Jefferson's 2006 book, On Michael Jackson,[9] was described by Publishers Weekly as a "slim, smart volume of cultural analysis."[10] According to Lucy Scholes in The Independent: "The excellent On Michael Jackson is not a straightforward biography, nor is it an attempt to claim either his innocence or his guilt when it comes to the child abuse scandals that, although he was acquitted, haunt his afterlife. A 'deciphering' is probably the most accurate description of the book, the shrewd playfulness of Jefferson's prose the perfect vehicle for analysis that's as smart as it is readable."[11]
Jefferson's autobiographical book, Negroland: A Memoir, was published to acclaim in 2015. It was described by Dwight Garner in The New York Times as a "powerful and complicated memoir",[12] and by Margaret Busby in The Sunday Times as "utterly compelling",[13] while Anita Sethi wrote in The Observer: "Jefferson fascinatingly explores how her personal experience intersected with politics, from the civil rights movement to feminism, as well as history before her birth."[14]Tracy K. Smith wrote in The New York Times: "The visible narrative apparatus of 'Negroland' highlights its author's extreme vulnerability in the face of her material. It also makes apparent the all-too-often invisible fallout of our nation's ongoing obsession with race and class: Namely, that living a life as an exemplar of black excellence — and living with the survivor's guilt that often accompanies such excellence — can have a psychic effect nearly as deadening and dehumanizing as that of racial injustice itself."[15] In 2016 Negroland was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction[16][17] and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the Autobiography category.
^Andrew Gans, Andrew (August 24, 2004). "Variety's Isherwood Named New New York Times Critic" Archived October 17, 2012, at the Wayback MachinePlaybill.
^Margaret Busby (March 9, 2019), "From Ayòbámi Adébáyò to Zadie Smith: meet the New Daughters of Africa", The Guardian.
^Brown, Lauren (March 29, 2022). "Jefferson, Dangarembga and Pinnock among winners of Windham-Campbell Prizes". The Bookseller. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
^Andrew Albanese (January 30, 2023). "Julie Otsuka, Ed Yong Win ALA's 2023 Carnegie Medals". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
^Varno, David (February 1, 2023). "NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2022". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
^ ab"De Kretser wins 2023 Folio Prize". Books+Publishing. March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
^"Shortlist announced for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2016". The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. October 2016.
^Alexandra Alter (March 17, 2016). "'The Sellout' Wins National Book Critics Circle's Fiction Award". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
^"Margo Jefferson". Windham-Campbell Prizes. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
^Tracy K. Smith, "Margo Jefferson's 'Negroland: A Memoir'" (review), The New York Times, September 15, 2015.
^Margo Jefferson (May 22, 1994), "TELEVISION VIEW; Seducified by a Minstrel Show", The New York Times.
^Margo Jefferson (February 18, 2001), "On Writers and Writing; Authentic American", The New York Times.
^Margo Jefferson (December 11, 2004), "On the Home Front, the Personal Becomes Theatrical (and Political, Too)", The New York Times.
^Margo Jefferson (January 6, 2017), "How Michelle Obama expanded the definition of a first lady", The Guardian.
^Margo Jefferson (May 5, 2018), "No Cinderella: Margo Jefferson on the real Meghan Markle", The Guardian.
^Margo Jefferson (June 7, 2019), "Was I in denial? Margo Jefferson on Michael Jackson's legacy", The Guardian.
External linksedit
External audio
Margo Jefferson, The Poet and the Poem 2017–18 Series
Tim Adams, "Margo Jefferson: 'I was anxious about using the word Negro in a book title'" (interview), The Observer, May 22, 2016.
"Margo Jefferson: The Books in My Life | On the Pleasures of Poetry and (Not) Reading the Russians", Lit Hub, August 23, 2016.