Dolen Perkins-Valdez facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Occupation | Writer and professor |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | US |
| Education | Harvard College (BA) George Washington University (PhD) |
| Genre | Novel |
| Notable works | Wench: A Novel (2010); Balm: A Novel (2015) |
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is an American writer and professor. She is well-known for her first novel, Wench: A Novel, which was published in 2010 and became a bestseller.
She also leads the PEN/Faulkner Foundation Board of Directors, an organization that supports writers and literature.
Becoming a Writer
Dolen Perkins-Valdez studied at Harvard College and earned a bachelor's degree. Later, she completed her PhD in English at George Washington University in Washington, D.C..
She has written many short stories and essays. These have appeared in different magazines like The Kenyon Review and StoryQuarterly. She was also an associate professor at American University in Washington, D.C.
How Wench Was Born
Perkins-Valdez shared that she got the idea for her first novel, Wench, after reading about W. E. B. Du Bois. She found a small note about Wilberforce University and how it started.
The university was first located at a place called Tawawa House. This was a private resort known for its "yellow springs." People believed the iron-rich water had healing powers. Before the American Civil War, many Southern plantation owners would visit this Ohio resort in the summer. They often brought enslaved women with them.
Wench tells the story of Lizzie, a young enslaved woman. It explores her difficult relationship with her owner. The book also introduces three other enslaved women she meets at the resort. Spending time in a free state and seeing free people of color there greatly influenced these women. Wench was published in 2010 and became a bestseller.
The book received many good reviews. In 2010, NPR (National Public Radio) even suggested Wench as a great book for book clubs to discuss.
Other Amazing Books
In 2013, Dolen Perkins-Valdez was asked to write an introduction for a new edition of Twelve Years a Slave. This is the true story of Solomon Northup, a free Black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Her second novel, Balm, came out in 2015. This story takes place in Chicago during the Reconstruction Era, right after the Civil War. It follows three main characters:
- Madge, a Black healer from Tennessee who was born free.
- Sadie, a white widow who believes in talking to spirits.
- Hemp, a formerly enslaved man from Kentucky who fought for freedom in the Union Army.
All three characters moved to Chicago after the war. They were among thousands of people trying to rebuild their lives and find new kinds of freedom. Perkins-Valdez wanted to set the story outside of the usual places like the South. She chose Chicago because it was affected by the war but also offered a different perspective.
Dolen's third novel, Take My Hand, was published in 2022. The story was inspired by a real event from 1973. In this case, two young sisters, aged 12 and 14, were sterilized without their permission.
Awards and Recognitions
Dolen Perkins-Valdez has received several honors for her work:
- In 2002–2003, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for African American Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles.
- In 2009, she was a finalist for the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Award.
- In 2011, her novel Wench was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction.
- Also in 2011, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association gave Wench the First Novelist Award.
- She also received a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts. This grant helped her finish her second novel, Balm.
