NEW YORK (AP) — The Romance Writers of America has withdrawn an award for a novel widely criticized for its sympathetic portrait of a cavalry officer who participated in the slaughter of Lakota people at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
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On July 31, RWA judges gave Karen Witemeyer’s “At Love’s Command” the Vivian Award for best romance book “with religious or spiritual elements.” Witemeyer’s book centers on Matthew Hanger, a veteran from the 1890 massacre whose Christian faith helps him reconcile with the past.
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News of the award for “At Love’s Command” was greeted on social media with anger and disbelief, especially after the RWA initially said that the spiritual category concerned characters who “find redemption for their moral failings and or crimes against humanity.”
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Author Delaney Williams, a Native American, tweeted that the RWA was honoring “stories in which the genocide of my ancestors are used as a plot convention to gain forgiveness, not from those killed, but from a foreign god.” A fellow Vivian winner, Sara Whitney, returned her prize in protest.
Twitter is too loud? Too many voices on Twitter? How loud am I allowed to be about stories in which the genocide of my ancestors are used as a plot convention to gain forgiveness, not from those killed, but from a foreign god? (1)
— Delaney Williams, Antifa treasurer (@AuthorDelaneyW) August 4, 2021
© Bethany House Publishers
“At Love’s Command,” by Karen Witemeyer.
The RWA then announced that its board had gathered for an emergency meeting and decided to rescind the award.
“RWA is in full support of First Amendment rights,” according to a statement from the association. “However, as an organization that continually strives to improve our support of marginalized authors, we cannot in good conscience uphold the decision of the judges in voting to celebrate a book that depicts the inhumane treatment of indigenous people and romanticizes real world tragedies that still affect people to this day.”
Witemeyer’s publisher, Bethany House, issued a statement saying it was “saddened” by the response to the book.
“Witemeyer wrote this carefully-researched story with the knowledge that it would include some of the darkest moments of our nation’s history, including deplorable acts of violence like the Wounded Knee Massacre,” the statement reads. “It was neither the author’s nor publisher’s wish to offend, but rather to recount this history for the tragedy it was. That it was perpetuated by ordinary people like the characters in Witemeyer’s novel is a sobering aspect of that tragedy.”
In an email Friday to The Associated Press, Witemeyer wrote: “While I don’t agree with RWA’s choice to rescind an award fairly won, I understand why they felt compelled to take such action, and I harbor no resentment toward them.”
The RWA acknowledged previous troubles in its statement. In 2020, much of its leadership resigned or was forced out because of low diversity and the awards themselves were renamed. They had been called the RITA Award, in honor of the first association president, Rita Clay Estrada. They were renamed the Vivian Award, for Vivian Stephens, a Black author who helped found the RWA.
Nonfiction books on race have resonated with readers across the country and on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list since the outcry spurred by George Floyd’s death in May and the killing of Breonna Taylor in March – both Black, both dead at the hands of police. Readers are educating themselves on systemic racism and challenging their preconceptions about race.
But an equally powerful way to become more educated and enlightened is through fiction. Black authors give readers more insight into the Black experience, often by viewing the world through the lens of Black characters.
“Fiction humanizes statistics; it humanizes people,” says Farah Jasmine Griffin, pictured, an English professor who also chairs African American studies at Columbia University. “We invest in them … in a way that we think their story is worthy of being told and we want to witness it. That’s profound, that’s absolutely profound. We care, it gives feeling and emotion and concern to something that might otherwise be easily stereotyped and caricatured. … Fiction is an invitation to care.”
With input from Griffin and others, USA TODAY’s Mary Cadden has culled a selection of 100 Black authors who write adult fiction. The list includes a variety of authors from established to debut, award-winning to best-selling, American and international. The authors specialize in a wide range of genres, including literary, speculative, fantasy, science fiction, romance, mystery and more. But keep in mind, for every novelist we have included, there are scores more to be read and discovered.
