Suzan-Lori Parks, the daughter of an Army colonel, was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 1964. As a member of a military family, Parks moved often, first to west Texas and then to Germany, where she settled during her teenage years. While attending German schools, Parks began to write short stories. When she returned to the United States, Parks attended Mount Holyoke College, where she studied creative writing with the novelist James Baldwin. Baldwin was the first to encourage her development as a playwright, for at the time Parks had the habit of acting out the characters' parts when she read her short stories in class. Her first play, The Sinner's Place, was produced in 1984 in Amherst, Massachusetts. While at Mount Holyoke, Parks was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1985. She also studied...