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Crystal Wilkinson

Goodreads Author

Born

Hamilton, OH

Website

http://www.crystalwilkinson.com

Twitter

Crystalwilki

Genre

Short Stories

Member Since

September 2010

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Crystal Wilkinson was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1962 and raised in Indian Creek, Kentucky. Her grandparents, Silas and Christine Wilkinson, took her into their care when she was six weeks old. Often describing herself as a country girl, Wilkinson's work reflects a love and homage to her Appalachian roots. She recalls growing up on her grandparent's farm where her grandfather planted tobacco and corn and made sorghum molasses and her grandmother worked as a domestic worker for school teachers in the county. "I lived an enchanted childhood," Crystal says in remembering her days roaming the knobs and hills of her home. "My grandparents gave me the freedom to explore the countryside and to write, to dream, to discover. They wanted me to have t Crystal Wilkinson was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1962 and raised in Indian Creek, Kentucky. Her grandparents, Silas and Christine Wilkinson, took her into their care when she was six weeks old. Often describing herself as a country girl, Wilkinson's work reflects a love and homage to her Appalachian roots. She recalls growing up on her grandparent's farm where her grandfather planted tobacco and corn and made sorghum molasses and her grandmother worked as a domestic worker for school teachers in the county. "I lived an enchanted childhood," Crystal says in remembering her days roaming the knobs and hills of her home. "My grandparents gave me the freedom to explore the countryside and to write, to dream, to discover. They wanted me to have things that they didn't have, to know things they didn't know. But whether they knew it or not, they WERE the wisest people I have ever known. I learned so much from them about nature, about art, about life."

One of the first generations of her family to attend college, Crystal graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a B.A. in journalism and an MFA from Spalding University.

Crystal is the 2002 recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature and is a member of a Lexington-based writing collective, The Affrilachian Poets. Crystal's latest work,Water Street was recently a long-list finalist for the prestigious Orange Prize and short-listed for a Zora Neal Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Legacy Award in fiction. She has presented workshops and readings throughout the country including the Sixth International Conference on the Short Story in English at the University of Iowa and the African American Women Writers Conference at the University of the District of Columbia.

She is the author of two books, Blackberries, Blackberries (July 2000), and Water Street (September 2002), both published by Toby Press. The paperback version of Water Street is scheduled for release in February 2005. In 2001 Blackberries, Blackberries was named Best Debut Fiction by Today's Librarian Magazine. She has been published in the anthologies Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Region (University of Kentucky Press 1999); GiftsFrom Our Grandmothers (Crown Publishers, a Division of Random House, May 2000); Eclipsing A Nappy New Millennium (Purdue University, 1998); Home and Beyond: A Half-Century of Short Stories by Kentucky Writers (University Press of Kentucky 2001);A Kentucky Christmas (University Press of Kentucky 2003) and Gumbo: Stories by Black Writers (Doubleday, Harlem Moon Press Fall 2002). Her work has also appeared in various literary journals including: Obsidian II: Black Literature in Review, Southern Exposure, The Briar Cliff Review, LIT, Calyx, African Voices, and the Indiana Review.

She is currently working on two first novels. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana. ...more

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Crystal Wilkinson’s books

Average rating: 4.1 · 1,451 ratings · 246 reviews · 14 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Birds of Opulence 4.15 avg rating — 649 ratings — published 2016 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blackberries, Blackberries 4.10 avg rating — 368 ratings — published 2000 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Water Street 3.91 avg rating — 265 ratings — published 2002 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Holler 3.93 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Perfect Black by Crystal Wilkinson (Goodreads Author), Nikky Finney (Foreword), Ronald W Davis (Illustrations) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Perfect Black by Crystal Wilkinson (Goodreads Author), Nikky Finney (Foreword), Ronald W Davis (Illustrations) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Degrees of Elevation: Short Stories of Contemporary Appalachia by Charles Dodd White (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Ron Rash (Goodreads Author), John McManus 4.24 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean: Meditations on the Forbidden from Contemporary Appalachia by Adrian Blevins (editor), Karen Salyer McElmurray (Goodreads Author) (editor), Dorothy Allison (contributor) 4.33 avg rating — 66 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Degrees of Elevation: Short Stories of Contemporary Appalachia (Appalachian Writing Series) by Chris Offutt (Goodreads Author), Valerie Nieman (Goodreads Author), Chris Holbrook 3.67 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mythium: A Journal Of Contemporary Literature, Volume 1 Number 1 by Ronald Davis (Editor), Crystal Wilkinson (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2009	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Crystal Wilkinson's Blog

Makes Bustle List of 12 Women of Color Authors You Need to Know This Year

So happy to join such a cache of writers on this Bustle list. And of course any opportunity to use this #blackgirlmagic gif is a win!

http://www.bustle.com/articles/144471...

