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Informationen zum Autor Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, PhD is the author of The Poetics of Difference: Queer Feminist Forms in the African Diaspora , winner of the Modern Language Association William Sanders Scarborough Prize, and the short-story collection, Blue Talk and Love , winner of the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Fiction from Lambda Literary. She is Associate Professor of English at Georgetown University. A native of Harlem, she currently lives in Washington, DC. Klappentext SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 'As big, beautiful and complicated as living itself' Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone 'I ate this up in one greedy, joyous gulp . . . Hilariously funny and quietly devastating' Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Patsy 'What is a child's body worth when it is big, Black and female - when it is under constant demand to be something other than what it naturally is? In Mecca Jamilah Sullivan's achingly beautiful coming-of-age debut, Big Girl, this body carries the weight of an entire neighbourhood . . . Big Girl triumphs as a love letter to the Black girls who are forced to enter womanhood too early - and to a version of Harlem that no longer exists' New York Times 'A thrilling, big-hearted novel' Chigozie Obioma, author of An Orchestra of Minorities 'There are three books on earth that I would give anything to be able to write and reread until the sun burns us up. Big Girl is one of those books' Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy 'As quietly revolutionary as Gwendolyn Brooks' Maud Martha or Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John . Resetting the conversation about girlhood, desire, bodies and appetites, this book is a revelation' Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie Vorwort A beautifully written debut novel, Big Girl is a smart, moving coming-of-age story, with issues of race, size, class and belonging. It is also a love letter to a community that is vanishing before the protagonist's eyes - Harlem in the 80s and 90s. Zusammenfassung SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTRE FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE *'Absolutely incredible. Beautiful, powerful writing. These pages will stay with me forever' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of QUEENIE *'A gift as big, beautiful and complicated as living itself' Jacqueline Woodson, author of RED AT THE BONE *'Hilariously funny and quietly devastating' Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of PATSY and HERE COMES THE SUN *'There are three books on earth that I would give anything to be able to write and reread until the suns burns us up. Big Girl is one of those books' Kiese Laymon, author of HEAVY A THING IS MIGHTY BIG WHEN TIME AND DISTANCE CANNOT SHRINK IT It was a quote by Zora Neale Hurston. Malaya liked the words. The message was a mouthful of meaning, and it changed each time she read it. At first it had seemed ominous, but now she looked at it differently. She wondered for the first time if there could be something good about bigness, something mighty about not shrinking, after all. Growing up in rapidly gentrifying 90s Harlem, Malaya struggles to fit into a world that makes no room for her. She's funny, creative and smart, but all people see - even those who love her - is her size. At eight, her mother takes her to Weight Watchers; at twelve, her parents fear she'll be taken from them; by sixteen, a gastric bypass is discussed. On good days, Malaya braids bright colours into her hair, turns up Biggie Smalls on her Walkman, and strides through Harlem, his words galvanising her; on bad days, she doesn't leave her bed other than for furtive trips for the forbidden food that will comfort her - for a while. Compelling and compassionate, Big Girl is an unforgettable portrait of...
