“With Mourner’s Bench, Sanderia Faye announces herself as a bold, at times intoxicating, original voice in American fiction. This is a stunning début.”
Dennis Lehane, author of Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River, & Shutter Island
“Reading [this] story, no matter what you believe history might have taught us since, you feel as if the questions of racial justice are not only unresolved but barely yet asked.”
Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Brief History of the Dead
—Vivienne Schiffer, Camp Nine: A Novel
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanderia Faye serves on the faculty at Southern Methodist University, is an instructor at the 2017 Desert Nights Rising Stars Conference at Arizona State University, and a professional speaker and activist. Her novel, Mourner’s Bench, is the winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in debut fiction and The Philosophical Society of Texas
Award of Merit for fiction. She is co-founder and a fellow at Kimbilio Center for Fiction, and her work has appeared in the anthology Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas. Faye moderated the grassroots panel for the
Arkansas Civil Rights Symposium during the Freedom Riders 50th Anniversary and is coordinating the first AWP African Diaspora Caucus.
Her work received “Best Of” honors at the 2011 Eckerd College Writers’ Conference, Co-Directors Dennis Lehane and Sterling Watson, where her winning excerpt from the novel was published in SABAL Literary Journal. She received grants and scholarships offers from Hurston/Wright Writers Conference, Eckerd College Writers’ in Paradise Conference, Callaloo Writers Workshop, and Vermont, Writers Studio. She attended The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow and Martha’s Vineyard Writers Residency.
She holds an MFA from Arizona State University, a MA from the University of Texas at Dallas, a BS in Accounting from the University of Arkansas. She is currently a PhD student in English at the University of North Texas.
NEWS
Excerpt from Mourner’s Bench, “I Flunked It,” Nat . Brut Literary Journal
By the time class started, there were about eleven kids in all, ranging from ages five to sixteen. Esther and Gail broke the classes up by age. They taught the older kids first, and then the older ones taught the younger kids and they assisted. I was in Gail’s class. She had three different sets of books. I hadn’t ever seen any of them. They looked similar to our books at school except they didn’t have ugly words written in them, weren’t falling apart at the seams and didn’t have any pictures of white people. Within thirty minutes, Gail had figured out I could read as well as or better than the older kids and moved me to the table with them. I liked her for catching on so quickly ’cause I sure wasn’t going to tell her. Correcting grown folks would only lead to trouble for me.
Interview with Eileen MacDougall Episode 43- Book Stew
http://wilmington.vod.castus.tv/vod/index.php/9/9/a/4/8/6/99a486d3-3e9b-4e29-95e2-bad07290a0bf1490971200.741+2580325.550@castus4-wilmington+14909732981490971954029470.vod.720p.Book%20Stew_%20Ep.%2043%20Sanderia%20Faye.mp4#castusvod_autoplay=1
Novel Excerpt: I FLUNKED IT by Sanderia Faye, Nat . Brut Literary Journal
By the time class started, there were about eleven kids in all, ranging from ages five to sixteen. Esther and Gail broke the classes up by age. They taught the older kids first, and then the older ones taught the younger kids and they assisted. I was in Gail’s class. She had three different sets of books. I hadn’t ever seen any of them. They looked similar to our books at school except they didn’t have ugly words written in them, weren’t falling apart at the seams and didn’t have any pictures of white people. Within thirty minutes, Gail had figured out I could read as well as or better than the older kids and moved me to the table with them. I liked her for catching on so quickly ’cause I sure wasn’t going to tell her. Correcting grown folks would only lead to trouble for me.
PBS Books & Co. AZ Poet Laureate Alberto Rios Interviews and Sanderia Faye
Mourner’s Bench tells the story of brave, bold women who led the civil rights movement in the Arkansas Delta. Set in 1964, the story unfolds from the perspective of eight-year-old Sarah White, a serious child who feels ready to get baptized, but increasingly finds herself torn between the traditions of her community and her church and her mother’s progressive and feminist views. When the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee comes to town, the reverend considers them “the evil among us,” while Sarah’s mother and her friends seem determined to push the town toward integration. With vibrant characters and setting, Mourner’s Bench explores the conflict between progress and tradition as Sarah navigates her place in her family and community.
AFRICAN DIASPORA: NEW DIALOGUES-Hosted and Facilitated by Author Sanderia Faye, Winner, 2016 Wright / Hurston Award for Debut Fiction
AFRICAN DIASPORA: NEW DIALOGUES sponsored by Wordspace Dallas http://www.wordspacedallas.com/?m=20170406&cat=3 focuses on work of nationally recognized writers reading at the South Dallas Cultural Center. The authors pay school visits and offer writing workshops....
Sanderia Faye: The The Nervous Breakdown Self-Interview
But it was not until the late nineties, when talk show host Oprah Winfrey, encouraged people to follow their passion that I got serious about it. I had no idea what I was passionate about, so I mimicked Oprah as a way to figure it out.
Sanderia Faye: A Journey from Innocence to Experience | interviewed by Jacob Singer
The Philosophical Society of Texas selected Mourner’s Bench for the 2015 Award of Merit for fiction
The Philosophical Society of Texas for selecting Mourner’s Bench: A Novel written by Sanderia Faye for the 2015 Award of Merit for fiction.
How Sanderia Faye chased her writing dream — and caught it
When Faye looks back at her transitions from accountant to writer to literary advocate, she smiles.
