Black author, Marita Golden, established herself in the latter half of the 20th Century as a distinguished writer of both fiction, and nonfiction works. Drawing primarily on her experiences as a Black woman, over the course of her career she explored subjects ranging from the personal to the political, and everything in between.
Her work earned much acclaim and recognition, but it is her literary activism that set her apart in a world where words are often used to give voice to those underrepresented in the collective culture.
In 1990, with Clyde McElvene, Golden founded the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation. More commonly known as the Hurston/Wright Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to discover, develop, and honor Black writers. It’s aptly named for two highly influential 20th Century Black authors, as the foundation works to preserve the legacy, and ensure the future of Black writers, and the literature they offer to the world.
Marita Golden’s Emergence As A Prominent Black Writer
Golden grew up in Washington DC, where her skills as a writer were readily apparent early on in her life. She spent her early career focused on freelance writing, and journalism before pursuing more creative avenues. Her first novel, Migrations of the Heart, was inspired by her experiences living in Nigeria for four years with her Nigerian husband.
It explores the intersections of the personal and the political, and how they help define cultural identity — topics which make this text a favorite on university campuses. She later went on to write multiple nonfiction guides to negotiating issues of color and race in our modern world, addressing everything from child-rearing, to personal identity issues.
Her novel, After, won the literary award for fiction, and she also won an honorary award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association for her work on GUMBO, an anthology of African-American fiction.
Golden focused much of her efforts on giving back to the Black community in a myriad of ways. Before founding the Hurston/Wright Foundation, she founded and served as the first president of the African-American Writers Guild based in Washington DC. The Hurston/Wright Foundation offers Black writers unique opportunities on many levels, in that annually, it presents the nation’s only national fiction award for Black college writers and a separate award for published Black writers, as well as a summer writers’ workshop for aspiring writers.
The Hurston/Wright Foundation
Together with McElvene, Golden spearheaded the creation of the Hurston/Wright Foundation in response to the lack of viable institutions dedicated to supporting the process of writing within the Black community. Led by a distinguished board of directors and advisory board that include acclaimed writers such as Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, and Terry McMillan, the foundation strives to discover, develop, and honor Black writers.
For aspiring writers, it facilitates workshops and online seminars focused on coaching struggling writers through every step of the creative process, addressing issues such as self-censorship, and eliminating writer’s block. For writers who have completed pieces, and trying to get them out there, the foundation coordinates searches for editors and agents, and provides helpful direction on what steps a writer should take to find and take advantage of publishing opportunities.
The foundation also facilitates liaisons with published Black authors, giving them opportunities to participate in a community that seriously supports Black literature, and to give back to that community through the instruction and mentoring of aspiring writers. Finally, the foundation provides opportunities for employment to those committed to Black literature.
Not only are its programs aimed toward guiding Black writers at every stage of their development and writing career, but the Hurston/Wright Foundation actively establishes opportunities to help writers get started in launching their literary careers.
The foundation sponsors an annual tuition-free weeklong writing workshop for high school students, as well as a writers’ workshop for published and unpublished Black writers, called Hurston/Wright Writers’ Week. The foundation also created the first national award presented to published writers of African descent, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. In addition, through the foundation, Golden established the Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers, a scholarship award to honor excellence in fiction writing by unpublished Black students enrolled full time as an undergraduate or graduate student, in any college or university in the United States.
Marita Golden, through her work with the Hurston/Wright Foundation has had a significant impact on the viability, and legacy of both nonfiction and fiction works produced by authors of African descent each year. By providing an abundance of resources that remain both culturally sensitive, and tailored to the modern publishing market, the foundation provides an abundance of opportunities for Black writers to pursue their dreams.
Sources:
http://www.hurstonwright.org/AboutTheFoundation/aboutTheFoundation.html
http://www.maritagolden.com/bio.html
http://blogcritics.org/books/article/marita-golden-says-colorism-hurts/