Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and professor of English. Born in 1967, she grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia. Her work often examines culture, religion, race, and family history, drawing inspiration from her own multi-generational maternal family in Georgia. She is known for her deep research into African American history, particularly her work on Phillis Wheatley. Jeffers' debut novel, "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois," was a bestseller and critically acclaimed, exploring themes of family, identity, and racism across centuries. She has published five collections of poetry, with "The Age of Phillis" being a notable work that reexamines the life of Phillis Wheatley.
Awards
['NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry (2021)', 'National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois)', 'Dayton Literary Peace Price (for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois)', "First Novelist's Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois)", 'Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets (for The Age of Phillis)', 'Harper Lee Award for Literary Distinction (2018)', 'Inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame (2020)', 'USA Mellon fellowship', 'National Endowment for the Arts fellowship', 'Witter Bynner Foundation fellowship', 'American Antiquarian Society fellowship', 'Bread Loaf Writers Conference fellowship', 'Vermont Studio Center fellowship', 'MacDowell Colony fellowship', 'Rona Jaffe Foundation award', 'Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature (for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois)']
Notable Works
['The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois', 'The Age of Phillis', 'The Gospel of Barbecue', 'Outlandish Blues', 'Red Clay Suite', 'The Glory Gets', 'Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings']
