CALLALOO
(New Victoria Publishers, Oct. 1999)
by LaShonda K Barnett
ISBN 1-892281-08-2
$10.95
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Recipient of Standards Best Small Press Book Award
Whether the women in these snapshots are cooking, going to an art show
or spending the afternoon together, Barnett's youthful perspective and
exuberant narratives reflect on intimacy across age, race, class and
culture.
LaShonda K. Barnett's book is a quintessential first collection:
fresh, vibrant, raw, and unmitigated. The short stories take on a
variety of topics, ranging from adolescent longing and mixed-blood
color lines ("The Homecoming of Narda Boggs"), to the gracious love
lives of long-time companions ("Rituals"), and interracial learning and
love between slave and mistress ("Miss Hannah's Lesson"). Drawing
keenly on the rich heritage of early African American authors,
Barnett's style also serves up a heady contemporary mixture of Black
lesbian voices and experiences.
-Standards: The International Journal of Multicultural Studies
"I wanted to stay lost in the power, the beauty, the adventure, the
sensual journey of mighty woman love that Lashonda Barnett has created
with these stories. This book is a visceral glimpse of Black lesbian
lives; a remembering and celebration that we've long waited for!"
-Sharon Bridgeforth, The Bull-Jean Stories
"LaShonda K. Barnett has gifts to give us--sensual, historical,
loving. Callaloo, her first book, is the start of a wonderful journey
of telling."
-Joan Nestle, The Persistent Desire
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