In celebration of #BlackHistoryMonth, I'm featuring a BIPOC writer for every day of February. And as a special treat for subscribers to my newsletter, every week one lucky winner will win a copy of a book from each of that week's seven featured writers. Winners will be announced right here on the blog, starting this Saturday night. Not a subscriber yet? Scroll to the bottom of this page, and sign up!
Confession: A big part of this blog series is aspirational. All writers are readers first, and anyone who reads this space knows that I'm certainly no exception. Many of the books and writers I'm featuring this month are new to me, and I'm hoping my attempts to broaden my reading scope will inspire you, too!
I've had Jenny Heijun Wills on my radar since 2019 when her book OLDER SISTER, NOT NECESSARILY RELATED won the Hilary Weston Prize. I am so looking forward to reading this lyrical and haunting memoir, detailing Jenny's experiences seeking out and meeting her birth family in Korea, after growing up in small-town Canada.
In her day job, Jenny Heijun Wills is a professor of English at the University of Winnipeg, and you can take a look at some of her other books and writing here. But I am also a huge fan of Jenny from Twitter, where she is occasionally highlights her favourite BIPOC reads by interpreting the covers as astonishingly beautiful 'book looks'. [I've featured one of my faves here! It is Jenny's book look for Nicola Yoon's YA novel THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR.]
Her own book has just recently been released in trade paperback with a cover in fabulous pink and orange -- an inspirational colour palate if I've ever seen one!
You can win a copy of this amazing book -- and perhaps practice a new book look of your own -- in the draw for all this week's featured books on Saturday. This will be the first of four draws this month, and along with Jenny Heijun Wills book, will include books from Rahma Rodaah, Beverly Jenkins, Jael Richardson and three others. This amazing collection is the first of four that will up for grabs this month for one of my lucky newsletter subscribers.
Make sure you're signed up at kcdyer.com and watch here for new featured writers every day this week.
More soon...
~kc