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A. J. Verdelle

Biography

A. J. Verdelle

A. J. Verdelle is an award-winning novelist and essayist. She is a recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University, and teaches undergraduates at Morgan State University. She remains a working mother, and feels confident that the western Genuine Cowboy will eventually have a life in print. 

A. J. Verdelle

Books by A. J. Verdelle

by A. J. Verdelle - Memoir, Nonfiction

Toni Morrison, born Chloe A Wofford, was a towering figure in the world of literature when she entered A.J. Verdelle’s life. Their literary friendship was a young writer’s dream --- simultaneously exhilarating, intimidating, fulfilling and challenging. Like many women friends, these two writers imagined and built a relationship that was responsive, inventive and engaged. MISS CHLOE powerfully situates the risks writers face and the freedom they find when they put Black women’s lives into words. Verdelle chronicles her grief at Morrison’s passing and finds comfort in Morrison’s astute advice --- wisdom Verdelle didn’t always recognize at the time.