Dolen Perkins-Valdez's fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, African American Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and the Richard Wright Newsletter. Born and raised in Memphis, a graduate of Harvard, and a former University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Perkins-Valdez teaches creative writing at the University of Puget Sound. She splits her time between Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington. This is her first novel.
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Bethanne Patrick talks with Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her new historical novel, Wench.
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Submitted by Bethanne on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 7:16pm A Conversation with Dolen Perkins-Valdez
To the women who are slaves and mistresses of their owners in "Wench" by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, the merest mark or sign can mean the difference between danger and safety, whether they're inside or outside, with loved ones or alone, above or below the free zone. A letter signals joy, or heartbreak; a pretty gown can be a reminder of lowly status -- even a small kindness may portend a great tragedy.
In other words, Lizzie, Reenie, Teesie, and Mawu walk on eggshells nearly every moment of their lives. While they tread carefully, Perkins-Valdez does not: She has reclaimed the power these women were never allowed to have in a carefully crafted and fiercely honest novel about the hypocrisies that existed during the years the United States of America was a nation that allowed human slavery.
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