Authors are listed in alphabetical order and are not ranked as each author should be lauded on their own merits.
Tola Rotimi Abraham: The debut author’s novel, February’s “Black Sunday,” was well-received by critics. The novel, which takes place over the course of two decades in Nigeria, follows twin sisters, Bibike and Ariyike whose lives in Lagos, Nigeria, take an unexpected turn, causing their paths to diverge.
Ayộbámi Adebáyộ: The Nigerian author’s debut novel, “Stay With Me,” was considered one of the best of 2017. It follows a young Nigerian couple whose struggle with infertility creates tension between them as well as unexpected choices.
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: A National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, the author’s debut, “Friday Black,” a collection of satirical stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America, was the winner of the 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.
Uwem Akpan: The Nigerian author’s debut collection of short stories, 2008’s “Say You’re One of Them” was an Oprah’s Book Club pick. A USA TODAY review said the book “proves that great fiction often can reveal more truth than a whole shelf of memories and histories.”
Afia Atakora: Born in the United Kingdom but raised in the U.S. Atakora’s debut, April’s “Conjure Women,” began as the author’s graduate thesis novel. It follows the lives of three women before and after the Civil War – a healing woman, her daughter and the daughter of their plantation master.
James Baldwin: The late writer, poet and activist’s novels and short stories reflect social issues and sexuality. His best-known include 1956’s “Giovanni’s Room,” about a young American man who has an affair with an Italian man named Giovanni, and 1974’s “If Beale Street Could Talk,” a love story set in Harlem during the 1970s, which was adapted into a feature film in 2018.
Paul Beatty: “The Sellout,” a satire about race in America, won Beatty both the National Books Circle Award and, in 2016, the Booker Prize, making Beatty the first American writer to win the coveted award. His previous novels include “Tuff,” “Slumberland” and “The White Boy Shuffle.”
Gabriel Bump: His debut book, “Everywhere You Don’t Belong,” a coming-of-age story about a young Black man trying to find his place in the world growing up in Chicago’s South Side, has been critically well-received. No release date has been set for his second novel, “The New Naturals.”
Maisy Card: Born in Jamaica, the writer and public librarian was raised in New York. In addition to short stories and essays, Card published her first novel in March, “These Ghosts Are Family.” The novel follows eight generations of one family over two centuries.
Candice Carty-Williams: The British novelist’s debut, 2019’s “Queenie,” won book of the year at the British Book Awards. Billed by the publisher as “Bridget Jones meets Americanah,” the novel follows the ups and downs of Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London and juggling two cultures.
David Chariandy: The Canadian author’s first novel, “Soucouyant” was nominated and won myriad awards. His follow-up, 2017’s “Brother,” the story of two brothers raised by an immigrant mother, won the Toronto Book Award and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.
Charles W. Chesnutt: One of the first well-known modern Black novelists, Chesnutt published short stories, essays and novels that focused on issues of race and identity. His first published work is also his best known, 1899’s “The Conjure Woman,” a collection of short stories. Other works include “The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line” and “The Colonel’s Dream.”
Pearl Cleage: The writer has written several novels, including 1997’s “What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day,” the story of a Black woman with HIV. It became an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 1998 and was a bestseller on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list. Cleage is also well-known as a playwright.
Ta-Nehisi Coates: Best known for his works of nonfiction, the author published his first novel in 2019. “The Water Dancer” made a huge splash and was the first selection for Oprah Winfrey’s book club. Coates also authored graphic novels for Marvel comics, most notably “Black Panther.”
Alyssa Cole: Her works span from historical and science fiction to romance novels featuring LGBTQ relationships. Her latest work, September’s “When No One Is Watching,” is a thriller where a Brooklyn neighborhood’s revitalization turns out to be deadly.
J. California Cooper: The late author, who was also a well-known playwright, published several collections of short stories and novels. Her collection of short stories, 1986’s “Homemade Love,” won the American Book Award. Her novels include “Family,” “Some People, Some Other Place” and “In Search of Satisfaction.”
