A reflective look at Contemporary African-American Literature

I remember being called a bookworm for the majority of my life. Since the age of three I have had a long, deep love affair with reading. It wasn't until I reached my early 20's that I discovered some black literature that was forbidden, but because it was "afrocentric" I wanted to read and discover it's wealth. The forbidden street tales of ghetto realism came to me as I browsed some of my older brother's books. Donald Goines' "Dopefiend" was stark reality thrown in your face, and it begged me to taste it's ugly fruits. From then on I read lots of ghetto tales including Iceberg Slim's "Pimp". I love those tales and needed more. Somewhere during my Junior year at Grambling State, I wanted and yearned for tales that connected with me on a romantic level - from a black woman's perspective! Until Terry McMillan, there was no real black love stories - at least not from a contemporary standpoint. When her book Disappearing Acts came on the literary scene, I was burnt out on those Silhouette and Harlinquin romance novels. And after Terry McMillan stormed the world with her talents, Arabesque books came with a line for us - sweet black love stories. I read those books until I couldn't read anymore and then somewhere in between came the works from black male authors...Omar Tyree, Eric Jerome Dickey, E. Lynn Harris'. The sweet seduction of all these written words have always seduced me to pick them up and read them - even though I've read contemporary love stories and other types, I still am a victim of my literary addiction. Black style is wonderful and I have had a chance to read so many different tales of our worlds...and want more. From Alice Walker to Mat Johnson, black literature has much to offer the world. Maybe a little peak into our worlds..maybe a peak into the human race..cause we all bleed the same, feel the same pains, and experience the same type of things. I love black literature and look forward to us blazing other trails, creating new types of stories, blending genres, exploring our black literature and letting the world be seduced by our newly created voices and styles. Yes, I definitely have been bitten by the black word and seduced by our voices, our styles, our stories. Black literature has grown so much in the past few years, and I can only see us continually rising and opening new doors for all to explore.