Gloria Naylor

Gloria Naylor has been a lifelong resident of Brooklyn and currently lives in Park Slope. While attending Brooklyn College for her undergraduate degree, she began to write her award-winning first novel, The Women of Brewster Place, which won the 1983 National Book Award. Her other novels include Mama Day, Linden Hills, and Bailey’s Café. She also edited the anthology Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present. In 1990, as she became interested in writing for the theater and film, Ms. Naylor established her own multimedia production company, One Way Production. The world premiere of a stage version of Bailey’s Café enjoyed a successful run at the Hartford Stage during the 1994 spring season. Ms. Naylor received a master’s degree in African-American studies at Yale University in 1983. She has been distinguished with numerous honors: She held appointments as a scholar-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania in 1986; as a senior fellow of the Society of the Humanities at Cornell University in 1988; and as a visiting professor at the University of Kent, England, in 1992. In 1993, Brooklyn College awarded her a Presidential Medal. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1988) and the National Endowment