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Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Biography

Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Nafissa Thompson-Spires earned a doctorate in English from ­­­­Vanderbilt University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from ­­­­­­the University of Illinois. Her work has appeared in Story Quarterly, Lunch Ticket and The Feminist Wire, among other publications. She is a 2016 fellow of the Callaloo Writer’s Workshop.

Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Books by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Heads of the Colored People: Stories
by Nafissa Thompson-Spires - Fiction, Short Stories

In HEADS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class. Some stories in this collection are darkly humorous --- from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through notes in their kids’ backpacks, to the young girl contemplating how best to notify her Facebook friends of her impending suicide. Others are devastatingly poignant --- a new mother and funeral singer who is driven to madness with grief for the young black boys who have fallen victim to gun violence, or the teen who struggles between her upper middle class upbringing and her desire to fully connect with black culture.