Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

By Zora Neale Hurston

From ‘one of the greatest writers of our time’ (Toni Morrison) – the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God and Barracoon – a collection of remarkable short stories from the Harlem Renaissance With a foreword by Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

‘Genius’ Alice Walker

‘Rigorous, convincing, dazzling’ Zadie Smith on Their Eyes Were Watching God

In 1925, college student Zora Neale Hurston – the sole black student at Barnard College, New York – was living in the city, ‘desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world.’

During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nearly a century later, this singular talent is recognised as one of the most influential and revered American artists of the modern period.

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s ‘lost’ Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives.

These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humour, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston’s world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer’s voice and her contributions to America’s literary traditions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jan 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008374723

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.

Reviews for Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

[drfuriosa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Zora Neale Hurston is a brilliant writer, and these stories showcase a broad range of skill. She satirizes, writes folklore, and uses black vernacular English in lyrical and original ways. If you like folk stories, sly humor, or Harlem Renaissance writing, this collection is a must-read.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found the introduction to this book by Genevieve West particularly helpful in helping me understand Huston’s growth as a writer. Although I struggled with the black dialect, it was a necessary part of the story. I found myself reading much of the conversation out loud to understand what was said. What Hurston did so adeptly was showing the sad side of love, how race and poverty puts people in positions that aren’t favorable to them. Hurston’s ability to observe people and then recreate them in short stories is evident. Yes, this wasn’t my favorite book, but it is an important book in helping me to understand how a writer’s talents are developed.