When writing outlives not only the writer but those who failed to recognize her brilliance

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ―Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

When I was growing up, I realized most of the authors I read were no longer living.

Their characters and ideas, however, were very much alive inside me and other readers. And, to my young mind, I believed this to be magic.

I still do. The magic of genuine, human storytelling = nothing short of traveling across time and connecting with others in the quie…