Johnson-Hodge, Margaret

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JOHNSON-HODGE, Margaret

PERSONAL:

Born in New York, NY; married Terrence Anthony Hodge; children. Ethnicity: "African American."

ADDRESSES:

Home—Atlanta, GA. Agent—Claudia Menza, Claudia Menza Literary Agency, 1170 Broadway, Suite 807, New York, NY 10001. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Reviewer's Choice Award, 1998, for The Real Deal; Butterscotch Blues named to Blackboard Best-Sellers List and Black Expressions Book Club Book of the Year, 2000; True Lies named to Black Expression Best-Seller List, 2002; Atlanta Choice Awards author of the year designation, 2004.

WRITINGS:

The Real Deal, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

A New Day, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Butterscotch Blues, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Warm Hands, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Some Sunday, Dafina Books (New York, NY), 2001.

True Lies, Dafina Books (New York, NY), 2002.

A Journey to Here, Dafina Books (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Margaret Johnson-Hodge was born and raised in New York City. An avid reader from the age of five, she eventually discovered a book that opened up a world of possibilities for her. "When I was twelve I read Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and it changed my life," Johndon-Hodge told a Book Remarks Online interviewer. "I saw the incredible journey of a little black girl who grew to be this magnificent woman, who told stories with beauty and truth and grace and I wanted to do that too." During the early 1990s Johnson-Hodge honed her skill as a novelist, doing what she called "a ton of rewriting." In 1996, when a friend told her that St. Martin's Press was looking for fiction by African Americans, she made her first book deal. Her debut novel, The Real Deal, which is about a black woman from Harlem who falls in love with a white television producer from California, earned the praise of a Publishers Weekly contributor for its "messy real-life encounters, some fresh writing, and an honest, recognizable heroine."

Johnson-Hodge continued writing novels with a romantic interest. Despite the subject matter of her books, she bemoans being pegged as a romance writer because she feels she has moved beyond the conventions of the genre. For example, her novels demonstrate an unconventional grittiness and tackle taboo subjects, such as abortion. "I'm always trying to explore real life with real people in real situations. No knight in shining armor for my characters," she told the Book Remarks interviewer. "It is much more powerful for someone to save themselves instead of looking for someone else to do it for them."

In Butterscotch Blues Johnson-Hodge portrays Sandy, a woman who falls in love with a married man whom she later discovers is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some Sunday picks up where Butterscotch Blues leaves off, with Sandy coping with the death of her husband. These titles earned qualified praise. Black Issues Book Review critic S. Shange Amani called the plot of Butterscotch Blues "thick and attention-grabbing from the start," while adding that the characters "tend to be shallow." A Publishers Weekly critic called Some Sunday a "captivating sequel that loyal readers and new fans will devour."

"There is always some story inside of me, and I just try and get it told," Johnson-Hodge wrote on her Web site. Since her debut she has published a steady stream of novels, and with each new novel she has garnered an increasing readership. Her book True Lies deals with young, upwardly mobile black characters prone to bad decision making. According to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, Johnson-Hodge "has created characters that, despite their flaws, readers will actually care about." Booklist contributor Nina C. Davis wrote that True Lies "could have been great if [the central character] Dajah had truly undergone a traditional journey of growth."

If some reviewers felt the characters that people her early novels were undeveloped, Johnson-Hodge hit her stride with A Journey to Here, the story of middle-aged Sylvia, who must face her romantic demons from adolescence when a former suitor arrives at her door. Both Harriet Klausner in AllReaders.com and Alicia Thomas in RomanceinColor.com praised the author's characterizations in this novel. Klausner wrote that "the key to this family drama is the depth of each of the critical characters," while Thomas commented that the novel "contains realistic main and secondary characters that are completely developed." "The highs and lows faced by the characters are skillfully balanced," Thomas continued. "The story offers no fairy tales but neither is there too much gloom and doom."

Johnson-Hodge told CA: "I write because I enjoy the process of exploring lives other than my own. I write because the world is still a curious place for me and writing gives the opportunity to unravel some of its mysteries, and lastly I write because the desire to do so has been with me since I was twelve years old. Like breathing, I write because I have to."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, September, 2000, S. Shange Amani, review of Butterscotch Blues, p. 25.

Booklist, June 1, 2000, Lilian Lewis, review of Butterscotch Blues, p. 1857; August, 2001, Lilian Lewis, review of Some Sunday, p. 2087; October 15, 2002, Nina C. Davis, review of True Lies, p. 386.

Publishers Weekly, February 16, 1998, review of The Real Deal, p. 208; February 7, 2000, review of Warm Hands, p. 68; September 10, 2001, review of Some Sunday, p. 62; October 7, 2002, review of True Lies, p. 53.