I am a writer because of my small place in American history, as a middleclass white female “bohemian” who has lived an unspeakably orderly life, held down full-time jobs, paid taxes and a mortgage, lived with the same man in the same house in Brooklyn, New York, for more than 30 years, and raised kids to hold up all kinds of old WASP virtues: honesty, table manners, love of justice, good grammar.
I am a writer because my small place in American history began in Jamestown, Virginia, most of it centered in the Southern United States, hip deep in the stain of chattel slavery and all its ugly ramifications and lulled by the story-telling traditions and linguistic seductions common to the several races who live there.
I am also the wife of Basil King, a defining relationship in my life, the mother of Mallory and Hetty, and grandmother of Satrianna, Kirin, Evelyn, and Agnes.
Prose Pros Reading Series: From 2007 to 2018 I was co-curator with Elinor Nauen of the “Prose Pros” reading series on the Lower East Side. We presented two prose writers on the first Thursday of the month and hosted some incredible events. A few weeks after I made the decision that 12 years were enough for me—our wonderful host, the SideWalk Cafe, changed ownership. No other home seemed workable. For a fuller history, please see Talisman journal, Fall, 2022.