Illinois Authors

The Illinois Center for the Book banner

Cris Burks

Born: in Mississippi
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois:

Biography: Cris earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Columbia College where she taught fiction writing for more than seven years. She considers herself a Chicagoan although she was born in Mississippi and has lived in several states including Ohio and South Dakota. Currently she resides in Sacramento, California.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Cris Burks on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=cris+burks


Selected Titles

Neecey's lullaby :
ISBN: 0767919831 OCLC: 64557185

Broadway Books, New York : 2005.

The devastating discovery that "Daddy" is not her real father opens a great chasm in Neecey's world and leads to Neecey's abusive mother bringing a succession of no-good men into the home. Nevertheless, as she grows into a woman, the resilient Neecey strives to overcome despair and forge a new life for herself.

Neecey's lullaby :
ISBN: 9780307538857 OCLC: 643515320

Broadway Books, New York : ©2005.

The story of a girl tempered in a crucible of abuse and neglect, Neecey's Lullaby is a superbly crafted narrative in the spirit of the bestselling novels Push and Bastard Out of Carolina. Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s, Neecey once felt that her world was perfect. She was loved and protected by her father, Jesse, and lived in relative comfort with her mother, Ruby, her grandmother, Ma 'Dear, and her siblings. But when Ruby and Jesse's marriage falls apart due to Jesse's cheating ways and Ruby's hot temper, the children are eventually abandoned by their father and end up living in poverty in a housing project. Ruby plunges into depression and anger, yelling at and hitting her children without warning. Ruby brings shiftless suitors into her home and gives them her body and her time, leaving Neecey to learn on her own how to cook and care for her five younger siblings, some mere babies. Yet despite the trauma, Neecey's love for her sisters and brother, and ultimately herself, helps her find the inner strength to succeed. Cris Burks has created a poignant portrait of a child who strives to soar above a world of pain.

SilkyDreamGirl :
ISBN: 0767912950 OCLC: 48966634

Broadway Books, New York : ©2002.

With her personal life a disaster, Katie copes by tuning into the Internet, where she sheds reality to become SilkyDreamGirl, an imaginary alter-ego who is totally in control and who gives Katie a whole new sense of self.

 

 

Accessibility