Background

Kalisha Buckhanon was born on April 1, 1977, in Kankakee, Illinois, the eldest of four raised Christian with working-class parents, grandparents and several great-grandparents.

Education

In 1999, Buckhanon received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago.

At 24, Buckhanon left Chicago for New York City to study Creative Writing at The New School University. Later, she received a Masters of Fine Arts (M.F.A) in Creative Writing.

In 2006, she also studied as a humanities doctoral student at the University of Chicago, and obtained her Master of Arts in English from the program.

Career

Kalisha Buckhanon's first published short story was Card Parties in 2003 in the Michigan Quarterly Review. Her first novel, Upstate, was published in 2005 by St. Martin's Press. The novel was sold in a publishing auction for a mid-six-figure sum. Upon its publication, Essence magazine named Buckhanon one of its "Three Writers to Watch".

The novel also was called "wild and beautiful" by novelist Sapphire, "heartbreaking and true" by writer Dorothy Allison, and "intimate, wrenching" by novelist and journalist Achy Obejas. Author Terry McMillian called the book "honest" and stated that Buckhanon "captured real emotion". The book became a popular favorite among youth and urban teachers.

In 2008, her second novel Conception was published, again by St. Martin's Press. The novel tells the story of four months in the life of a young Chicago woman who discovers she is pregnant and wants to abort her unborn child, who also narrates part of the story. School Library Journal wrote that librarians should "recommend this moving novel to readers who enjoyed Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Sapphire's PUSH".

On May 3, 2016, her third novel Solemn was released. The novel tells the story of Solemn Redvine, a troubled psychic girl in a Southern trailer park she attempts to escape for life in the North. Kirkus Reviews called it "a hypnotic tale."

Her next novel Speaking of Summer is due in stores on July 30, 2019. The novel pulls readers into a woman's quest for answers and justice about her sister's disappearance from Harlem, leading to revelations about women’s lives in America and the arduous task of survival.

Achievements

• Kalisha Buckhanon is a writer, speaker and commentator creating stories and media about African-Americans, women, love, and justice.
  
  Buckhanon was a recipient of a 2001 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship in Prose.
  
  In 2006, Kalisha Buckhanon also was nominated for the Hurston-Wright Foundation Legacy Award for Debut Fiction.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Conception

    (In the same vein of Kalisha Buckhanon's critically-acclai...)

    2008
  • Solemn

    (Solemn Redvine is a precocious Mississippi girl who sense...)

    2016
  • Speaking of Summer

    (Speaking of Summer is a literary thriller about one woman...)

    2019
  • Upstate

    (Upstate is a powerful story told through letters between ...)

    2005
  • Pick Me

    (While struggling with infertility, Candy and Frankie, a m...)

    2016
  • negression

    (Negression collects some of the best writing from novelis...)

  • En cage 2009

Membership

In 1999, Kalisha Buckhanon graduated top 2% from the University of Chicago, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Connections

Father:

Kerry Buckhanon

Mother:

Juwana Buckhanon