This Child's Gonna Live

"Sarah Wright's triumph in this novel is a celebration of life over death. It is, in every respect, an impressive achievement."--The New York Times, 1969

"Often compared to the work of Zora Neale Hurston, the novel was unusual in its exploration of the black experience from a woman's perspective, anticipating fiction by writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker."--The New York Times, 2009

Originally published in 1969 to broad critical acclaim, This Child's Gonna Live is an unsurpassed testament to human endurance in the face of poverty, racism, and despair. Set in a fishing village on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the 1930s, this story has as its main character the unforgettable Mariah Upshur, a hard-working, sensual, resilient woman, full of hope, and determination despite living in a society that conspires to keep her down. In her mind, she carries on a conversation with Jesus, who, like Mariah herself, is passionate and compassionate, at times funny and resolutely resilient to fatalism. Often compared to Zora Neale Hurston for her lyrical and sure-handed use of local dialect, Wright, like Hurston, powerfully depicts the predicament of poor African American women, who confront the multiple oppressions of class, race, and gender.
About the Author: Novelist, poet, essayist and social activist, Sarah E. Wright (1928-2009) was born in the Village of Wetipquin, on the Eastern Shore of Jim Crow Maryland. She helped organize the First and the Second National Conference of Black Writers and the Congress of American Writers. She was the president of Pen & Brush, Inc., the oldest professional organization of women in the United States, and a member of the Harlem Writer's Guild, PEN, the Authors Guild, and the International Women's Writing Guild. Wright received numerous awards, including two MacDowell Colony fellowships for creative writing, the 1975 CAPS Award for Fiction, the 1976 Howard University Novelist-Poet Award, the Middle Atlantic Writers Association Award, and the Zora Neale Hurston Award.

Wright's first book, Give Me a Child, coauthored by Lucy Smith, is a collection of poetry designed to make poetry accessible to the general public. Her first novel, This Child's Gonna Live was chosen by the New York Times as one of 1969's most important books and by the Baltimore Sun for the 1969 Readability Award. Her third book, A. Philip Randolph: Integration in the Workplace, was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Young Adults published in 1990.