Nicole Dennis-Benn: The Jamaican author explores race, class and sexuality in her work. Her debut novel, 2016’s “Here Comes the Sun” and her follow-up, “Patsy,” were critically well-received, with the latter becoming a Read With Jenna pick. Both novels have won Lambda Literary Awards, which honor the best LGBTQ books.
Nicky Drayden: Her first novel, 2017’s science fiction and fantasy title “The Prey of Gods,” garnered good reviews, and she has subsequently published 2018’s “Temper” and 2019’s “Escaping Exodus.” In addition to novels, Draydin has written myriad short stories.
Ralph Ellison: The late writer’s best-known work, “Invisible Man,” won the National Book Award in 1953. The novel, featuring a nameless protagonist who chronicles his experiences with racism and bigotry was immediately called a masterpiece upon its publication in 1952. The author’s last novel, “Juneteenth,” was published several years after his death and became a USA TODAY bestseller in 1999 when it was released.
Percival Everett: Everett is a prolific novelist and University of Southern California English professor whose work spans almost four decades. The author, who is also a poet, published his first novel, “Suder,” in 1983 and his most recent, “Telephone,” in May. Novels in between include “Erasure” and “I Am Not Sidney Poitier.”
Ernest J. Gaines: The late author’s works spanned decades, from the publication of his first short story, “The Turtles,” in 1956 to his final book, “The Tragedy of Brady Sims,” in 2017. Along the way, he produced such classics as “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” “A Gathering of Old Men” and “A Lesson Before Dying.” The author has a literary award named for him, the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.
Jasmine Guillory: Guillory’s romances have been popping up on bestseller lists for the past few years. Witherspoon selected her novel, “The Proposal,” last year as Hello Sunshine’s February pick. Guillory’s other books include “The Wedding Date,” “Royal Holiday,” “The Wedding Party” and “Party of Two.”
Yaa Gyasi: Born in Ghana but raised in the U.S., Gyasi’s first book, “Homegoing,” about two half-sisters born into different lives, one raised in comfort and the other sold into slavery, won the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for best first book and the PEN/Hemingway Award for an author’s first book of fiction. Her latest novel, “Transcendent Kingdom,” is set to publish in September.
Alex Haley: One of the author’s best-known works was his nonfiction, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” Another, “Roots,” which Haley referred to as a fictional account based on his own family history, was adapted as a successful TV miniseries in 1977. “Alex Haley’s Queen,” based on the author’s grandmother was later adapted as a miniseries starring Halle Berry.
James Hannaham: In addition to short stories, the author has published two novels. The first, “God Says No,” a book about a gay Black man who marries his girlfriend, was a Stonewall Honor Book and a finalist Lambda Book Award. His most recent, 2015’s “Delicious Foods,” won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and tells the story of a widowed mother and her son’s fight to be reunited.
E. Lynn Harris: Starting with “Invisible Life,” the late author’s work featured African American characters who were gay and, at times, closeted. Several of his novels, including “Just As I Am” and “Abide With Me,” both sequels to “Invisible Life,” made the USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list through the 1990s and 2000s.
Talia Hibbert: The contemporary romance writer specializes in steamy stories with four separate series and three stand-alone novels to her name. She also has a few bestsellers, including her most recent entry on USA TODAY’s list, “Get a Life, Chloe Brown.”
Zora Neale Hurston: A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was a filmmaker, anthropologist and author. Her most-notable novel was “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” published in 1937. Her career spanned decades, and even though she died in 1960, her writing continued to be published, with “Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick: Stories From the Harlem Renaissance,” a collection of stories released in January.
Uzodinma Iweala: The writer and doctor’s debut novel, 2005’s “Beasts of No Nation,” tells the story of a child soldier in West Africa. The award-winning novel was adapted into a 2015 film starring Idris Elba. Iweala’s recent novel, Lambda Literary Award Finalist “Speak No Evil,” follows college-bound Niru and friend Meredith, whose relationship struggles after Niru’s strict Nigerian father discovers he’s gay.
