CSUN’s ‘New Voices of Opportunity’ : Essays Examine Black Literature

After Sookjin Mona Shin came to the United States from Korea more than six years ago, she and her family spent evenings in the living room learning English from the Bible and old copies of Reader’s Digest.

On Monday morning, Shin, who graduated in May from Cal State Northridge with a degree in chemistry, stood before a small crowd at the student union and talked about becoming a published author.

Shin’s essay on Ralph Ellison’s novel “The Invisible Man” is one of 37 written by students in the Pan-African Studies writing program at CSUN and published in a 1-inch-thick paperback volume: “New Voices of Opportunity: Literary Essays on African-American Literature.” Publication of the book, which examines the works of seven black authors, was celebrated Monday at the campus.

Through most of a 90-minute presentation, praise for the work was heaped on the multiracial student authors by faculty members, university administrators and even the students.

“It’s one thing to be told you’re an excellent writer . . . but it’s another thing when you feel it yourself,” said Nicole Avant, whose essay on Richard Wright’s “Native Son” details the universal condition of blacks trying to survive in a white society.

“It was fun to me, a little bit,” said Sharroky Hollie. “I found out that I was in love with English.”

The essays were compiled by CSUN instructors Johnie Scott and Robert Stoneham from writing courses offered by the university’s Pan-African Studies Department. An earlier edition of the book, “Voices of Opportunity,” was published in 1985.

The book is published by a private Los Angeles publishing house and is available at bookstores that feature black literature. The 1985 edition sold more than 750 copies and Scott said he is expecting similar sales with the current book.

Scott said the book is the first such publication to cover so wide a range of black authors and is intended to provide students and instructors with a primer on black literature.

As they struggled to put their thoughts on paper, the students, many of whom Scott said had never before read a book from cover to cover, said the writing process became a learning process.

Their collective work shows the diversity of cultures they represent: black, white, Chinese, Korean and Russian. “These kids came from all over the world,” Scott said, adding that different cultures approach literature with different perspectives.

Shin, who struggled during her first years in high school because she did not speak English, said she could identify with the feelings of alienation felt by American blacks. In her essay, “I Am Nobody but Myself,” she describes a black man’s discovery that he has a “socially responsible role to play.”

“I wrote like what I am thinking and my true experiences,” she said. “I apply them to the book. The most important thing in writing is telling the truth.”

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