American Book Awards
2 appearances
-
Edition 12 (1991) Winner
-
Edition 44 (2023) Winner
bell hooks
ベル・フックス
bell hooks
Pen Names:
bell hooks（Pen name taken from her maternal great-grandmother; she styled it in lowercase to decenter herself and draw attention to her work.）
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1952-09-25 （Hopkinsville, Kentucky, U.S.）
- Died
- 2021-12-15 （Berea, Kentucky, U.S.） age 69
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Christian upbringing with Buddhist influences (Christian-Buddhist synthesis)
- Residence History
- Hopkinsville (birthplace) → Berea (long-term residence and employment) → Santa Cruz, California (education/research) → New York (City College of New York and other affiliations) → Los Angeles (taught at University of Southern California) → Oberlin (taught at Oberlin College)
Career
- Occupations
- author, educator, academic, activist, cultural critic
- Active Years
- 1976-2018
- Affiliations
- Berea College (Distinguished Professor in Residence), City College of New York (faculty), Yale University (assistant professor), Oberlin College (associate professor), San Francisco State University (faculty), University of Southern California (faculty)
- Influenced By
- Sojourner Truth, Paulo Freire, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Erich Fromm, Lorraine Hansberry, Thích Nhất Hạnh, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford University | Arts & Humanities | English | BA | 1969–1973 | United States |
| University of Wisconsin–Madison | Arts & Humanities | English | MA | 1974–1976 | United States |
| University of California, Santa Cruz | Graduate School (PhD) | English | PhD | 1979–1983 | United States |
Stanford University
Arts & Humanities
/ English
Degree:
BA
Period:
1969–1973
Year of Graduation:
1973
Country:
United States
BA in English
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Arts & Humanities
/ English
Degree:
MA
Period:
1974–1976
Year of Graduation:
1976
Country:
United States
MA in English
University of California, Santa Cruz
Graduate School (PhD)
/ English
Degree:
PhD
Period:
1979–1983
Year of Graduation:
1983
Country:
United States
Dissertation: "Keeping a Hold on Life: Reading Toni Morrison's Fiction"
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | American Book Award (for Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics) | Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics | — | Before Columbus Foundation (American Book Awards) | winner |
| 1994 | The Writer's Award | — | — | Lila Wallace–Reader's Digest Fund | winner |
| 2002 | Bank Street Children's Book of the Year | Homemade Love | — | Bank Street College | winner |
| 2001 | NAACP Image Award (nominee) | Happy to Be Nappy | — | NAACP | nominee |
| 2002 | Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (nominee) | Salvation: Black People and Love | — | Hurston/Wright Foundation | nominee |
| 2018 | Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame | — | — | Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame | inducted |
| 2020 | TIME 100 Women of the Year (listed) | — | — | TIME magazine | listed |
American Book Award (for Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics)
1991
Work:
Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics
Organization:
Before Columbus Foundation (American Book Awards)
Result:
winner
The Writer's Award
1994
Organization:
Lila Wallace–Reader's Digest Fund
Result:
winner
Bank Street Children's Book of the Year
2002
Work:
Homemade Love
Organization:
Bank Street College
Result:
winner
NAACP Image Award (nominee)
2001
Work:
Happy to Be Nappy
Organization:
NAACP
Result:
nominee
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (nominee)
2002
Work:
Salvation: Black People and Love
Organization:
Hurston/Wright Foundation
Result:
nominee
Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame
2018
Organization:
Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame
Result:
inducted
TIME 100 Women of the Year (listed)
2020
Organization:
TIME magazine
Result:
listed
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Ain't I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism
1981 Feminist theory / Social criticism 200 pagesA foundational critique of sexism and racism as they affect black women, establishing hooks's early contributions to intersectional feminist thought.
racegenderoppressionhistorical inequality
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
1984 Feminist theory 180 pagesCritiques the racism within mainstream second-wave feminism and argues for a feminism that centers marginalized voices.
critique of white feminismsolidarityclass
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
1994 Education / Pedagogy 224 pagesPositions education as the practice of freedom and advocates engaged pedagogy that is accessible across class boundaries.
education practiceengaged pedagogycritical literacy
All About Love: New Visions
2000 Essays / Cultural criticism 208 pagesReexamines the concept of love as a public and political ethic, proposing a 'love ethic' as central to personal and social transformation.
love ethicpersonal and social relationshipshealing
We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
2004 Social criticism / Masculinity studies 160 pagesExamines the construction of black masculinity and its social implications, discussing intersections of gender and race.
black masculinitygendersocial structures
Bibliography
- And There We Wept: poems (1978)
- Ain't I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism (1981)
- Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)
- Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics (1990)
- Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood (1996)
- Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994)
- All About Love: New Visions (2000)
- We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (2004)
- Belonging: a culture of place (2009)
- Writing Beyond Race: Living Theory and Practice (2013)
- Uncut Funk: A Contemplative Dialogue (with Stuart Hall, 2018)
Adaptations
- Black is... Black Ain't (1994)
- Give a Damn Again (1995)
- Occupy Love (2012) - appearance
- Hillbilly (2018) - appearance
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- clear, argumentative essay styleblend of theoretical analysis and personal memoiraccessible prose aimed at wide audiences
- Recurring Motifs
- love (love ethic)intersectionality of race and gendereducation and liberationcapitalism and oppressionvisual culture and media critique
Health
-
kidney failure2021Died at home from kidney failure in 2021; health condition was the cause of death.
Legacy
bell hooks was a major public intellectual whose work reshaped black feminist thought, pedagogy, and cultural criticism. Her accessible writing influenced activists, scholars, and a wider readership; interest in her work resurged alongside racial justice movements.
Archives
- Berea College Special Collections (bell hooks papers)
In Popular Culture
- Featured in TIME's "100 Women of the Year" (2020), appearances in documentaries and films; her work influenced popular discussions of race, feminism and love.
Quotes
-
I use lowercase to focus attention on the substance of my books rather than who I am.
Source: Interview / quoted in The New York Times (commentary on pen name and lowercase usage) (2006)
Trivia
- Her pen name comes from her maternal great-grandmother Bell Blair Hooks.
- She insisted on the lowercase styling of her name to decenter the author and emphasize the work.
- Described her sexual identity as 'queer-pas-gay'.
- Inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame in 2018.