Brenda Jackson: The bestselling author has more than 100 romance novels and novellas to her name, starting with her debut, “Tonight and Forever,” in 1995. Jackson was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for her 2011 novel “A Silken Thread” and in 2012 received the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
N.K. Jemisin: A popular science fiction writer of novels and stories, Jemisin became the first author to win consecutive Best Novel Hugos, an annual literary award for best science fiction and fantasy works, for her “Broken Earth” trilogy. Her most recent work, March’s “The City We Became,” where various residents of New York City suddenly take on aspects of the city itself, was a USA TODAY bestseller.
Beverly Jenkins: A popular romance writer, Jenkins is best known for historical romance. She is a USA TODAY bestselling author with more than 40 books and anthologies to her name, most notably “Indigo,” “Something Old, Something New,” “Destiny’s Embrace” and “Forbidden.” In 2017, Jenkins received the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mat Johnson: A professor at the University of Oregon, Johnson is a recipient of the James Baldwin Fellowship and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. ”Loving Day,” out in 2015, made multiple best-of lists. Other novels include “Pym,” “Drop” and “Hunting in Harlem,” and Johnson is also the author of the comic books “Incognegro” and “Dark Rain.”
Jamaica Kincaid: A notable contributor to The New Yorker, the writer’s best-known novel is “Lucy,” which chronicles the experiences of a young woman who arrives in the United States from the West Indies to work as an au pair – a story that is similar to Kinkaid’s own life.
Tracey Livesay: A former criminal defense attorney, Livesay traded it in to write six romance novels and a novella. Her most recent, “Like Lovers Do,” is set to be released in August. Livesay recently won the 2020 Emma Award for best interracial romance for her book “Sweet Talkin’ Lover” at this year’s Romance Slam Jam.
Attica Locke: The author is known for her award-winning crime fiction, which includes her debut novel, “Black Water Rising,” and its follow-up “The Cutting Season,” winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her most recent novel is 2019’s “Heaven, My Home.” In addition to novels, Locke’s work can be found on the small screen as a writer and producer for Netflix’s “When They See Us” and Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere.”
Imbolo Mbue: “Behold the Dreamers,” Mbue’s debut novel about immigrants Jende Jonga and his wife Neni, who get jobs working for a financier and his wife, was an Oprah Winfrey book club pick and a USA TODAY bestseller. Her second novel, “How Beautiful We Were,” is scheduled to be released in 2021.
James McBride: The author’s most recent novel, March’s “Deacon King Kong,” about a church deacon shooting a drug dealer, has garnered strong reviews, is an Oprah Winfrey book club pick and is a USA TODAY bestseller. “The Good Lord Bird” won the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, and director Spike Lee brought McBride’s novel “Miracle at St. Anna” to the big screen in 2008.
Bernice L. McFadden: Three of the author’s best-known works are “Sugar,” “Glorious” and “The Book of Harlan,” which won the 2017 American Book Award and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. McFadden also wrote erotic fiction under the pen name Geneva Holliday, whose titles include “Seduction,” “Fever,” “Heat” and “Groove.”
Jeni McFarland: The writer has published short fiction in Crack the Spine, Forge and Spry. Her debut novel, April’s “The House of Deep Water,” delves into the lives of three women who return to the hometown they all wanted to escape.
Terry McMillan: The bestselling author’s first book, “Mama,” was published in the 1980s. But two of her works have become part of the ’90s pop culture lexicon: “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” both also immortalized in successful feature films. Her most recent work, “It’s Not All Downhill From Here,” was published in March.
Bethany C. Morrow: Morrow, who specializes in speculative fiction, writes both adult and young adult fiction. Her debut novel, “MEM,” is an adult science fiction novel set in an alternate 1920s Montreal, where clones are subjected to living one memory over and over until one develops memories of her own.
