Gloria Naylor, American writer. Recipient Candace award Coalition 100 Black Women, 1986; National Endowment Arts fellow, 1985, Guggenheim Foundation fellow, 1988. Member Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association, Authors Guild, National Writers Union.
Background
Naylor was born in New York on January 25, 1950, the oldest child of Roosevelt Naylor and Alberta McAlpin. Her father became a transit worker Her mother, a telephone operator.
Even though Naylor’s mother had little education, she loved to read, and encouraged her daughter to read and keep a journal.
In 1963, Naylor"s family moved to Queens and her mother joined the Jehovah"s Witnesses.
Education
Bachelor, Brooklyn College, 1981. Master of Arts, Yale University, 1983.
Career
The Naylors, who had been sharecroppers in Robinsonville, Mississippi, had migrated to Harlem to escape life in the segregated South. An outstanding student who read voraciously, Naylor was placed into advanced classes in high school, where she immersed herself in the work of nineteenth century British novelists. Her educational aspirations, however, were delayed by the shock of the assassination of Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior. in her senior year.
She left seven years later as "things weren"t getting better, but worse.”
Naylor earned her bachelor’s degree in English at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1981.
She obtained a master’s degree in African American Studies from Yale University in 1983. lieutenant was adapted as a 1989 film of the same name by Oprah Winfrey"s Harpo Productions.
During her career as a professor, Naylor taught writing and literature at several universities, including George Washington University, New York University, Boston University, and Cornell University. During her studies at Brooklyn College, Naylor became immersed in the works of African-American female authors such as Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and especially Toni Morrison.
Drawing inspiration from these authors, Naylor began writing stories centered on the lives of African-American women, which resulted in her first novel, The Women of Brewster Place.
Membership
Member Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association, Authors Guild, National Writers Union.