A War of Eyes: and Other Stories

by Wanda Coleman

The lives of the urban desperate in their unending struggle to keep afloat in an always dangerous environment circumscribed by racism and poverty. “Extraordinary stories, told in a powerful voice.”― Los Angeles Times Book Review

Wanda Coleman wrote as a witness, whether as a poet, in fiction, or journalism. She captured her world and its truths, of life with the constants of race, fear, poverty, gender, inequality, oppression. Through it all, there is passionate love and sexuality, humor and drama ― her work is full of startling confession and breathtaking power.

Terrance Hayes wrote, “Wanda Coleman was a great poet, a real in-the-flesh, flesh-eating poet who also happened to be a real black woman. Amid a life of single motherhood, multiple marriages, and multiple jobs that included waitress, medical file clerk, and screenwriter, she made poems. She denounced boredom, cowardice, the status quo. Few poets of any stripe write with as much forthrightness about poverty, about literary ambition, about depression, about our violent, fragile passions.”

War of Eyes is for anyone who loves powerful fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Coleman was born Wanda Evans, and grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1960s. She received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and the California Arts Council (in fiction and in poetry). She was the first C.O.L.A. literary fellow (Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, 2003). Her numerous honors included an Emmy in Daytime Drama writing, The 1999 Lenore Marshall Prize (for "Bathwater Wine"), and a nomination for the 2001 National Book Awards (for "Mercurochrome"). She was a finalist for California poet laureate (2005).

Reviews

[Anna]

If Wanda Coleman were a white man, she would have been as famous as Bukowski. Her writing is just as raw and real, if not more so, and will stick with you long after you’ve finished reading.

[Yvet Perez]

Wanda Coleman deserves her title as "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles." Her style is raw, honest, and deeply unapologetic. The last story, Jonesed, is still ringing in the back of my mind as I go about my day. I wept, I screamed within; I was angry at the conditions and proud that a voice this strong told stories that need to be told and should be told, even if they're fiction, because to many living in and around L.A. this fiction is just called Wednesday.

[Robert Morgan Fisher]

Add this to my favorite short story collections of all time. Wanda Coleman is vital, unrestrained and very much missed.

[Thomas Kerwin]

wanda coleman deserves a much larger audience

[brotherJJ]

Brilliant and gritty — the south central I look for in so many Hollywoodified “LA” books. This is the good stuff, the true.

[Julene]

Another of Wanda's books I read long ago filled with stories.

[Charlie]

Wanda is the GOAT