Gloria Naylor: The late author’s best-known novel was also her first: 1982’s “The Women of Brewster Place.” She won a National Book Award for First Work of Fiction, and the novel was later adapted for the small screen by Oprah Winfrey. The late author’s other novels include “Linden Hills,” “Mama Day” and “The Men of Brewster Place.”
Chigozie Obioma: Both of the Nigerian-born writer’s books were finalists for the Booker Prize – his 2015 novel, “The Fisherman,” and his 2019 novel, “An Orchestra of Minorities.” Obioma is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Tochi Onyebuchi: The author’s first adult novel (he has three for young adults) is January’s “Riot Baby.” The dystopian novel follows the story of Kev, who was born during the L.A. riots, and sister Ella, who has the power to see into the future.
Ann Petry: Originally trained as a pharmacist, Petry later became a journalist and then a novelist. Her first book, “The Street,” published in 1946, was a critical and commercial success. She went on to write several more, including “Country Place” and “The Narrows.” In addition to novels, Petry also penned short stories and biographies for children.
Regina Porter: With an extensive background as a playwright, Porter’s first novel, “The Travelers,” debuts in September and tells the story of two families spanning from the 1950s through to Obama’s first year in office. The novel was a finalist for 2020’s PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel.
Kimberla Lawson Roby: The USA TODAY bestselling author is best known for her “Reverend Curtis Black” series, which includes “Love and Lies,” “Be Careful What You Pray For” and “The Reverend’s Wife.” Roby is also known for “One in a Million,” “The Perfect Marriage” and “Behind Closed Doors.”
Farrah Rochon: The bestselling author specializes in romance, most notably series, including “The Holmes Brothers,” “New York Sabers” and “Bayou Dreams.” Her most recent book, “The Boyfriend Project,” the first in a series, tells the tale of Samiah Brooks, who, while live-tweeting a horrific date, discovers she is not the only woman in the man’s life.
Maurice Carlos Ruffin: The author’s 2019 book, “We Cast a Shadow,” was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The speculative and satirical novel follows the story of Nigel, a biracial boy, in a near-future Southern city where there’s a clinic that can “liberate you from the confines of being born in a Black body.”
Sapphire: Sapphire is the pen name of Ramona Lofton. The author’s best-known novel is also her debut, 1996’s “Push,” told in the voice of a damaged young teenager named Precious who is pregnant with her second child. The novel was the basis for the Oscar-winning film “Precious” and a new edition was released under the film’s name. In 2011, Sapphire published the sequel, “The Kid.”
Rion Amilcar Scott: The writer has two books of short stories: 2016’s “Insurrections,” for which he won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, and 2019’s “The World Does Not Require You.” A USA TODAY review of “The World Does Not Require You” called the collection both “bleak and beautiful” and said that its author “demonstrates the skill and long-range vision of a writer we need right now.”
Iceberg Slim: Also known as Robert Beck, the author’s memoir, “Pimp,” published in 1967, brought him notoriety. But it was the novels that followed, including “Trick Baby,” “Mama Black Widow” and “Long White Con,” that gave him prominence as an author and put him at the forefront of the urban fiction genre.
Zadie Smith: The British-born novelist, currently a tenured professor at New York University, first made it big with “White Teeth,” the story of two soldiers in WWII, the very English Archie Jones and the very Bengali Samad Iqbal, who become unlikely friends. She has written four more novels, including “On Beauty,” “NW” and “Swingtime.”
Rivers Solomon: The author’s first book, the science fiction novel “An Unkindness of Ghosts,” won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for best Black literature in the United States. The book follows the journey of Aster, who lives in the “lowdeck” slums of the space vessel HSS Matilda. Solomon followed it up with the novella “The Deep.” Their next novel, “Sorrowland,” billed as a “genre-bending work of Gothic fiction” is scheduled for release in 2021.
