Bernice McFadden

Bernice McFadden
Born Bernice L. McFadden
(1965-09-25) September 25, 1965
Brooklyn, NY (USA)
Pen name Geneva Holliday
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Genre novel
Notable awards 2017 Winner of the American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (The Book of Harlan)
Children Ryane Azsa
Website
bernicemcfadden.com

Bernice L. McFadden (born September 26, 1965) is an American novelist. She has also written romance novels as Geneva Holliday.[1]

Life

Bernice L. McFadden was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She is the eldest of four children and the mother of one daughter, R’yane Azsa. McFadden attended grade school at P.S. 161 in Brooklyn and Middle School at Holy Spirit, also in Brooklyn. She attended high school at St. Cyril Academy, an all-girls boarding school in Danville, Pennsylvania.

In the Fall of 1983 she enrolled in the noted NYC fashion college, Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (LIM), with dreams of becoming an international clothing buyer.

She attended LIM for two semesters and then took a position at Bloomingdale’s and later with Itokin, a Japanese-owned retail company.

Disillusioned and frustrated with her job, she signed up for a Travel & Tourism course at Marymount College, where she received a certificate of completion. After the birth of her daughter in 1988, McFadden obtained a job with RockResorts a company then owned by the Rockefeller family.

Bernice L. McFadden

The company was later sold and she was laid off and unemployed for one year. She cites that year as the turning point in her life because during those 12 months she began to dedicate herself to the art of writing. During the next nine years she held three jobs, always looking for something exciting and satisfying. Forever frustrated with corporate America and the requirements they put on their employees, McFadden enrolled at Fordham University. Her intention was to obtain a degree that would enable her to move up another rung on the corporate ladder.

She signed up for courses that concentrated on Afro-American history and literature, as well as creative writing, poetry and journalism. She credits the two years spent under the guidance of her professors as well as the years spent lost in the words of her favorite authors, to the caliber of writer she has become.

In 1997, McFadden quit her job and dedicated seven months to re-writing the novel that would become Sugar.

In February 1999, after nearly 10 years, four drafts and 73 rejection letters, Sugar was finally acquired by Dutton Publishers.

The New York Times described her 2010 novel Glorious as exhibiting "a wonderful ear for dialogue".[2]

Her 2016 novel The Book of Harlan was awarded the 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction.[3] The book, in which a jazz musician is imprisoned at Buchenwald after migrating from the US to Paris in the 1930s, was called "simply miraculous" by The Washington Post,[4] and listed as a notable work of 2016.[5]In 2017 it was announced that Book of Harlan would be adapted into a film by director Mark Tonderai.[6][7]

In 2016 McFadden was awarded an MFA from The Writer's Foundry at St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn, NY.

Works

  • Praise Song for the Butterflies Akashic 2018
  • The Warmest December. Dutton Publishers. 2001
  • "Keeper of Keys", USA Today Open Book Series. July 2001 (USA)
  • "One Night Stand", Black Silk. Retha Powers, ed. Warner Books, 2002 (USA)
  • "Luscious", Gumbo: A Literary Rent Party. Marita Golden, ed. Doubleday, 2002 (USA)
  • This Bitter Earth. Dutton Publishers. 2002
  • Loving Donovan. Dutton Publishers. 2003
  • "Sit", Brown Sugar II. Carol Taylor, ed. Washington Square Press, 2003 (USA)
  • Camilla's Roses. Dutton Publishers. 2004
  • Nowhere is a Place. Dutton Publishers. 2006
  • The Book of Harlan. ISBN 978-1-61775-454-8
  • Gathering of Waters. ISBN 978-1-61775-031-1 [8]
  • Sugar: A Novel. ISBN 978-1-101-14397-1
  • Glorious. ISBN 978-1-936070-78-7[9]
  • The Warmest December. ISBN 978-1-61775-035-9
  • **Reprinted in The Best American Erotica 2005. Susie Bright, ed. Touchstone Press, 2005 (USA)

Writing as Geneva Holliday:

  • Groove. Random House. 2005
  • Fever. Random House. 2006
  • Heat. Random House. 2007
  • Seduction. Random House. 2008
  • "Black Power", On The Line. Donna Hill, ed. Sepia Books, 2008 (USA)
  • Lover Man. Random House. 2009
  • "Coming to America", Time Out New York. October 2014 (USA)
  • Praise Song for the Butterflies. Akashic Books, 2018, ISBN 978-1617755750

