catherine mckinley
Catherine McKinley is an author and former Fulbright Scholar, whose forthcoming book Indigo: In Search of the Color That Seduced the World examines the mystery and history of the rare, luminous blue pigment prized for eons by slave traders, religious figures, and the fashion world (blue jeans, anyone?). Below is an exclusive excerpt from Indigo (or download a PDF here) , masterfully interweaving personal exploration and reflection with historical and sociological background--a signature aspect of Catherine's writing:
I began a journey, over several years, through nine West African countries, to find the story of indigo. Throughout West Africa, women wielded great social, political, and cosmological power as renowned master dyers and traders, and their indigo wealth became cornerstones of ancient empires and twentieth-century anti-colonial movements. I didn’t know then that the story of indigo, and the stories of the West African women who work and dye and trade and wear indigo, are inextricably our own—both actual history and our common yearnings. These women, unwittingly, taught me about death and birthing and the beauty and turbulence people find and make of the life space in between. Buried deep in the actual folds of those cloths, is all of destiny and the human story.
Advance praise for Indigo:
“Gorgeously recounts McKinley's journey to West Africa's teeming markets and churning factories, through funerals and uprisings, to find ‘the bluest of blues’…. Much of INDIGO’s power comes from her willingness to confront her consumptive need, and her foreignness compared to those around her.”
—Swati Pandey, Los Angeles Times
“[McKinley’s] discoveries resonate, and her unique experiences provide a vivid snapshot of the cultures she encountered in Africa.”
—Sarah Halzack, The Washington Post
“[McKinley] blends family history, dogged research, and personal travelogue into an eye-opening account of the controversial role this gorgeous, coveted pigment has played through the millennia.”
—Lisa Shea, Elle
In 1995, Catherine edited Afrekete, a beautiful and groundbreaking anthology of writings by black lesbian women. In 2002, her memoir, The Book of Sarahs, which details her experience growing up in a small New England town as one of less than 10,000 black children adopted by white families in the 1960s and 1970s and her subsequent search for her black and Jewish birth families. McKinley's story challenges thinking about race, identity, loyalty, family and love. Her experiences writing enhance her already powerful speaking about issues of adoption, race, class, and sexuality.
Catherine is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she has taught creative nonfiction. She is currently at work on a narrative "encyclopedia" of West African women's fashion and body politics, 1640-2010. She lives in New York City.
