Shay Youngblood

Sharon Ellen Youngblood (October 16, 1959 – June 11, 2024) was an American playwright, author of short stories and novels, artist, and educator. Her works explored themes of identity, community, and resilience, giving voice to generations of African-American women. Biography Shay Youngblood was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1959, the only child of Mary Lee Kemp and Lonnie Willis Crosby. Her surname came from one of her mother's husbands. Much of Youngblood's fiction mirrors her own life experiences. Like many of her heroines, Youngblood herself was an orphan at an early age. Her mother died when she was about two years old, and she was raised by a community family that included women who resemble the characters depicted in her books and plays. she participated in a service project in Haiti. Her work in Haiti heightened her awareness of the injustice suffered by poor people in many places around the world. Immediately after graduating she joined the Peace Corps,

Youngblood was gay. Her marriage to Annette Lawrence, in 2010, ended in divorce in 2020.

Career Youngblood is recognized as a poet, playwright, and fiction writer, and she also wrote, produced, and directed two short videos. Her play Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery, which first premiered at Atlanta's Horizon Theater in 1988, follows a community of black women who nurture a young woman named Daughter, sharing their folk wisdom, biblical teachings, and life experiences. It celebrates the strength and wisdom of African-American women overcoming oppression and violence in the segregated South through interconnected stories of endurance, humor, and perseverance. Reworking the characters of the play, she published The Big Mama Stories in 1989, This compilation of short stories focuses on the coming of age of a poor, young African-American girl named Chile. Chile's biological mother, Fannie Mae, has died, and Chile and her brother go to live with a woman called Big Mama, who raises the children with the help of the entire community. and Black Girl in Paris, which draws from her experiences in Paris and was motivated by her desire to inspire boldness in others. Her plays – Amazing Grace, Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery and Talking Bones – have been widely produced.

Youngblood was a board member of both Yaddo She taught creative writing at City College of New York She also taught writing at the Syracuse Community Writer's Project, playwriting at the Rhode Island Adult Institution for Women and Brown University, and creative writing at Texas A&M University. In 2013, she became the Dallas Museum of Art's first Writer in Residence. She also worked as a "Career Advisor to Creatives", where she helped artists, writers and musicians plan their careers, teaching them skills for navigating the job market and networking.

Selected works

Awards Shay Youngblood has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a Pushcart Prize for her short story "Born With Religion." She has also received the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award for her play Talking Bones, the Astraea Writers' Award for Fiction, a 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Sustained Achievement Award, and several NAACP Theatre Awards.