Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Homegoing

  • Toni Ann Johnson, Chanticleer Award-Winning Author, Nominated for the Prestigious NAACP Awards, for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction

    Discovering Today’s Best Books is Chanticleer’s Passion

    We LOVE to CROW ABOUT GOOD NEWS about our AUTHORS! 

    And we have great news to share about Chanticleer award-winning author Toni Ann Johnson! 

    Black and white photo of Toni Ann Johnson sitting on a wooden chair
    Toni Ann Johnson

    Toni Ann Johnson’s literary work, Light Skin Gone to Waste short story collection was one of five top nominations for the prestigious 54th NAACP OUTSTANDING LITERARY WORKS – Fiction. She is an author, screenwriter, actress, and writer of essays & articles long and short-form.

    Top Five Nominees for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction 54th NAACP Awards

    On February 25, 2023, NAACP announced the full list of the 54th NAACP Image Awards nominees. The two-hour show was televised live on BET  in front of an audience for the first time in three years due to the Covid pandemic. Queen Latifah hosted the event.

    Globally recognized as one of the most distinguished multicultural awards shows, the “54th NAACP Image Awards” will continue a tradition of excellence, uplifting values that inspire equality, justice, and progressive change, and highlighting artists committed to that purpose.

    “This year’s nominees have conveyed a wide range of authentic stories and diverse experiences that have resonated with many in our community, and we’re proud to recognize their outstanding achievements and performances,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP.

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    “We take pride in recognizing the trailblazing achievements and artistry of this year’s esteemed nominees and celebrating the powerful legacy of the NAACP,” said Connie Orlando, EVP of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy, BET. “We look forward to bringing the Image Awards back to Pasadena in front of a live audience and delivering unforgettable moments that epitomize the brilliance of the Black community.”

    Light Skin Gone to Waste: Short Stories by Toni Ann Johnson

    Light Skin Gone to Waste: Short Stories Collection by Toni Ann Johnson

    Light Skin Gone to Waste also was awarded the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.  The work was published by the University of Georgia Press in 2022.

    “Toni Ann Johnson’s Light Skin Gone to Waste is one of the most engrossing short story collections I’ve read in recent memory. These interconnected stories about a black family living in a predominantly white suburb of New York City are impeccably written, incisive, often infuriating and unforgettable. At the center of many of these stories is Philip Arrington, a psychologist who tries to reshape the world to his liking as he moves through it, regardless of the ways his actions affect the people in his intimate orbit. With a deft eye for detail, crisp writing, and an uncanny understanding of human frailties, Toni Ann Johnson has created an endlessly interesting American family portrait.”  Roxanne Gay, Flannery O’Connor Award

    Remedy for a Broken Angel  by Toni Ann Johnson was reviewed by Chanticleer in 2014. It was also nominated for the prestigious NAACP Outstanding Literary – Fiction award. Ms. Johnson contacted us then about the nomination. She redited Chanticleer’s review for its helpful role in getting the work noticed and nominated. We are proud and honored to play a small part in her nomination for this coveted award.

    Toni Ann Johnson the submitted Homegoing  into the 2021  Chanticleer Novella Book Awards division of the CIBAs. 

    The work was was awarded the SHORTS NOVELLA CIBA Grand Prize in 2021.

    Blue and Gold Grand Prize Badge for the Short Novella Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnston

    We are honored to play a small part of the discovery of Toni Ann Johnson’s stellar works.

    One of the most iconic annual celebrations of Black excellence, the NAACP Image Awards draws the biggest and brightest stars in Hollywood. Previous years’ attendees and winners include Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Hudson, Rihanna, Wizkid, Lizzo, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Michael B. Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry & Meghan Markle, Jamie Foxx, Chloe x Halle, Regé-Jean Page, Daniel Kaluuya, Michaela Coel, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Blair Underwood, Will Smith, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin, Viola Davis, Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Anthony Anderson, Sterling K. Brown, Loni Love, Sheryl Underwood, Halle Berry, Common, Dwayne Johnson, Audra Day, John Legend, Lena Waithe, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Oyelowo, Laverne Cox, Octavia Spencer, Issa Rae, Trevor Noah, Yara Shahidi, Danai Gurira, Jacob Latimore, Jill Scott, H.E.R., Jay Pharoah, Jemele Hill, Loretta Devine, Sylvester Stallone, Meta Golding, Michael Smith, Tyler James Williams, Ava DuVernay, the late Chadwick Boseman, and many more.

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    Facebook: /naacpimageaward

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  • HOMEGOING by Toni Ann Johnson – Literary Fiction, Discrimination & Racism, Novella

     

    Blue and Gold Grand Prize Badge for the Short Novella Homegoing by Toni Ann JohnstonHomegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.

    This story begins with her aching, echoing pain after the one-two punch of a miscarriage and the dissolution of her marriage. Her journey takes her back to the upper-middle-class white suburb where she grew up, through childhood memories that refuse to be denied and to, of all times and places, a funeral.

    Something and someone is supposed to be buried. Certainly the deceased. But quite possibly the woman who has held on to her losses and her grudges long enough to poison her own future.

    Homegoing explores two literary tropes about the place called “home.” Thomas Wolfe’s posthumous 1940 novel states starkly in its title, You Can’t Go Home Again. But Robert Frost, in his poem The Death of the Hired Man, says, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.”

    The home that Madeline Arrington can’t truly go back to represents the past and not the present. She remembers her childhood, as one of the very few black children in a mostly-white suburb, being filled with racist taunts and bullying from children who were never held accountable for making her childhood hell. A hell that seems to be remembered by no one but herself – and she can’t let go of either the original memories or the gaslighting that now surrounds them.

    While Maddie doesn’t want to go home, she can if she must, as she does for the funeral of her former next-door neighbor. And in that return, she learns that the past is dead except in her own memories and that it’s time to let it go – not for anyone else’s sake, but for her own.

    Homegoing offers catharsis.

    While Maddie’s memories of childhood bullying revolve around racism, any adult who was bullied as a child will resonate with Maddie’s experiences. Children are often cruel, and the victims remember their treatment much more harshly and in much more detail than the perpetrators.

    But the past is another country, to quote another classic novel, and they do things differently there – or did. Maddie’s own healing requires her to leave the past behind, and her ability to do so gives the reader hope for a brighter future for the character, and quite possibly for themselves as well.

    Highly Recommended!

    Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson won Grand Prize in the 2021 CIBA Shorts Awards for Short Stories, Essays, Novelletes, and Novellas.

     

    Shorts GP gold sticker

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews