Had I not been raised village-style, I don’t know that I would have been able to write In West Mills. Thank you, Betty P. Griffin, Maria “Bebe” Griffin, Nellie “Lil Sista” Mitchell, Maggie Williams, and Eulanda “Landie” Williams, for being there when my parents and I needed you most.
To my aunts Sandra, Gwen, Lynette, DeeDee, Gail, and Wanda, thank you for being some of the strongest black women I know.
To Chanell, Keshia, Shakira, and Davina, thank you for the unwavering encouragement and the constant laughter.
To my big sister Rosalind, thank you for checking in on me regularly.
To Alexus and Treondre Winslow, thank you for coming along and forcing me to grow up. I love y’all.
Last, but certainly not least, I am most grateful for and to my mother, Joan Winslow. It would take another two hundred-plus pages to express my gratitude to you. You and Daddy taught me love, selflessness, and to finish what I start. I love you so very much.
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
De’Shawn Charles Winslow was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and in 2003 moved to Brooklyn, New York. He is a 2017 graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and holds a BFA in creative writing and an MA in English literature from Brooklyn College. He has received scholarships from the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He lives in East Harlem.
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This electronic edition first published in the United States 2019
Copyright © De’Shawn Charles Winslow, 2019
This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-63557-340-4; eBook: 978-1-63557-341-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Winslow, De’Shawn Charles, author.
Title: In West Mills / De’Shawn Charles Winslow.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018034737 | ISBN 9781635573404 (hardback) | ISBN 9781635573411 (e-book)
Classification: LCC PS3623.I66425 I5 2019 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034737
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