Toni Cade Bambara was born in New York in 1939 and died in Philadelphia in 1995. She grew up in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Queens neighborhoods and was educated at Queens College. After she received her master’s degree from the City College of the City University of New York, she became a highly sought after lecturer and teacher. She also worked as an activist to raise black consciousness.
In her fiction, Bambara writes in African American Standard Vernacular. She writes characters with an obvious affection. She published two short story collections: Gorilla, My Love (1972) and The Sea Birds Are Still Alive (1977). She also published two novels The Salt Eaters (1980) and If...
