The Black Notebooks

An Interior Journey

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by Toi Derricotte

W. W. Norton and Co.

Due/Published June 1999, 208 pages, paper

ISBN 0393319016

New in paper (S99)

"What a hard book to have written and what an important book to read."--Grace Paley

The Black Notebooks is an account of race in this country, seen through the eyes of a light-skinned black woman and a respected American poet. It challenges all our preconceived notions of what it means to be black or white, and what it means to be human. Winner of the Anisfield-Wolfe Award and the 1998 Caucus of the American Library Association Award and chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

"A collection of personal journal entries accumulated over twenty years guides readers on an excursion through the mind of a woman who has been engaged in incessant warfare with the color of her skin . . . a candid and well-crafted exposé on racism."--Emerge

"Brilliant, devastating. . . . Would I recommend it? Absolutely. To whom? Anyone interested in writing. In race. In human relationship."--Women's Review of Books