This Child's Gonna Live - Softcover

Wright, Sarah E.

3.96

48 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0935312676 ISBN 13: 9780935312676

Publisher: Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 1986

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Relates the story of tragedy and heroism as a determined Black community struggles for survival

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Review:

Sarah Wright s triumph in this novel is a celebration of life over death. It is, in every respect, an impressive achievement. "The New York Times," 1969
Often compared to the work of Zora Neale Hurston, the novel was unusual in its exploration of the black experience from a woman s perspective, anticipating fiction by writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. "The New York Times," 2009
"In every respect, an impressive achievement. The canon of American folk-epic is enriched by this small masterpiece." "New York Times Book Review"
"It has always been my contention that the Black woman in America will write the greatest of the American novels. For it is the Black woman, forced to survive at the bottom rung of American society. . . who is compelled to survey, by the very extremity of her existence, the depths of the American soul. In reading Sarah Wright's searing novel, I am convinced that my assessment was correct." Rosa Guy, author of "The Friends"
"This novel changed forever the way I saw the world in which I had grown up. In that sense it changed the way I thought and the way I wrote." Adrienne Rich, author of "Diving into the Wreck"
"Saturated in harsh beauty, this book has been and still is for me one of the most important and indispensable books published in my lifetime. We have nothing else quite like it. . . . This is a touchstone book against which to test the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves." Tillie Olsen, author of "Silences"
"Sarah Wright's searing yet lyrical rendition of a Southern black woman's life . . . is as compelling as her protagonist's insistence that "This Child's Gonna Live." Wright's language is so true to the spoken word, her rhythms so authentic, readers may feel they are hearing her characters rather than meeting them on the printed page." Barbara Christian, author of "Black Women Novelists: The Development of a Tradition""

"Sarah Wright's triumph in this novel is a celebration of life over death. It is, in every respect, an impressive achievement." --The New York Times, 1969

"Often compared to the work of Zora Neale Hurston, the novel was unusual in its exploration of the black experience from a woman's perspective, anticipating fiction by writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker." --The New York Times, 2009

"In every respect, an impressive achievement. The canon of American folk-epic is enriched by this small masterpiece." --New York Times Book Review

"It has always been my contention that the Black woman in America will write the greatest of the American novels. For it is the Black woman, forced to survive at the bottom rung of American society. . . who is compelled to survey, by the very extremity of her existence, the depths of the American soul. In reading Sarah Wright's searing novel, I am convinced that my assessment was correct." --Rosa Guy, author of The Friends

"This novel changed forever the way I saw the world in which I had grown up. In that sense it changed the way I thought and the way I wrote." --Adrienne Rich, author of Diving into the Wreck

"Saturated in harsh beauty, this book has been and still is for me one of the most important and indispensable books published in my lifetime. We have nothing else quite like it. . . . This is a touchstone book against which to test the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves." --Tillie Olsen, author of Silences

"Sarah Wright's searing yet lyrical rendition of a Southern black woman's life . . . is as compelling as her protagonist's insistence that This Child's Gonna Live. Wright's language is so true to the spoken word, her rhythms so authentic, readers may feel they are hearing her characters rather than meeting them on the printed page." --Barbara Christian, author of Black Women Novelists: The Development of a Tradition

About the Author:

Novelist, poet, essayist and social activist, Sarah E. Wright (1928-2009) was born in the Village of Wetipquin, on the Eastern Shore of Jim Crow Maryland. She helped organize the First and the Second National Conference of Black Writers and the Congress of American Writers. She was the president of Pen & Brush, Inc., the oldest professional organization of women in the United States, and a member of the Harlem Writer's Guild, PEN, the Authors Guild, and the International Women's Writing Guild. Wright received numerous awards, including two MacDowell Colony fellowships for creative writing, the 1975 CAPS Award for Fiction, the 1976 Howard University Novelist-Poet Award, the Middle Atlantic Writers Association Award, and the Zora Neale Hurston Award.

Wright's first book, Give Me a Child, coauthored by Lucy Smith, is a collection of poetry designed to make poetry accessible to the general public. Her first novel, This Child's Gonna Live was chosen by the New York Times as one of 1969's most important books and by the Baltimore Sun for the 1969 Readability Award. Her third book, A. Philip Randolph: Integration in the Workplace, was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Young Adults published in 1990.

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