Author Kim Coleman Foote reflects on her family’s legacy of strength, her debut novel “Coleman Hill” and the support she’s received as a finalist for prestigious awards. Her path, rooted at Chicago State University, brings her back to Chicago for an exciting weekend at CSU and the 39th Annual Printers Row Lit Fest (Photos Provided).
During a Friday morning Zoom meeting, author Kim Coleman Foote shared a powerful family story that highlighted the bravery and strength of the women in her lineage.
She spoke of her great-great-grandmother, a remarkable woman who lived during Jim Crow in Alabama at the turn of the century and stood up for herself against all odds. The story described how she handled a white neighbor’s pigs that kept rooting under her house, which caused difficulties: she ended up scalding them with boiling water.
When the neighbor confronted her with a shotgun, she fearlessly stood her ground.
“He came to her, and he put a shotgun in her face. And she was like, pull it…and she lived to talk about it,” Foote said.
Her debut novel, “Coleman Hill,” published last year, explores her family’s Great Migration journey from Florida and Alabama to New Jersey. The book has been recognized as a finalist for the Image Award and has earned other accolades.
The foundation for her critically acclaimed novel was laid in a class Foote took at Chicago State University around 2004, and it was published almost twenty years later.
Foote returns to Chicago this weekend to share her work, first on Friday at CSU, her alma mater, and on Saturday for a panel at Printers Row, featuring Black women writers (information below).
‘Coleman Hill’ and American History in the Making
Foote’s “Coleman Hill” was published under an imprint of actor and television producer Sarah Jessica Parker’s publishing company, SJP Lit.
Reflecting on the support she has received, Foote said, “Sarah Jessica Parker loves the book and has been incredibly supportive. She also added that Parker is a genuine book lover, and “from the start, she recognized the novel as an important American story, which was meaningful to me.”
Foote’s journey as an author has been both astounding and gratifying.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]She expresses her gratitude, saying, “I could never have anticipated that this book would do everything it’s done and launch my writing career.” [/perfectpullquote]
Since its publication, the book has been named a finalist for several prestigious awards, including the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, the NAACP Image Award and the Audie Award. It was also long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
During that time, she worked on other projects, including another novel and a memoir about her experiences in Ghana, but she always returned to “Coleman Hill.”
As Kim worked on other projects, she decided to focus on the novel, which Foote shared was an emotional rollercoaster to write.
“It wasn’t an easy process, especially as it deals with emotional and traumatic family stories. However, I felt compelled to tell these stories, which kept me going.”
“The book explains that the family split, I would say, in the 1930s, and they couldn’t find each other until the 1990s.”
“My great-great-grandmother did not have a good relationship with her mother-in-law. Both families lived in New Jersey at the time—my great-great-grandmother, my great-great-grandfather and his mother,” Foote said.
“When my great-great-grandfather passed away, his mother sent my great-great-grandmother back to Alabama, making it clear that she was not welcome to continue living in the house. As a result of this incident, the families lost contact with each other. They did not communicate after that, possibly due to losing track of one another or other circumstances that arose.”
Even though writing the book was challenging, Foote said she strongly needed to share these stories about her family and their experiences. Her passion helped her persist despite rejections and setbacks.
She said she’s proud to highlight her ancestors and is impressed by women who are strong, bold and aggressive—those who stand up to racism, white men, and even abusive men.
“I also wanted to explore the complexity of these traits, as the same strength that empowers them can sometimes turn against their own families. It’s a duality I found intriguing.”
Foote deeply values readers’ connections with her work and their understanding of her intentions. She finds immense joy in hearing from those who see reflections of their own families in her writing or who have gained new perspectives on their relatives.
Her book also explores family members who have been villainized, offering a fresh perspective on their experiences and motivations that foster empathy and understanding. Attendees at her CSU and Printers Row events should be fascinated to hear those stories up close and personal.
The 39th Annual Printers Row Lit Fest
At Saturday’s Printers Row Lit Fest event, Foote, Claudia Dey, Janika Oza and Emily Kellogg will discuss their works, women’s fiction in general and the initiatives of the Carol Shields Prize, which honors women writers.
Although there may be more published women writers than men, men have typically received more recognition and significant awards. The prize amount is so substantial to address this historical disparity.
This prize aims to shift the focus towards women writers. It is part of a larger initiative to support women writers and is a collaboration between Canadian and U.S. organizations.
“The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was established last year and is the largest fiction prize in the world. The winner receives $150,000, and the finalists receive significant monetary awards,” said Foote. “Five finalists were chosen from about 250 books this year, and I am honored to be one of them. I will be participating in a discussion with fellow finalists Claudia Dey and Janika Oza, moderated by Emily Kellogg, where we will talk about our books and focus on women’s fiction,” she said.
For More Information
On Friday, Sept. 6, starting at 5:30 p.m., Foote will be the featured reader for “Rootedness: A Reading with Kimberly Coleman Foote” at Chicago State University’s Gwendolyn Brooks Library. For more information on this free event, visit this link.
On Saturday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m., Foote, along with Claudia Dey, Janika Oza and Emily Kellogg, will participate in the “Amplifying Women’s Voices: The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction” panel at the Printers Row Lit Fest. For more info on this and other Printers Row events, visit printersrowlitfest.org.
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