Honorée Fanonne Jeffers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Jeffers in 2014
Born	1967 (age 57–58) Kokomo, Indiana, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Talladega College University of Alabama
Occupation	Poet novelist academic
Employer	University of Oklahoma
Notable work	The Age of Phillis (2020); The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois (2021)
Awards	NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry (2021)

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (born 1967) is an American writer. She is known for her poetry and novels. She also teaches English at the University of Oklahoma.

Jeffers has written five collections of poems and one novel. Her 2020 poetry book, The Age of Phillis, explores the life of an early American poet named Phillis Wheatley. This book was based on many years of research. It was nominated for a major award and won the 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry. Her first novel, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, came out in 2021.

About Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Jeffers was born in Kokomo, Indiana. She grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother's family came from Eatonton, Georgia. Jeffers has shared that her mother's parents were sharecroppers, which means they farmed land owned by others and paid rent with a share of their crops. She often writes about her family's land and its meaning to her.

Jeffers went to Talladega College and graduated in 1996. Later, she earned a special degree (MFA) from the University of Alabama. She teaches creative writing as a full professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Her writings have appeared in many literary magazines. These include Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, and Poetry. Other famous poets and editors have also included her work in their collections.

The Age of Phillis: A New Look at History

Discovering Phillis Wheatley's Story

Phillis Wheatley was an important American poet in the 1700s. Much of what we knew about her came from a story written by a white woman named Margaretta Matilda Odell. This story was written about 50 years after Wheatley passed away in 1784.

Odell claimed to be related to the Wheatley family. This family had enslaved Phillis Wheatley. (After Phillis was freed and married, she changed her name to Phillis Peters.) Experts have noticed that Odell's story seemed like a fictional tale. It didn't fully show the pain of being kidnapped and brought across the ocean. It also didn't clearly state that the Wheatley family enslaved Phillis and others.

Jeffers received a special grant in 2009 to help her research The Age of Phillis. This book was published in 2020. Jeffers spent 15 years working on the book. She felt a strong connection to Phillis Wheatley's story.

Filling in the Gaps with "Critical Fabulation"

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers wanted to correct the accepted story of Phillis Wheatley. She "fills in the gaps" that Odell's account left out. For example, Jeffers found clues that Phillis's husband might not have abandoned her. She also found that Odell might have made up parts of her story.

Jeffers' book is a collection of poems. These poems retell and reimagine Wheatley's life. Jeffers combines careful historical research with creative storytelling. This method is sometimes called "critical fabulation." It means using imagination to explore historical events where facts are missing.

Jeffers' poems add details that were missing from Odell's biography. She imagines love letters between Phillis and her husband. She also pictures Phillis's life before she was kidnapped and enslaved. Jeffers also explores Phillis's relationship with the Wheatley family in a more complex way.

For example, Jeffers includes a poem that shows a first draft of a letter from Phillis to George Washington. In this poem, Phillis expresses her true feelings, even if she later changed them to be more polite:

Sir, I have taken the freedom which if
my master hadn't given me would have
been my own anyway to address your
Excellency who I heard behaves like
either a gentlemen or a tyrant
depending on his moods or his money

Awards for The Age of Phillis

The Age of Phillis was recognized for its excellence. It was nominated for the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry. It also won the 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: A First Novel

Jeffers' first novel, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, was released in August 2021. It received great reviews. Famous TV host Oprah Winfrey chose it for her popular book club, Oprah's Book Club. The book was also a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize for Fiction. One reviewer called the book "mammoth in size and scope" and "exceptional" for how deeply it explores history.

Awards and Honors

Jeffers has received several important awards and honors:

• In 2018, she received the Harper Lee Award for Literary Distinction.
• In 2020, she was added to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.
• The American Antiquarian Society recognized her work on Phillis Wheatley by making her a member.
• Jeffers also became a United States Artists fellow, which came with a $50,000 award.