Nancy Rawles is an American playwright, novelist, and teacher. She is a 2006 recipient of the Alex Award.
Early life and education
Rawles grew up in Los Angeles.
Rawles graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism. She studied playwriting in Chicago with Linda Walsh Jenkins and Steven Carter. She later studied with C. Bernard Jackson of the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and with Valerie Curtis Newton of The Hansberry Project.
Career Rawles has written three novels. Her third novel, My Jim, published in 2005, tells the story of Sadie Watson, said to be the wife of the character known as "Nigger Jim", the escaped slave who travels down the Mississippi River with Huckleberry Finn in Mark Twain's famous novel of that name."'My Jim': A New Take on a Twain Classic", by Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR; Published March 2, 2005 at 12:00 AM EST, WUSF website.
Rawles is a contributor to the Female Sexual Ethics Project at Brandeis University under the direction of Bernadette Brooten, Kraft-Hiatt Professor of Christian Studies.
Awards In 2005, Booklist included My Jim on their list of year's the best "Adult Books for Young Adults".
In 2007, Rawles received an Artist Trust Fellowship in Fiction. +Awards for Rawles's writingYearWorkAwardResult2009My JimSeattle Reads1998Love Like GumboAmerican Book AwardWinner1998Washington State Governor's Writers Award2000Astraea Foundation, Claire of the Moon Award for Fiction2006My JimAlex AwardsWinner2006My JimHurston/Wright Legacy Award in FictionWinner
Works
Novels
Criticism
References
External links "Nancy Rawles Revisits a Twain Character for 'My Jim'", NPR, Alan Cheuse, February 22, 2005
"The Importance of Place: Lisa Albers talks with prominent local authors about their writing", Seattle Woman