Tina McElroy Ansa (1949-2024), was a storyteller, novelist, publisher, teacher, filmmaker, journalist, and cultural icon who was born in Macon, Georgia, but lived on St. Simons Island, Georgia, for more than 40 years.
Her first novel, Baby of the Family, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and in 2002 was selected as one of the Books All Georgians Should Read by the Georgia Center for the book. Her second novel, Ugly Ways, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2005, and made the list of the Books All Georgians Should Read.
Ansa was a graduate of Spelman College, where she earned a Bachelor's in English, and she received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts in 2011. After college, she worked at The Atlanta Constitution, where she was only the second woman and the first African American woman to work in the newsroom.
She was the founder of the Sea Island Writer's Retreat and the recipient of numerous honors and awards for her writing and storytelling. Ansa was a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning with a segment called Postcards from Georgia, and contributed articles and book reviews to several publications including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta and Essence magazines, and ZORA, to name a few.
This guide provides links to Ansa's books, essays, video and audio recordings, and more. Her papers are at Emory University in Atlanta.
"Claim what is yours. ... You belong anywhere on this earth you want to." -- Tina McElroy Ansa
Quote source: Baby of the Family by Tina McElroy Ansa (William Morrow, 1991)
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