Tina McElroy Ansa

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Tina McElroy Ansa (birth name: Tina McElroy ; born November 18, 1949 in Macon , Georgia ) is an African American writer and journalist . In her novels she tells the stories of African American women in her home state of Georgia.

Life

Tina McElroy, daughter of Walter J. McElroy and Nellie McElroy, began studying at the school for after the Atlanta University Center belonging Spelman College , where she graduated 1,971th She then worked as the first African American woman between 1971 and 1978 for the morning paper The Atlanta Constitution , where she worked as an editor, makeup editor, layout editor, entertainment writer, reporter and news editor. She then wrote numerous articles and op-ed pieces for newspapers and magazines such as The Los Angeles Times , Newsday , The Atlanta Constitution , The Florida Times-Union , Ms. , Atlanta Magazine and the Catalyst Literary Magazine . She married American Film Institute director, filmmaker, and graduate Jonée Ansa, and with that 1989 she was director and producer of the Georgia Sea Island Festival , which tried music, food, slave chants, dialects and traditions of Africa by Americans who were slaves to the cotton and rice plantations on the Georgia coast lived and worked to preserve.

In 1989, Tina McElroy Ansa published her first novel, Baby of the Family , which was named "Notable Book of the Year" by The New York Times and was one of the Georgia Authors Series winners . The American Library Association also voted the novel Best Book for Young Adults . It's about Lena McPherson, who since she was born in a small, all-black hospital in the tiny town of Mulberry, Georgia, has been considered a special child who was born with a wink and able to see ghosts and predict the future. However, Lena's mother breaks the ritual process that would have protected her little girl from evil spirits. Therefore, Lena grows up from a special child to an anxious teenager without understanding why she is so different. Ultimately, she has to accept that those she loves can give their love and no more, and she has to find her own insecure path. In 1990 she became Writer-In-Residence at Spelman College, where she also taught creative writing .

Her second novel Ugly Ways , published in 1993, was awarded the prize for best novel by the African American Blackboard List in 1994. The book is the powerful story of the three Lovejoy sisters Betty, Emily and Annie Ruth, who reunited on the occasion of their mother's death in their hometown of Mulberry, Georgia. The sisters had an intricate love-hate relationship with the woman who insisted on being called Mudear when she was as far from a mother as anyone could be. In life, Mudear, a complicated, self-confident woman, ruled her house and raised her daughters with an iron hand, showing sayings and distant interest in "changing" them. The selfish, manipulative, complex Mudear may be dead, but it is nowhere near gone. As the emotionally drawn lovejoys prepare for their mother's funeral, Mudear's ghost hovers over them, complaining about the "ugly paths" of her daughters in death as she did in life.

In 1996, The Hand I Fan With, the third novel by Tina McElroy Ansa, which also won the Georgia Authors Series award. In this book, Lena McPherson, the "baby of the family" from her first novel, is grown, rich, beautiful and successful. The only problem is, she's also lonely, overworked, and unnoticed like the "hand" that the entire city of Mulberry, Georgia uses to "fanatical". But she's still a special little girl, so she and her best friend get together and conjure up a man and Herman, a 100 year old ghost, shows up. The novel is also an erotic love story in which Herman fills her life with joy, love and peace and teaches her how to share her life, her wealth and her gifts without destroying herself in the process.

In addition to her literary work, she has also taught writing workshops at Brunswick College , Emory University , the College of Coastal Georgia and Spelman College. In October 2001, Baby of the Family was voted one of the Top 25 Books Every Resident of Georgia should read by the Georgia Center for the Book .

In her 2002 novel You Know Better , Tina Ansa described the experiences of daughter, mother and grandmother Pines during the spring weekend of the Peach Blossom Festival in the tiny town of Mulberry in central Georgia. LaShawndra Pines, an eighteen year old hoochie mom who wants nothing more from life than dancing in a music video, screwed it up again. But this time she doesn't stay here to hear about it. Not that her mother minds: After all, Sandra Pines is busy building her career as a real estate manager in the local community. It is LaShawndra's grandmother, Lily, a former school teacher, headmistress, and respected parishioner who walks the streets at midnight to look for her granddaughter. Over the course of the weekend, these three dissimilar but connected women, led by a trio of unexpected spirits, learn to face the pain in their lives and discover that reconciliation brings with them the healing they are all desperately seeking.

In 2002 her first novel, Baby of the Family, was made into a film by her husband, with Afrika Ansa , Todd Bridges and Cylk Cozart in the lead roles while she was writing the script . They also wrote reviews for the broadcast Postcards from Georgia the TV station NICKNITE News Sunday Morning . In 2007 the novel Taking after Mudear was published .

Publications

  • Baby of the Family , 1989
  • Ugly Ways , 1993
  • The Hand I Fan With , 1996
  • You Know Better , 2002
  • Taking after Mudear: a novel , 2007
in German language

Filmography

  • Baby of the Family , 2002

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ansa, Tina McElroy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McElroy, Tina (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, journalist, and university lecturer
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Macon , Georgia