Bridgette Davis – The World According To Fannie Mae
Bridgett M. Davis is a novelist, essayist, teacher, filmmaker and curator and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO FANNIE DAVIS is her first nonfiction book. Davis’ second novel, Into The Go-Slow, was selected as a best book of 2014 by Salon, The San Francisco Chronicle, BookRiot, Bustle and The Root, among others. Time Out New York named Davis one of “10 New York Authors to Read Right Now”. Into The Go-Slow was praised by Nigerian writer Chris Abani as, “a beautiful allegory of love, family, expansion, hope and transformation”. Davis’ debut novel Shifting Through Neutral, published by Amistad/Harper Collins in 2004, was a finalist for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award; A Quarterly Black Review bestseller and an “Original Voices” selection by Border’s Books, Shifting Through Neutral was featured in national media, including NPR’s News & Notes.
Davis was selected as 2005 New Author of the Year by Go on Girl! Book Club — the largest national reading group for African-American women. She is also writer/director of the critically acclaimed, award-winning film Naked Acts, which screened at a host of festivals in the US, Europe, and Africa before having its theatrical and DVD release in 1998. Indiana University’s Black Film Center recently honored Davis on the 20th anniversary of the film’s production. The film is now part of the Black Film Archive’s permanent collection.
A major advocate for promoting and nurturing literary talent by people of color, Davis is co-founder and curator for Words@Weeksville, a monthly reading series held at Weeksville Heritage Center in Central Brooklyn. With an early career as a newspaper reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, Davis’ articles have appeared in a host of newspapers and magazines; more recently her reviews and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Essence, O, The Oprah Magazine, TheRoot.com, Salon, and Writers Digest.
Equally dedicated to her work as a teacher and mentor, Davis is a Professor of Journalism and the Writing Professions at Baruch College, CUNY, where she teaches Creative Writing, Film and Narrative Writing, and is Director of the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence Program. She also facilitates writing workshops for junior faculty of color and women seeking to complete and publish their creative works.
A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Davis lives in Brooklyn with family.
