Happy New Year!

As I've been away from the column for the summer, and as I am on an academic schedule, I feel like greeting all of the readers with a "happy new year" greeting. I took the summer off for personal reasons, but am back for a new academic year of writing about African American women's literature.

For the first year or so I've been highlighting authors, particularly canonized, mainstream, or well known authors. This semester, from September through December, I will be highlighting Contemporary African American women writers and writers with whom most will not be familiar. I will explore ways in which the writings of contemporary writers, theorists, and scholars of African American women's literature both maintain historical and traditional themes of African American women writers of the past, and introduce new themes, reflective of concerns of contemporary African American women.

During my tenure with Suite 101 I have received information from a couple of self-published writers. I will not forget these writers in my column. I find it extremely important to offer exposure to contemporary writers who are newly published or who are seeking an audience for their new work. One of my biggest concerns for African American women writers is that we have had a historically difficult experience publishing our work. I've written many articles and papers on the intentional suppression of African American women's writing. Therefore, it would only support this suppression to not include writing from contemporary writers whose work is necessary for the canon of African American women's literature, but still needs exposure.

While I will address issues that I perceive as pertinent, or issues that may have come up in classroom discussions with my students, in informal discussions with my friends and peers, I am also hoping to address issues that you may perceive as important and which you may address in your e-mails to me or your discussion threads. Thus, please feel free to become engaged in the discussions about African American women's literature that may arise.

What are some of the issues for African American women writers, you ask? How are they different from the issues that were raised by writers of the past? Who are considered contemporary African American women writers? Who are the canonized writers? We will explore ways to answer these questions. Of course, we'll find new issues that arise as a result of new experiences in this country, and that arise with the evolution of our history in this country. We will also find issues that are raised by women of African descent who do not share the experiece of enslavement in America as we explore works of women from the diaspora. We'll find, as we research contemporary writers a plethora of writings by writers of African descent. This will be a great learning experience for all involved!

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