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Kalisha Buchanon

Born: 1977 in Kankakee, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Kalisha was born in Illinois.

Biography: Kalisha received her BA from the University of Chicago, She has taught literacy and writing to children and adults in New York, Chicago and her home town of Kankakee, Illinois.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Website: http://www.kalisha.com
Kalisha Buchanon on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kalisha++buchanon+


Selected Titles

Conception /
ISBN: 031233270X OCLC: 172569104

St. Martin's Press, New York : 2008.

Following in her single mother's footsteps when she becomes pregnant at the age of fifteen, Shivana believes that all black women fall into the same trap, until she meets Rasul, a teenager with problems of his own, with whom she forges a friendship.

Upstate /
ISBN: 0312332696 OCLC: 56194711

St. Martin's Press, New York : 2005.

In jail after being charged with his father's murder, seventeen-year-old Antonio finds his love with sixteen-year-old Natasha tested and engages in a ten-year correspondence with her from behind bars. Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father? So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990's in New York. Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside; Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together. Startling, real, and filled with raw emotion, Upstate is an unforgettable coming of age story with a message of undeniable hope. Brilliant and profoundly felt, it is destined to speak to a new generation of readers.

 

 

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