Sister Souljah: After publishing her memoir in 1995, the recording artist and activist made her novelist debut in 1999 with “The Coldest Winter Ever” and was at the forefront of a new wave of urban literature known as street literature – all while becoming a bestseller. Souljah’s novels “Midnight: A Gangster Love Story,” “Midnight and the Meaning of Love,” “A Deeper Love Inside” and “A Moment of Silence” made USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list.
Mia Sosa: The romance writer practiced law for 10 years in Washington, D.C., before becoming a full-time author. She has written seven novels, her most recent, “The Worst Best Man,” is about a wedding planner and made the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books List.
Jean Toomer: The Harlem Renaissance writer’s novel 1923’s “Cane” is his most well-known work. Considered by many to be a masterpiece in American modernist literature, the novel, through a series of vignettes, tells the stories of African Americans living in the south and urban north during the Jim Crow era.
A.J. Verdelle: Verdelle’s 1995 “The Good Negress” was a finalist for a PEN/Faulkner award for fiction, and the author won the Whiting Award for emerging writers. The acclaimed novel, set in 1960s Detroit, centers around Denise Palms, who leaves her grandmother’s home in rural Virginia and reunites with her family up north.
Alice Walker: Her best-known novel, 1982’s “The Color Purple,” tells the story of Celie, an uneducated Black woman living in the South in the early 1900s. It won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film and stage musical. “Possessing the Secret of Joy” and “The Temple of My Familiar” are other well-known novels among her more than 30 works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Kawai Strong Washburn: The author’s debut novel came out in March to rave reviews. “Sharks in the Time of Saviors” tells the story of Nainoa Flores, who is rescued by sharks after falling off a boat in Hawaii and develops new abilities.
Jesmyn Ward: Twice the author has won the National Book Award, first in 2011 for “Salvage the Bones,” about Esch, 14, who is pregnant and preparing her fractured family for Hurricane Katrina, and again in 2017 for “Sing, Unburied Sing,” about the life and struggles of 13-year-old Jojo and his family in Mississippi. Her other novel is “Where the Line Bleeds.”
Catherine Adel West: The debut author’s “Saving Ruby King” follows a woman whose mother is murdered in their South Side Chicago home, and she is left alone with her violent father.
Colson Whitehead: The author has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction – in 2017 for “The Underground Railroad” and in 2020 for “The Nickel Boys.” The novels both became fixtures on USA TODAY’s bestsellers list. Whitehead was also awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The author has racked up awards and devoted readers since his debut novel, “The Intuitionist” in 1999.
Rita Woods: Her debut novel, January’s “Remembrance” is historical fiction that centers on the story of four women from different times whose lives intertwine. According to Publishers Weekly, “Fine attention to sensory details and brutal honesty concerning the horrors of slavery and racial relations over more than two centuries of American history make this a standout.”
Jacqueline Woodson: Though primarily known for her young adult fiction, Woodson also has adult titles. Her 2019 book, “Red at the Bone,” the story of a teen’s unexpected pregnancy, was a hit with celebrity book clubs and made myriad best-of-the-year lists.
Richard Wright: Wright published fiction, nonfiction, essays and poetry. But his first, and arguably most-famous novel, is the 1940 “Native Son,” the story of a young man, Bigger Thomas, and his life in a poor area of Chicago’s South Side during the 1930s. It has been adapted for both film and stage. Other novels include “The Outsider” and “The Long Dream.”
Steven Wright: Wright’s first novel, April’s “The Coyotes of Carthage,” benefits from his experience as a trial attorney and law professor. A USA TODAY review calls the book a “political novel in all the best ways” and the Wisconsin Innocence Project co-director “an exceedingly adept satirist.”
Zane: Zane is the pen name for Kristina Laferne Roberts. The USA TODAY bestselling author is well-known for her erotica, and her novel “Addicted” was made into a 2014 film of the same name. The author’s other books include “The Heat Seekers,” “Vengeance” and “The Other Side of the Pillow.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Romance book award withdrawn for novel about war veteran who slaughtered Lakota at Wounded Knee