Creative Non-Fiction

  • "Forward, Prologue & Preface." Black Boy. Richard Wright, Everbind Anthologies, 2003 (USA)
  • "Superman Has His Cape." The Washington Post, March 19, 2006
  • "The Power of Prayer." Black Pain. Terrie Williams, ed. Scribner, 2008 (USA)
  • "Black Writers in a Ghetto of the Publishing Industry’s Making," The Washington Post. June 26, 2010
  • "Life in Egypt." Crisis Magazine. December 2011
  • Review of "If Sons, Then Heirs" by Lorene Carey. The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 22, 2011
  • "Barbados", The New York Times (Travel Section). November 10, 2013
  • Review of "The Last Runaway" by Tracy Chevalier. The Washington Post. January 10, 2013
  • "They Don’t Teach You This Shit in School" … is ePub". FOYLES. October 10, 2016. Web. http://www.foyles.co.uk/Blog-Bernice-L-McFadden

Awards and honors

  • 2017 American Book Award (The Book of Harlan)
  • 2017 Winner 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (The Book of Harlan)
  • 2016 Washington Post Notable Books of 2016 (The Book of Harlan)
  • 2016 Historical Novel Society "November Editor’s Choice" (The Book of Harlan)
  • 2016 National Reading Group Month/ Great Group Reads Selection (The Book of Harlan)
  • 2016 Award for Excellence in Literature, Art Sanctuary, The Celebration of Black Arts Legacy Awards
  • 2013 Finalist, Hurston Wright Legacy Award in Fiction (Gathering of Waters)
  • 2013 National Reading Group Month/Great Group Reads Selection (Nowhere is a Place)
  • 2012 New York Times 100 Notable Books (Gathering of Waters)
  • 2012 Washington Post 50 Best Books (Gathering of Waters)
  • 2012 New York Times "Editor’s Choice" (Gathering of Waters) February 17, 2012
  • 2011 Finalist, Hurston Wright Legacy Award in Fiction (Glorious)
  • 2011 Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Fiction Award (Glorious)
  • 2011 Nominated for the 2011 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Glorious)
  • 2010 New York Times Book Review (Glorious)
  • 2010 Debut Selection for The One Book, One Harlem Program (Glorious)
  • 2010 O Magazine "Book to Watch" (Glorious)
  • 2010 Historical Novel Society "Editor’s Choice" (Glorious)
  • 2007 Short-listed for the Hurston Wright Legacy Award in Fiction (Nowhere is a Place)
  • 2007 National Book Club Conference BeBe Moore Campbell Memorial Literary Award
  • 2006 Washington Post Best Fiction (Nowhere is a Place)
  • 2004 Subject of The Lifetime Television 20th Anniversary Commercial
  • 2004 Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Fiction Honor Award (Loving, Donovan)
  • 2002 Shortlisted for the Hurston Wright Legacy Award in Fiction (The Warmest December)
  • 2002 Zora Neale Hurston Society Award for Creative Contribution to Literature
  • 2001 Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Fiction Honor Award (Sugar)
  • 2001 Black Writer’s Alliance, Gold Pen Award, Best Mainstream Fiction (Sugar)
  • 2001 Black Writer’s Alliance, Gold Pen Award, Best New Author
  • 2001 Go On Girl Book Club New Author of the Year Award (Sugar)
  • 2000 New York Times Book Review (Sugar)
  • 2000 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writer’s (Sugar)

Fellowships/Residencies

  • Serenbe Artist-in-Residence, Georgia (April 2013)
  • El Gouna Writers’ Residency, Egypt (June 2011)
  • MacDowell Colony Fellow, New Hampshire (April 2005)

References

  1. ↑ Collier, Andrea King. "Love Is In The Literary Air: 8 Must Reads for Valentine's Day". Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  2. ↑ Beyer, Gregory (August 20, 2010). "Fiction Chronicle". Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  3. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (December 13, 2016). "Bernice Fadden, Lawrence Hill,and Yvette Edwards nominated". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  4. ↑ Zukerman, Eugenia (2016-04-25). "Bernice L. McFadden's 'The Book of Harlan' is simply miraculous". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  5. ↑ "Notable fiction in 2016". The Washington Post. November 16, 2016. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  6. ↑ "#AIATLA LIVE at Well-Read Black Girl Festival". The Seam. 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  7. ↑ Busch, Anita (2017-08-10). "'The Book Of Harlan', NAACP Image Award-Winning Novel, Being Prepped As Feature By Mark Tonderai". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  8. ↑ Ward, Jesmyn (2012-02-10). "'Gathering of Waters,' by Bernice L. McFadden". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  9. ↑ "Book Review: Bernice McFadden's 'Glorious'". PBS. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
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