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Published on March 13, 2016 09:08

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This Is How You Lose Her

by Junot Díaz

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Crystal Wilkinson is now friends with Helen Rentch
Jan 11, 2021 05:54PM · like
Crystal Wilkinson rated a book it was amazing Black-Eyed Susans and Midnight Birds: Stories by and about Black Women by Mary Helen Washington	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Crystal Wilkinson rated a book it was amazing The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 28, 2020 10:45AM · 5 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Crystal Wilkinson and 11 other people liked Well Read Beard's review of The Birds of Opulence: "I read a lot to prepare for this review, I read a lot of other reviews, blurbs, opinions. One common theme kept coming up: the lyrical quality of Crystal's writing. Opulence is Crystal's fictional town here in my home state of Kentucky, and because C" Read more of this review »
Jul 28, 2020 10:44AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Crystal Wilkinson and 3 other people liked Kevin Jones's review of The Birds of Opulence (Kentucky Voices): "I feel emotionally gutted by this beautifully written book from Crystal Wilkinson. The weight of family, place, and motherhood are expressed almost as a poem. The book centers on four generations of women doing the best they can in the town of Opulen" Read more of this review »
Jun 24, 2020 04:11PM · see review
Crystal Wilkinson voted for Hair Love as Best Picture Books in the Semifinal Round of the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 14, 2019 10:55AM · 1 like · like
Crystal Wilkinson entered a giveaway Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 12, 2019 03:05PM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Crystal Wilkinson joined the groups National Book Critics Circle and Colorful Chick Lit Challenge
Sep 02, 2019 11:41PM
Crystal Wilkinson is now following Terese Marie Mailhot Author of Heart Berries
Nov 27, 2018 08:42AM · like

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Quotes by Crystal Wilkinson

“My father had been buried for a month when my mother came back to claim me. She returned as somebody even I didn’t recognize—a spirit barely alive imprisoned in her body, a husk. When we returned home, I mourned as much for the loss of my mother as I did for my father. Even then her shoulders had started to slump in surrender. Her skin had begun to wrinkle.”
― Crystal Wilkinson, Water Street

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“But it was long before then that I realized that my mother was no longer there. That she had died with my father. I was a little girl being raised by spirits. In”
― Crystal Wilkinson, Water Street

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“But some of us have moved away and they are the ones who miss this street the most. They will always belong here even when they think they no longer do.”
― Crystal Wilkinson, Water Street

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Polls

January 2019 BB Choice....Author New To You

Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living

by Tim Bauerschmidt

When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Miss Norma—newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage—rose to her full height of five feet and told the doctor, “I’m ninety years old. I’m hitting the road.”

3 votes 50.0%

The Birds of Opulence

by Crystal Wilkinson

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street comes an astonishing new novel. A lyrical exploration of love and loss, The Birds of Opulence centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness.

2 votes 33.3%

Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine

by Edward Lee

There is a new American culinary landscape developing around us, and it’s one that chef Edward Lee is proud to represent. In a nation of immigrants who bring their own culinary backgrounds to this country, what happens one or even two generations later? What does their cuisine become? It turns into a cuisine uniquely its own and one that Lee argues makes America the most interesting place to eat on earth. Lee illustrates this through his own life story of being a Korean immigrant and a New Yorker and now a Southerner.

1 vote 16.7%

Happy Dreams

by Jia Pingwa

From one of China’s foremost authors, Jia Pingwa’s Happy Dreams is a powerful depiction of life in industrializing contemporary China, in all its humor and pathos, as seen through the eyes of Happy Liu, a charming and clever rural laborer who leaves his home for the gritty, harsh streets of Xi’an in search of better life.

0 votes 0.0%

6 total votes

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