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Cheryl A. Head

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Cheryl A. Head
BornDetroit, Michigan, U.S.
Alma mater
GenreFiction, Historical fiction, mystery, Crime fiction
Literary movementCivil rights, human rights, queer fiction
Notable awardsGolden Crown Literary Society’s Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award, Alice B Readers Award Medal, Independent Publisher Book Awards
Website
www.cherylhead.com

Cheryl A. Head is an American author, television producer, organizer, and former broadcast executive. She is also the author of the award-winning Charlie Mack Motown mysteries, whose female PI protagonist is queer and Black. Head is an Anthony Award nominee, a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, a three-time Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist, and winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society's Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. Her books are included in the Detroit Public Library's African American Booklist and in the Special Collections of the Library of Michigan.[1] In 2019, Head was named to the Hall of Fame of the New Orleans Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, and she was awarded the Alice B Reader Award in 2022.[2]

Personal life

Head was born in Detroit, Michigan, and lived with her parents and siblings until adulthood. She attended Wayne State University, intending to focus on pre-law, but was “bitten by the media bug” and shifted to Media and Communications. Head worked at television stations: WDIV and Detroit Public Television (WTVS), and public radio station WDET. She received a Masters degree in Telecommunications Management at Ohio University. She moved to Washington, DC, in the 1990s to work in public broadcasting. After working as a TV and radio field reporter, anchor, production executive, media grantmaker at several organizations in Detroit and Washington, DC, Head retired early to focus on a writing career.[3]

Head's work includes: The Charlie Mack Motown Series, a World War II historical novel, and a novel based upon the tragic loss of Head's grandfather who died in 1929 at the hands of the police.[4] That book, Time’s Undoing, was a 2023 Indie Next pick, an Amazon Best Book of March, and Amazon Editors Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense.[5]

Head's award-winning Charlie Mack series has received many accolades including from Sarah Weinman at the New York Times where Weinman called Warn Me When It’s Time “chilling and prescient.” Weinman went on to say in the review entitled “Dark Night of the Soul” that “Head plumbs these scary depths with great care, showing how hate infects the pliable, and how, for Charlie and her colleagues, it can never be anything less than personal and political.”[6]

In a Booklist Starred Review for Time’s Undoing, the reviewer noted that Head “brings her gift for strong women protagonists and suspense to this tale about a young, Black female journalist from Detroit on a dangerous quest... Vivid and affecting... This heart-seizing tale even has a touch of the supernatural as it celebrates Black lives… Thanks to strong prepub buzz and its deeply resonant subject, Head’s commanding novel will be on many ‘must read’ lists.”[citation needed]

Of her own work and themes, Head has expressed her thoughts and intentions in this way:[7]

I have to say I see myself as a bit of a race woman. By that I mean I think all the time about our country’s ongoing wrestle around diversity issues. In my opinion, we won’t live up to the potential we have as a country unless we confront the systemic issues of race which include class, public policy, religion, public education, poverty, etc. I’m taking a small bite out of the apple to write about some of these issues through the prism of protagonist who is African American and lesbian. I feel compelled to do that. I want the kernels of truth I present to be ideas that build up our empathy for each other. I know, without a doubt, that people across the globe have many of the same aspirations, hopes and goals. These universal desires, at a very primal level, connect us as human beings. I guess my best inspiration for writing about tough subjects is being a wide-eyed, open-eared observer. I also believe I’m very empathetic person. I try to pour a lot of that awareness into my writing.

— Cheryl A. Head

Works

Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series

  • Bury Me When I'm Dead, Bywater Books, 2016
  • Wake Me When It's Over, Bywater Books, 2018
  • Catch Me When I'm Falling, Bywater Books, 2019
  • Judge Me When I'm Wrong, Bywater Books, 2019
  • Find Me When I'm Lost, Bywater Books, 2020
  • Warn Me When It's Time, Bywater Books, 2021

Historical novels

  • Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, CS/Amz Press, 2014
  • Time’s Undoing: A Novel, Dutton Books, 2023

