A short life of the author
Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995) was born Miltona Mirkin Cade on 25 March 1939 in New York City. She adopted the name Bambara from a signature she found in her great-grandmother’s sketchbook. She was a community organizer, activist, and filmmaker as well as a writer.
Life and Career
Gorilla, My Love (1972) — a collection of fifteen stories narrated largely by young Black women and girls in New York and the American South — is her masterpiece. Stories like “The Lesson,” about a group of children taken to F.A.O. Schwarz by their neighborhood mentor, and “Raymond’s Run,” about a girl who loves to run, are among the most anthologized in American literature.
The Salt Eaters (1980) — a formally experimental novel about a woman’s breakdown and healing in a Southern Black community — won the American Book Award. It is dense, polyphonic, and deeply rooted in African American spiritual traditions.
Major Works and Themes
Bambara wrote about Black community, resistance, healing, and the voices of women and children. Her prose captures spoken language with a fidelity and musicality that few writers have matched.
Key Works
- Gorilla, My Love (1972)
- The Salt Eaters (1980)
Collecting Bambara
Gorilla, My Love first edition (Random House, 1972) in fine condition with dust jacket brings $100–$300. Bambara died of colon cancer in 1995.