Day 8 of 28 – Black History Month – Dolen Perkins-Valdez

By: Aryanne Ferguson

Dolen Perkins-Valdez writes both essays and fiction. In 2011, she published her debut novel, Wench. The novel is a third person historical fiction piece which explores the sexual and psychological relationships that occurred between white male slave owners and their enslaved black female mistresses, circa 1840. Fair warning – the way that women are treated will make you angry and raise your blood pressure, you may calm a bit when you remind yourself that this is fiction, but then the novel will anger you again because these events happened to real people, not just to the characters in the story. Okay, actual responses may vary, but check out Perkins-Valdez addressing reader responses to the novel here.

Well Reader, I’m sure you’ll agree that history has the power to fascinate; Perkins-Valdez has definitely harnessed that power in her writing. And also, she’s on Facebook!