Naylor, Gloria (1950–)
Naylor, Gloria (1950–)
African-American novelist, playwright and short-story writer. Born Jan 25, 1950, in New York, NY; dau. of Roosevelt Naylor (transit worker, frame-shop worker) and Alberta McAlphin Naylor (telephone operator); sister of Carolyn and Fanny Bernice Naylor; attended Medgar Evers College (1975); Brooklyn College of City University of New York, BA, 1981; Yale University, MA, 1983; married, 1980 (div. 1981).
Published 1st novel, The Women of Brewster Place (1982), which earned an American Book Award (1983) and was adapted for tv; published Linden Hills (1985); became scholar-in-residence at University of Pennsylvania (1986), teaching as well at New York University, Princeton, Brandeis, Cornell and Boston universities in US and University of Kent in England; published Mama Day (1988); established multimedia company, One Way Productions (1990); published novel Bailey's Café (1992) which was also adapted for the stage (1994); edited Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present (1996); published novel The Men of Brewster Place (1998). Received President's Medal from Brooklyn College; Distinguished Writer Award, Mid-Atlantic Writers Association (1983); Candace Award of National Coalition of One Hundred Black Women (1986); Lillian Smith Award (1989).
See also Virginia Fowler, Gloria Naylor: In Search of Sanctuary (Twayne, 1996).