There was never any question that Kristin Hunter would be a writer. "I believe in Ralph (Waldo) Ellison's theory of names influencing destiny; with a name like that, he had to be an intellectual and a philosopher. I was named for the heroine of Sigrid Undset's trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, so I, too, had to be a writer--either that, or a tragic heroine, which was never an attractive option," she related in an autobiographical essay for Something about the Author Autobiography Series (SAAS).

A pioneer in the field of young adult fiction, Hunter has won critical accolades for her realistic and optimistic depictions of the African American experience. The author of a series of novels and a collection of short stories, she was awarded both the 1968 Council on Interracial Books for Children Award and the 1971 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Her stories, which often portray black ghetto life, owe much...