Ayana Mathis
Born: 01-01-1973
Ayana Mathis is an American author renowned for her debut novel, "The Twelve Tribes of Hattie," a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection. Born in Philadelphia, Mathis graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she received the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. Her powerful storytelling and exploration of African American experiences have earned her critical acclaim and established her as a significant voice in contemporary literature.
Book summaries for books written by Ayana Mathis
Quotes
It was not the sadness of an old woman who would never see the likes of her life again, but the sadness of a young girl who had never known the possibilities.
Some things you do for money, some you do for love, love was the thing that made you and love was the thing that made you break.
The world is a broken place because the people in it are broken.
Survival was not a skill she was particularly interested in teaching her children.
It was not her fault that the world was a cruel and capricious place.
Sometimes a person didn't realize the weight of something they'd been carrying until they felt the weight of its absence.
The future was a thing she'd never imagined could belong to her.
The past was a thing she'd rather forget.
There was nothing harder in this world than being a black man. Nothing harder than being a black woman.
It was the kind of love a person gave when the person they loved was gone.
The kind of love that made you believe that things would be different the next time, that you'd be different the next time.
She had learned that the world was full of people who could not bear to see the truth about themselves.