Michelle Cliff facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michelle Cliff
Born	2 November 1946  Kingston, Jamaica
Died	12 June 2016  (aged 69)
Nationality	Jamaican-American
Alma mater	Wagner College University of London
Occupation	Writer
Works	Abeng (1985); No Telephone to Heaven (1987); Free Enterprise (2004)

Michelle Carla Cliff (born November 2, 1946 – died June 12, 2016) was a famous writer from Jamaica and America. She wrote many important books, including Abeng (1985), No Telephone to Heaven (1987), and Free Enterprise (2004).

Besides novels, Michelle Cliff also wrote short stories and poems. Her writings often explored how people find their identity, especially when they come from different backgrounds or cultures. She also looked at how history is told and tried to share new ways of seeing the past. She believed writing was a way to speak up against unfairness and talk about important topics like race and gender.

Michelle Cliff had both Jamaican and American citizenship. Her writing was shaped by her mixed heritage. She used her unique experiences to create stories that explored what it means to be from the Caribbean.

About Michelle Cliff

Michelle Cliff was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1946. When she was three years old, her family moved to New York City. Her parents were Carl Cliff and Lilla Brennan. Michelle Cliff described her family as "Jamaica white," meaning they were Jamaicans mostly of European background. Later, she began to see herself as a light-skinned Black woman. She believed that how a person looks doesn't decide their views.

In 1956, she moved back to Jamaica. She went to St Andrew High School for Girls, where she started writing in a diary. She returned to New York City in 1960. She studied at Wagner College in New York, earning a degree in European History. She also did advanced studies at the Warburg Institute at the University of London, focusing on the Italian Renaissance. She taught at several colleges, including Trinity College and Emory University.

From 1999, Michelle Cliff lived in Santa Cruz, California, with her partner, the American poet Adrienne Rich. Adrienne Rich passed away in 2012.

Michelle Cliff passed away on June 12, 2016.

Her Writing Career

Michelle Cliff's first published book was Claiming an Identity They Taught Me to Despise. This book talked about her own experiences with racism and unfair treatment.

She found support and friendship with other writers who were African American and Latina feminists. This helped her work grow and allowed her to help other voices be heard. She contributed to a book called Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology in 1983.

In 1984, Cliff published Abeng. This novel was partly about her own life and explored what it means to be Jamaican. Next, she wrote The Land of Look Behind: Prose and Poetry (1985). This book used Jamaican folk tales and the country's nature to explore identity.

Her second novel, No Telephone to Heaven, came out in 1987. This book continued the story of Clare Savage from Abeng. It focused on the importance of remembering and celebrating a forgotten African past.

Her works were also included in a collection edited by Barbara Smith and Gloria Anzaldúa. This collection was called Making Face, Making Soul: Creative and Critical Writing by Feminists of Color (1990).

After 1990, Michelle Cliff's writing started to look at global issues more. This was clear in her first collection of short stories, Bodies of Water. In 1993, she published her third novel, Free Enterprise. In 1998, she released another collection of short stories, The Store of a Million Items. Both of these books continued her goal of correcting historical wrongs.

She kept writing in the 2000s, releasing collections of essays and short stories. These included If I Could Write This Fire (2008) and Everything Is Now: New and Collected Short Stories (2009). Her last novel, Into The Interior, was published in 2010.

By 2015, Michelle Cliff was involved in many literary projects. She translated the works of several writers and poets into English. These included Argentinean poet Alfonsina Storni, Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca, and Italian poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Her Books

• 2010: Into the Interior (a novel)
• 2009: Everything is Now: New and Collected Stories (short stories)
• 2004: Free Enterprise: A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant (a novel)
• 1998: The Store of a Million Items (short stories)
• 1993: Free Enterprise: A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant (a novel)
• 1990: Bodies of Water (short stories)
• 1987: No Telephone to Heaven (a novel, which is a follow-up to Abeng)
• 1984: Abeng (a novel)

Prose Poetry

• 1985: The Land of Look Behind and Claiming
• 1980: Claiming an Identity They Taught Me to Despise

As an Editor

• 1982: She edited The Winner Names the Age: A Collection of Writings by Lillian Smith.

Other Writings

• 2008: If I Could Write This in Fire (a collection of non-fiction writings)
• 1982: "If I Could Write This in Fire I Would Write This in Fire," in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology edited by Barbara Smith.
• 1994: "History as Fiction, Fiction as History," in Ploughshares magazine.
• 1990: "Object into Subject: Some Thoughts on the Work of Black Women's Artists," in Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Women of Color edited by Gloria Anzaldúa.

Supporting Women's Rights

In 1981, Michelle Cliff became a part of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press. This group works to help women have a stronger voice in media and publishing.

See also

In Spanish: Michelle Cliff para niños