Jacob Singer Names Sanderia Faye & Ta-Nehisi Coates Novels As His Favorite Books of 2016
"I’ve never kept a reading list before, so this is a first. Below consists of all the books I’ve read this past year. That being said, I have only considered books published within the past 16 months for my favorite list," Jacob Singer Fiction Between the World and Me...
Heavy Feather BOOK REVIEW / FICTION of Mourner’s Bench by Nick Sweeney
“Sanderia Faye’s Mourner’s Bench is a story that is entirely aware of its place in the grander scheme of things—it is not written with the intention of controversy or to progressively educate to the reader. It is, simply put, a voice of reason in a time severely lacking it. It’s a voice of hope.”
CURRICULUM VITAE
• Winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction
• More than five years of experience teaching composition, creative writing and literature courses
• Nationally recognized author with a University press published novel
• Experienced curriculum designer and instructor for community-based creative writing courses
• Adept at bridging higher education with writer’s communities, programs and initiatives
• More than 15 years of leadership experience in the corporate arena building executive level networks, increasing sales and employee productivity and launching successful marketing campaigns
• Successful record of designing and producing events that improve awareness, build strong community relations and make a real difference to the lives of others institution
• Passionate about education and tenacious in the pursuit of goals
EVENTS
CURRENT EVENTS
2024
Stay tuned for current and upcoming events!
PAST EVENTS
2016
March 16-20, 2016
Virginia Festival of the Book
Mar 16 – Mar 20, 2016
Charlottesville, VA
March 17, 2016 |Thursday, 10:00 – 11:30 AM EST
Authors Discussion Panel featuring Jeffrey Renard, Sanderia Faye, & Ross Howell, Jr.
Central JMRL Library
201 E. Market Street
Charlottesville, VA
March 20, 2016
Virginia Festival of Book Links Celebration Brunch
Sun 11:30 AM in EDT ·
Boost Event
March 30-April 3, 2016
AWP
Los Angeles, CA
MAR 31, 2016
AWP Panel- This Ends Now: Fiction in the Time of Crisis
Thu 12 PM · Hosted by Mourner’s Bench
Room 503, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level
March 31, 2016, Thursday 2:15 PM
AWP-University of Arkansas Press
Booth 1033 LA Convention Center·
March 31, 2016 , Thursday 8 PM
Esowon Book Store
Las Angeles, CA·
APR 12, 2016
Readers’ Map of Arkansas
Tue 6:30 PM · Hosted by Mourner’s Bench
Oxford American
Little Rock, AR
APR 14-17, 2016
Arkansas Literary Festival
Little Rock, AR
APR 17, 2016
Book Club Reading and Signing
Sun 4 PM ·
Little Rock, AR
APR 21-24, 2016
New Hampshire Writers Day April 23
New Hampshire
APR 30, 2016 Sat 11 AM
Big Brothers Big Sisters
MAY 14-15, 2016
Books in Bloom Literary Festival
1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa
Speakers: Sanderia Faye
Eureka Springs, AR
MAY 14, 2016
Strong Women Luncheon
Sat 11 AM · Hosted by Mourner’s Bench
Jones Center for Nonprofits at St. Mary’s, Rogers, AR
MAY 16- June 01, 2016
Noepe
Martha’s Vineyard, MA
JUL 29-31, 2016
National Book Club Conference
Atlanta, GA ·
February 26, 2016 | Friday, 7:00 PM CST
Radio Interview: “Arts & Letters”
University of Arkansas Public Radio KUAR 89.1
Arkansas
February 25th , 2016 | 7:00 PM
Book Club Meeting
2015
August 3, 2015
KUAR Arts & Letters Event
KUAR FM 89 Little Rock, Arkansas
August 22, 2015
Ed Gray Show
Dallas TX
September 16, 2015
Congressional Black Caucus
Washington, DC
October 1, 2015
Wordspace Book Launch
Dallas, Texas
October 8, 2015
Million Man March
Washington, DC
October 15, 2015
Kimbilio Reading
Dallas, Texas
October 22, 2015
Reading & Discussion with Greg Brownderville
The Wild Detectives in Dallas, Texas
November 7, 2015
Kimbilio Reading Brazos Bookstore
Houston, TX 77005
November 9, 2015
Franklin Reading Series
New York, NY
November 12, 2015
Books, Jazz, & Chocolate
Chocolate Secrets – Dallas, Texas
December 3, 2015
Sixth Anniversary Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery, Alabama
March 30, 2015
AWP
Los Angeles, California
April 23, 2015
New Hampshire Writers Day
New Hampshire
November 7, 2015
Shape Community Center
November 7, 2015
Kimbilio Reading & Book Signing
Brazos Bookstore
November 9, 2015
Franklin Park Reading Series
November 12, 2015
Chocolate Secrets Reading & Book Signing
January 11th | Monday, 6:30 PM
Writers’ League of Texas – Reading & Book Signing
Half-Price Books – Flagship
Dallas, TX
January 17th | Sunday, 4:00 PM
Book Club Meeting
February 2nd | Tuesday, 11:30 AM
Collin Community College – Reading & Book Signing
Collin County Community College- Spring Creek Campus
Plano, TX
February 16th | Tuesday, 4:30 PM
Black History Month at University of North Texas
University of North Texas
February 17th | Wednesday, 3:00 PM
University of Texas Dallas – Reading & Book Signing
Richardson, TX
CONTACT SANDERIA FAYE
