Alice Randall

Alice Randall is author of Pushkin and the Queen of Spades & The Wind Done Gone

Alice Randall is the author of Pushkin and the Queen of Spades & The Wind Done Gone, both published by Houghton-Mifflin.

Alice was born in Detroit, Michigan, in an enclave of Motown populated almost exclusively with refugees from Alabama. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and then attended Harvard University, from which she graduated in 1981 with an honors degree in English and American literature. In 1983 she moved to Nashville to become a country songwriter. In 2001, her first novel, The Wind Done Gone, became a New York Time's bestseller and the subject of a first-amendment legal battle. Alice received the Free Spirit Award in 2001 and the Literature Award of Excellence from the Memphis Black Writers Conference in 2002. She was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in 2002.

The only African-American woman in history to write a Number 1 country song, she has had over twenty songs recorded, including two top ten records and a top forty. Her work includes the only known recorded country songs to explore the subject of lynching (Mark O'Connor's "The Ballad of Sally Anne" ), mention Aretha Franklin in the same line as Patsy Cline (Trisha Yearwood's "Xxx's and Ooo's (An American Girl)" ), and give tribute to both the slave dead and the Confederate dead ("I'll Cry for Yours, Will You Cry for Mine?"). Ms. Randall is also a produced screenwriter (a movie of the week for CBS) and has worked on adaptations of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Parting the Waters, and Brer Rabbit.

The mother of Caroline Randall Williams (who is the great-granddaughter of the Harlem Renaissance poet Arna Bontemps) and the wife of attorney David Ewing (a ninth-generation resident of Nashville and a great-great-grandson of Prince Albert Ewing, the first African American to practice law in Tennessee), Alice Randall Ewing lives in Nashville, Tenn.

Press Inquiries:

Walter Vatter
Houghton-Mifflin Books
212-420-5830
e-mail: walter_atter@hmco.com

Speaking Representation:

If you are interested in having Alice speak to your group, please contact Flip Porter at American Program Bureau.

Purchase Pushkin and the Queen of Spades

Order Pushkin and the Queen of Spades from your local bookstore via Booksense.com

Order Pushkin and the Queen of Spades from amazon.com.

Purchase The Wind Done Gone

Order The Wind Done Gone from your local bookstore via Booksense.com

Order The Wind Done Gone from from amazon.com.