Excerpt from Mourner’s Bench, “I Flunked It,” Nat . Brut Literary Journal

by | Apr 5, 2017 | Blog, News

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.

Novel Excerpt: I FLUNKED IT by Sanderia Faye, Nat . Brut Literary Journal

by | Apr 3, 2017 | Blog, News

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

PBS Books & Co. AZ Poet Laureate Alberto Rios Interviews and Sanderia Faye

by | Apr 3, 2017 | Blog, Featured, News

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.