ByDolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the author of the NYT bestselling novel Wench. In 2011, she was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. Her second novel Balm was published in 2015. She lives in Washington, DC with her family.

  1. A Hostile Environment

    ByDolen Perkins-Valdez

    in The Butter

    When I asked an employee at a hotel in Richmond, Virginia for directions to the Museum of the Confederacy, he gave me a strange look. “Are you sure you want to go there?” I understood the skepticism of this African American man in his smart bellman’s uniform. Black folks generally tend to stay away from memorials to the “Lost Cause.” “Yes, I’m sure. Can you please tell me how to get there?” I said with…

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