 – 8 November 2024) was a Trinidadian-American novelist academic who was a Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College, 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 was born in Cocorite, Trinidad, on 18 February 1944.[6][7] She 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.[8] She emigrated from Trinidad to the United States after completing high school at the age of 19 in 1963.[1]

Career overview

Nunez at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival.

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.[8] She began teaching at Medgar Evers College in 1972, a year after the college was established, and was instrumental in developing its writing curriculum.[8] She was a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, where she taught courses on Caribbean Women Writers and Creative Writing.[9]

The author of eight novels, she was 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,[10] 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 developed programming to support other writers of color. She was the co-founder of the National Black Writers Conference,[11] 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 hosted a radio program on WBAI 99.5FM and is chair of the PEN/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]

Her 2010 novel, Anna In Between, earned her critical acclaim.[12] Publishers Weekly praised it for "[the] expressive prose and convincing characters that immediately hook the reader" and for handling family conflicts and immigration identity vividly.[13] Her final novels were Not for Everyday Use (2014) and Now Lila Knows (2022).[14]

Death

Nunez died on 8 November 2024 from complications of a stroke at her home in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 80.[14]

Selected novels

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Hunter College Faculty Profile". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  2. ^ American Book Awards#2000 to 2009
  3. ^ "CUNY News". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Elizabeth Nunez's Website".
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Dickson-Carr, Darryl (22 September 2005). The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction. Columbia University Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-231-12472-0. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  7. ^ Beaulieu, Elizabeth A. (30 April 2006). Writing African American Women: An Encyclopedia of Literature by and about Women of Color. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 675. ISBN 978-0-313-02462-7. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  8. ^ a b c "Voices from the Gap". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  9. ^ "Elizabeth Nunez". Akashic Books. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  10. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth, and Brenda M. Greene, Defining Ourselves: Black Writers in the 90s, P. Lang, 1999, ISBN 978-0-8204-4261-7
  11. ^ Lee, Felicia R. (3 April 2000). "Black Writers Warn of Losing The Momentum". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  12. ^ Amy Finnerty (1 September 2009). "Caribbean Variations". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Review: Anna In-Between". Publishers Weekly. 13 July 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Green, Penelope (15 November 2024). "Elizabeth Nunez, Who Chronicled the Immigrant's Challenges, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  15. ^ Nunez-Harrell, Elizabeth (1988). When rocks dance. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 978-0-345-34771-8. OCLC 17614526.
  16. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2003). Beyond the limbo silence. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-45108-8. OCLC 52579231.
  17. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2003). Bruised hibiscus. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-45109-5. OCLC 51832928.
  18. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2016). Grace. Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1-61775-544-6. OCLC 961340639.
  19. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2016). Prospero's Daughter. La Vergne: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1-61775-542-2. OCLC 960164439.
  20. ^ Amy Finnerty (1 September 2009). "Caribbean Variations". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  21. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2010). Anna in-between. New York: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1-936070-69-5. OCLC 645678586.
  22. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2014). Not for everyday use : a memoir. New York: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1-61775-234-6. OCLC 858603200.
  23. ^ Nunez, Elizabeth (2022). Now Lila knows. Brooklyn, New York: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1-63614-040-7. OCLC 1310466496.
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