“How much more political, revolutionary can you be than to give a Black woman the freedom from her own mouth, from her own tongue, as though she is talking to her own people when much of the world refuses to acknowledge that she even exists?” —Crystal Wilkinson

Gayl Jones’ novels are unflinching and fearless in their portrayal of those who are silenced, made invisible, and denied agency to tell their own stories. This two-hour creative dialogue is the second keynote event of the virtual symposium “Then You Don’t Want Me”: Canonizing Gayl Jones; it features an open discussion between award-winning authors Dr. Crystal Wilkinson (she/her), of Perfect Black and Blackberries, Blackberries, and Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs (she/they), of Spill and M Archive, about the influence of Gayl Jones’ work on their own writing and creative processes. Both speakers pay special attention to the intersections of Blackness, gender, and sexuality in their work, drawing from the diasporic experiences of Black women in the Southern and Appalachian United States. 

Through Wilkinson’s and Gumbs’ conversation, we notice the intricate ways in which the creative, the critical, and the political blend together. Together, they focus on three facets of Jones’ work: the importance of oral storytelling as a literary tool, the transformation and extension of the first-person perspective through the practice of active listening in daily life, and the reclamation of space, breath, and narrative for Black women. As Wilkinson and Gumbs explain, oral storytelling serves not only as a device but also as rebellion against dominant writing cultures, and as a way of connecting to Black ancestors. They touch on the importance of conscious listening to their writing processes; listening to how stories are told and the details within them, paying attention to the invisible, unseen, and unheard. In doing so, they “surrender to the flow of Black women’s genius,” as Gumbs states, by making and reclaiming space to explore Black women’s experiences in their entirety with room for repetition, layering, and breath.

On a broader level, their conversation connects to the symposium's larger focus on why Gayl Jones and other valuable Black women writers are often excluded from various literary canons and classrooms. Understanding Jones’ novels require readers to come together in different ways: to recognize how our lives and the institutions around us can be dismantled and restructured and on how to form communities of mutual respect and learning.

Scroll to watch the creative keynote dialogue. We hope you enjoy learning from these two amazing thinkers!