Bernice L. McFadden is an associate professor of English at Tulane University and the author most recently of the memoir Firstborn Girls, and of several critically acclaimed and prize-winning novels, including Sugar, Gathering of Waters, The Book of Harlan, and Praise Song for the Butterflies. She is the winner of the American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, as well as the recipient of three awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.