Joyce Carol Thomas's works are "rich in ambiguity and mystery, and steeped in mythical and religious tropes and metaphors," according to Darwin L. Henderson and Anthony L. Manna, writing in African American Review. The two critics further observed that "her writing resonates with a wonderfully bracing music." Thomas is a celebrated author of young adult novels, poetry, and picture books, as well as fiction, poetry, and plays for adults. The winner of the American Book Award for her first novel, Marked by Fire, and the Coretta Scott King Award for her second, Bright Shadow, Thomas hit the ground running with her writing career and has never looked back. With publication of that second novel, "Thomas moved to the forefront of serious black women writers," according to Charles P. Toombs, writing in the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Using her own unique rural background of Oklahoma and California, she has...