Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

Mecca Jamilah Sullivan is a highly accomplished author, known for her powerful and thought-provoking works that explore the lives of young Black women. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Temple University and a B.A. in Afro-American Studies from Smith College. Sullivan's fiction is heavily influenced by voice, music, and hip-hop inflected magical realist techniques, which she uses to delve into the intellectual, emotional, and bodily lives of her characters.

Sullivan's debut novel, "Big Girl," was published in 2022 by W.W. Norton & Co./ Liveright and has been met with widespread critical acclaim. The novel, which follows the story of a young Black woman struggling with her weight and identity, was selected as the July 2022 Phenomenal Book Club pick, a WNYC Radio 2022 Debut pick, and a New York Public Library “Book of the Day.” Renowned authors such as Kiese Laymon and Janet Mock have praised the novel for its honest and unapologetic portrayal of its protagonist.

In addition to her work as a novelist, Sullivan is also an accomplished scholar and critic, with her writing appearing in numerous publications including New York Magazine’s The Cut, American Literary History, Feminist Studies, Black Futures, Teaching Black, American Quarterly, College Literature, Oxford African American Resource Center, Palimpsest: Journal of Women, Gender and the Black International, Jacket2, Public Books, GLQ: Lesbian and Gay Studies Quarterly, Sinister Wisdom, The Scholar and Feminist, Women’s Studies, College Literature, The Rumpus, BET.com, Ebony.com, TheRoot.com, Ms. Magazine online, The Feminist Wire, and others. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work, including a Pushcart Prize nomination, the Charles Johnson Fiction Award, the Glenna Luschei Fiction Award, and the 2021 Pride Index National Arts and Culture award.

Sullivan is also a dedicated educator, currently serving as Associate Professor of English at Georgetown University where she teaches courses in African American poetry and poetics, Black queer and feminist literatures, and creative writing. She is a proud native of Harlem, NY and currently resides in Washington, DC.
Standalone Novels
# Title Year
1 Big Girl 2022
Non-Fiction Books
# Title Year
1 The Poetics of Difference 2021
Collections
# Title Year
1 Blue Talk and Love 2015
Mecca Jamilah Sullivan Anthologies
# Title Year
1 X-24: Unclassified 2007
2 Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought 2021