Doris Jean Austin

Doris Jean Austin
Born	1949 Mobile, Alabama, US
Died	September 1994 (aged 44–45)
Occupation(s)	Author and journalist

Doris Jean Austin (1949 – September 1994)[1] was an American author and journalist.

Early life and education

Doris Jean Austin was born in 1949 in Mobile, Alabama, in the United States. She was raised by her mother and grandmother. When she was six years old, Austin moved with her family to Jersey City, New Jersey, where she attended Lincoln High School. She was influenced to become a writer by her high school English teacher Reverend Ercell F. Webb. Austin was raised in a strict Baptist household, which would also serve as an inspiration for her work. She died in 1994 of liver cancer.[2]

Career

From 1989 until 1994, Austin taught workshops about fiction at Columbia University and at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.[2][3] A member of the Harlem Writers Guild (originally established in 1950), she went on to co-found The New Renaissance Guild, which was inspired by writers groups during the Harlem Renaissance, others involved including Arthur Flowers, Terry McMillan, Malaika Adero, Joyce Dukes, Brenda Conner Bey and B. J. Ashanti.[4][2][5] For a time Austin was a reporter for NBC Radio. Her work has been published in Essence, Amsterdam News, and The New York Times.[2][6]

Austin wrote one novel, After the Garden (1987),[7] which has been characterized as "one of the narratives in African American literature that dramatizes the class conflicts and disparate value systems found within the African American community."[8] The novel draws inspiration from people who attended the Baptist church that Austin went to when young, and is about "idealism and tainted relationships".[2] Her short story, "Heirs and Orphans," is based on a character in After the Garden, and was featured in the anthology Black Southern Voices. She had additional short stories appear in Street Lights: Illuminating Tales of the Urban Black Experience, which she co-edited.[2]

Legacy

Austin was best friends with Terry McMillan.[1] In McMillan's 1998 novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, the character Delilah was based on Austin.[5][9] Writer Carolyn Ferrell credits Austin as a mentor.[10]

References

1. Hubbard, Kim, "On Top of Her Game", People, April 29, 1996.
2. Fryor, Imani Lillie B., "Doris Jean Austin (1949–1994)", in Page, Yolanda Williams, Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers, Vol. 1, Greenwood Press, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-313-33429-0), pp. 23–25.
3. Gillespie, Fern (September 1, 1999). "Twentieth century black wrtiers find a voice at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center". Black Issues Book Review. Cox, Matthews & Associates. Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2012.(subscription required)
4. Brown, Marie (December 11, 2006). "An UPTOWN Continuing Literary Tradition (Harlem 1986 - 1996)". African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
5. Millner, Denene (August 22, 1998). "Girlfriends, Thick and Thin". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2012.(subscription required)
6. Austin, Doris Jean (March 13, 1988). "The Voyeur in the Mirror". The New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
7. "After the Garden – Doris Jean Austin, Author, Dutton Books" (review), Publishers Weekly, June 26, 1987.
8. "Austin, Doris Jean (1949–1994)". The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford Research. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
9. Millner, Denene (August 30, 1998). "Girlfriends Becoming A Popular Theme". Albany Times Union. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2012.(subscription required)
10. Proper Library. Gale. 2006. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016.(subscription required)