Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author portrait
© Norman E. Jones

Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Take My Hand (2022), which was awarded an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and a Fiction award from the Black Caucus American Library Association, and was long-listed for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. A three-time nominee for a United States Artists Fellowship, Dolen is widely considered a preeminent chronicler of American historical life.
Happy Land
Take My Hand

Books

Happy Land
Take My Hand

New Documentary Following the Life and Career of George Orwell

Orwell: 2+2=5 is a 2025 documentary film, directed and produced by Raoul Peck. It follows the life and career of George Orwell, and how his political observations are still relevant in present day, particularly the lessons from his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.   George Orwell (1903–1950) served with the Imperial Police in Burma, fought with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, and

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Dolen Perkins-Valdez on her new book, Take My Hand

“I believe that in order to heal, we must remember. Once we remember, we acknowledge. Once we acknowledge, we can take more significant action.”   Watch Dolen Perkins-Valdez discuss her inspiration for writing Take My Hand:   Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African

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