Kristin Elaine Hunter (September 12, 1931 – November 14, 2008) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. She sometimes wrote under the name Kristin Hunter Lattany. She is best known for her first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, ''God Bless the Child'', published in 1964.

Biography

Hunter was born Kristin Elaine Eggleston in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, to George L. Eggleston and the former Mabel Manigault, and attended Haddon Heights High School until 1947.John F. Morriso
"Kristin Hunter Lattany, novelist and activist, dies at 77"
, ''Philadelphia Daily News'', November 21, 2008; via

Al Young Albert James Young (May 31, 1939 – April 17, 2021) was an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor. He was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2005 to 2008. Young's many books includ ...

, "In Belated " KRISTIN HUNTER LATTANY (1931–2008)". When she was 14 she began writing a column about young people for the ''

Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...

'' and continued to do so until 1952, the year after she graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, where she received her bachelor's degree in Education (1951)."Kristin Hunter Lattany"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. In 1955 she won a national television competition for her script ''Minority of One''. Her first and most acclaimed novel, ''God Bless the Child,'' was published in 1964, and won the Philadelphia Athenaeum Literary Award.

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

, "Kristin Hunter", ''

Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora ...

'', Vintage, 1993, p. 390. Like most of her work, it confronts complex issues of race and gender. Her 1966 novel ''The Landlord'' was made into a movie by

Hal Ashby William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an Cinema of the United States, American film Film director, director and Film editing, editor. His work exemplified the countercultural attitude of the era. He directed wide-rangi ...

(

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

, 1970). Her 1973 collection of short stories, ''Guests in the Promised Land'', was nominated for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. In 1972 she began teaching in the English department at the

, eventually retiring from the university in 1995. She was also a visiting professor at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

. She received the Moonstone Black Writing Celebration Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.Obituary
''Almanan'', University of Pennsylvania, December 9, 2008, Volume 55, No. 15. Commenting on her own work, she said: "The bulk of my work has dealt—imaginatively, I hope—with relations between the white and black races in America. My early work was 'objective,' that is, sympathetic to both whites and blacks, and seeing members of both groups from a perspective of irony and humor against the wider backdrop of human experience as a whole. Since about 1968 my subjective anger has been emerging, along with my grasp of the real situation in this society, though my sense of humor and my basic optimism keep cropping up like uncontrollable weeds."

Personal life

She married writer Joseph Hunter in 1952. They divorced in 1962, and she married John Lattany in 1968. She died in 2008, aged 77, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

after collapsing in her home in

Magnolia, New Jersey Magnolia is a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,352, an increase of 11 (+0.3%) from the 2010 census count of 4,341, which in turn reflected a decline ...

Books

*''God Bless the Child,'' 1964. *''The Landlord,'' 1966. *''The Soul Brothers and Sister Lou'' (National Council on Interracial Books for the Children Award), 1968. *''Boss Cat,'' 1971. *''Guests in the Promised Land'' (stories; nominated for the National Book Award), 1973. *''The Survivors'', 1975. *''The Lakestown Rebellion,'' 1978. *''Lou in the Limelight,'' 1981. *''Kinfolks,'' 1996. *''The Scribe,'' 1998. *''Do Unto Others,'' 2000. *''Breaking Away,'' 2003. *''Mom Luby and the Social Worker ,''

References

External links

* * Kristin Hunter
"A short story" ("Debut")
''Negro Digest'', June 1968, pp. 62–69.
Kristin Hunter Lattany writings
fro
Free Library of Philadelphia. Children's Literature Research Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Kristin 1931 births 2008 deaths Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American Book Award winners African-American novelists 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women African-American women novelists