GUMBO: an Anthology of African American Writing.

edited by E. Lynn Harris and Marita Golden Harlem Moon, December 2002 $17.95, ISBN 0-767-91041-9

GUMBO: An Anthology of African American Writings all-star roster boasts more names than your little black book and rivals the Yellow Pages in heft. Aptly titled, this savory word stew is a slow-cooked, jam-packed literary jambalaya. And while a few writers contribute nutrient-poor ingredients that lack essential spice and flavor, their watery prose is offset by writers who don't skimp on the andouille, shrimp, cayenne, okra, onion, and roux that are the signature staples of a good pot of gumbo.

An excellent choice for those who want to catch up on the contemporary boom in black literature and popular fiction, GUMBO is like a Reader's Digest of black writing from the last ten or so years. In the event your library card was remanded or your local bookstore still subscribes to that wayward idea that "black people don't read or write rule of thumb," here are chapters and passages excerpted from books you always intended to get to but never did, like Walter Mosley's RL's Dream, Shay Youngblood's Black Girl in Paris, Steven Barnes' Lion's Blood, What You Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell and Slapboxing With Jesus by Victor D. Lavelle. Even more exciting, however, are the series of yet-to-be published works by the writers whose work you constantly crave like Danzy Senna, Edwidge Danticat and GUMBO's editors E. Lynn Harris and Marita Golden. Add to the mix the work of new-to-the-table writers and the recipe is complete.

With its avant-garde cover design and extremely dense pages, toting around GUMBO will amaze anyone you care to make an impression on. It's true. Smart is sexy.

Touted as a literary rent party, monies earned from GUMBO will benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation, which sponsors writing classes and various grants and awards for black writers. It is the only foundation of it's kind and it may well be an antidote for all that god-awful writing that somehow manages to make it to press year after year.

Ultimately, the reader is indebted to Harris and Golden. After all, these two thoughtful souls saw fit to bless us with the means to a warm and full belly. And while not every bite will make your taste buds yearn for more, the best thing about GUMBO is that there is always more than enough to go around and you will never ever walk away hungry.

--Zakia Carter is an editor at Africana.com