Awards and recognition

  • 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Historical Fiction Finalist, for Long Way Home
  • 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, African American Literature Finalist, for Long Way Home
  • 2017 Lambda Literary Finalist, Mystery/Thriller, Bury Me When I’m Dead, Bywater Books
  • 2019 Detroit Public Library African American Book List, Wake Me When It's Over, Bywater Books
  • 2019 Inducted for body of work into the Hall of Fame of the New Orleans Saints & Sinners Literary Festival
  • 2020 Inclusion of Works in the Special Collections of the Library of Michigan
  • 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Mystery Finalist, Catch Me When I'm Falling, Bywater Books
  • 2020 Golden Crown Literary Society, Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award Winner, Judge Me When I'm Wrong, Bywater Books
  • 2021 Lambda Literary Finalist, Mystery/Thriller, Find Me When I'm Lost, Bywater Books
  • 2022 Anthony Awards Finalist, Best Paperback/eBook/Audiobook, Warn Me When It’s Time, Bywater Books
  • 2022 IPPY Awards Winner, Silver, Great Lakes-Best Regional Fiction, for Warn Me When It’s Time
  • 2022 Alice B Award and medal for career achievement

Select interviews/podcasts

Scrawl Space – Interview with Cheryl A. Head: Author of riveting mysteries, champion of diversity (in fiction and beyond)[8]

Literary Hill – Q & A With “Warn Me When It’s Time” Author Cheryl A. Head [9]

Books Are Magic – Time's Undoing with Cheryl A. Head[10]

Authors on the Air – Time's Undoing[11]

Thoughts from a Page – Time's Undoing[12]

BCPL – Interview conducted at the Creatures, Crimes, & Creativity Con with Cheryl Head[13]

Write-minded Podcast – Cheryl A. Head: How We Can Reclaim Our Stories Through Fiction[14]

Wicked Authors – A Wicked Welcome to Cheryl Head[15]

Crime Writers of Color – Cheryl Head and Time's Undoing with Robert Justice[16]

Select reviews

  • Time’s Undoing[17]
  • Time’s Undoing[18]
  • Time’s Undoing[19]
  • Warn Me When It's Time[6]
  • Find Me When I'm Lost[20]
  • Judge Me When I'm Wrong[21]
  • Catch Me When I’m Falling[22]
  • Catch Me When I'm Falling[23]
  • Wake Me When It's Over[24]
  • Bury Me When I’m Dead[25]
  • Long Way Home: A World War II Novel[26]

References

  1. ^ "Cheryl A. Head: About the Author". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Cheryl A. Head: Sisters in Crime Podcast #60". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Flashpoints with Cheryl Head=". Uncorking a Story. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Cheryl Head on using crime fiction to tell the story of her grandfather's murder". Crimereads.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Programs & Events: Cheryl A. Head & Brenda Buchanan". Friend Memorial Public Library. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  6. ^ a b Sarah Weinman. "Dark Night of the Soul". New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  7. ^ Scrawl Space Blog. "Interview with Cheryl A. Head: Author of riveting mysteries, champion of diversity (in fiction and beyond)". Greg Levin. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  8. ^ Cheryl A. Head and Greg Levin. "Interview with Cheryl A. Head". Scrawl Space Blog. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  9. ^ Karen Lyon. "Q & A With "Warn Me When It's Time" Author Cheryl A. Head". Hillrag.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  10. ^ Janet Jakobsen. "Time's Undoing with Cheryl A. Head at Books Are Magic". Books Are Magic. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Time's Undoing". Authors on the Air. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  12. ^ Cindy Burnett. "Time's Undoing". Thoughts from a Page. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  13. ^ "BCPL Interview with Cheryl Head: The Motown Mystery Writer". BCPL. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  14. ^ Hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner at Literary Hub. "Cheryl A. Head: How We Can Reclaim Our Stories Through Fiction". Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  15. ^ Julie Hennrikus. "A Wicked Welcome to Cheryl Head". Wicked Authors.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  16. ^ Robert Justice. "Cheryl Head and Time's Undoing with Robert Justice". CWOC. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  17. ^ Carol Seaman. "Time's Undoing". Booklist. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  18. ^ Oline H. Cogdill. "A 1929 racial murder looms in 'Time's Undoing'". South Florida Sun Sentine. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  19. ^ Julie Hinds. "Detroit author's novel on racism's toll inspired by tragedy in her family". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  20. ^ April. "Find Me When I'm Lost". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  21. ^ April. "Judge Me When I'm Wrong". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  22. ^ Out in Print: Queer Book Reviews by Jerry L. Wheeler. "Catch Me When I'm Falling". JL Wheeler. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  23. ^ April. "Catch Me When I'm Falling". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  24. ^ April. "Wake Me When It's Over". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  25. ^ April. "Bury Me When I'm Dead". The Lesbian Review. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  26. ^ Brookline Mike. "Long Way Home Review-Thank You!". AMZ. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
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