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// Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women //


Edited by Patricia Bell-Scott

Featured selection of The Quality Paperback Book Club
Featured selection of the Black Literary Guild

Life Notes is the first collection devoted exclusively to writings from the journals, diaries, and personal notebooks of contemporary black women.

Praise for Life Notes

“Lifelong I have been a hungry reader, and have spent the time in veracious attempts to satiate my appetite. Never in all the years have I encountered as intimate a work as Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women. Each woman spoke secretly to me and only me, and I appreciated every admission.”

—MAYA ANGELOU

“Life Notes is a fascinating mosaic of how African American women see themselves, outsiders in what is still a largely hostile society. . . . Each of these journal entries, accompanied by an essay to explain the context, is a novel in itself. It is a stirring read, and by the end we have come to see the Black woman not as outsider, but as tremendously rich giver to our civilization.”

—MAY SARTON

“I love this book written by wide-hipped, open lipped, powerful, plain speaking comadres, women who are proper only in the most important ways: properly sassy, fierce, provocative and brave.”

—CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS

“Life Notes is a collection of pieces that are intimate and universal, accessible and profound. Let traditional novelists eat their out—for these women have written their hearts out.”

—GLORIA STEINEM

“Intimate, impassioned, often heartbreaking. . . Reading through it is immensely rewarding—like having an hour-long, tell-all phone conversation with a close friend.”

—<em>KIRKUS REVIEWS</em>

“Find this book. Read it and cherish it.”

—<em>WOMEN'S REVIEW OF BOOKS</em>

“Intimate, intensive, and illuminating are just a few words that describe this emotionally enriched anthology.”

—<em>LIBRARY JOURNAL</em>

“In this life-affirming work, 50 well-known and emerging writers share experiences so intimate and tender the reader is tempted to utter “shoo, don’t say that!”

&#8212<em>QUARTERLY REIVEW OF BLACK BOOKS</em>

// Other Books by Patricia Bell-Scott //