W.D. Foster-Graham is a native son of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and an alumnus of Minneapolis Central High School\u2019s Class of 1970. A graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, he received a B.A. in psychology, with a minor in Black studies. He is an original member of the 3-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble, Sounds of Blackness, and has been recognized by the International Society of Poets as one of its \u201cBest New Poets of 2003.\u201d In keeping with his roots in south Minneapolis, he is an active member of St. Peter\u2019s AME Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retired from the field of teaching in Minneapolis Public Schools, he considered it the most rewarding experience of his working career. Currently, he is a guest columnist for journalist and entrepreneur Wyatt O\u2019Brian Evans from Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a 5-time published independent author, Foster-Graham\u2019s\u00a0Christopher Family Novel<\/em>\u00a0series graces the shelves of many public library system collections in Minnesota. His passion for writing was inspired at an early age by his father, who read voraciously; in his words, his father was his \u201cNumber One fan and biggest critic.\u201d His tastes in writing run to historical fiction, family sagas, and romance, seasoned with his own brand of African American flavor\u2014at the end of the day, it\u2019s all about the love. He shamelessly admits to a love of romance novels, whodunits, and classic movies of old Hollywood. When not in writer\u2019s mode, he loves travel on the open road and time with his husband and son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He received inspiration from the late novelists E. Lynn Harris and Toni Morrison. One of his favorite quotes from Toni Morrison is, \u201cIf there is a story you wish to read, and it hasn\u2019t been written yet, then you must be the one to write it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Driven by the need to read about characters who looked like him, address the stereotypical portrayals where they existed, and his experiences with Publishing While Black, set Foster-Graham on the road to independent publishing, starting with his first novel, Mark My Words: A Christopher Family Novel.<\/em> In the process, he discovered that Black independent authors encompass three of Kwanzaa\u2019s seven principles: Kuumba<\/em> (Creativity), Kujichagulia<\/em> (Self-Determination), and Ujamaa<\/em> (Cooperative Economics).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As book review editor, Foster-Graham firmly believes that representation matters, and supporting Black authors (especially local Black authors) is an imperative. Recognizing the importance of reviews for authors, his column, Sharing Our Stories,<\/em> will bring light to the unique voices of new and established Black authors, and his reviews will run the gamut of fiction and non-fiction. He also believes that there are no \u201caspiring writers\u201d: once you write, you are a writer. A writer\u2019s gifts will make room for him\/her\/them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is honored to become part of the Insight News<\/em> team, and he leaves you, the reader, with the following: \u201cBelieve in dreams and never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" W.D. Foster-Graham is a native son of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and an alumnus of Minneapolis Central High School\u2019s Class of 1970. A graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, he received a B.A. in psychology, with a minor in Black studies. He is an original member of the 3-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble, Sounds of Blackness, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,16],"tags":[77,78,38,76],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-local","tag-black-studies","tag-grammy-award-winner","tag-minneapolis","tag-sounds-of-blackness","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Insight-News-Wide-Image-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}