Asenath and the Origin of Nappy Hair

Carolivia Herron is an African American Jewish author, educator and publisher living in Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania and has held professorial appointments at Harvard University, Mount Holyoke College, California State University, Chico, and the College of William and Mary. Most recently she has been the Distinguished Visiting Scholar of Project Humanities at Arizona State University.Carolivia Herron has won writing awards and commendations from Be'chol Lashon, Kulanu, Parenting Magazine Reading Magic, Marian Vanett Ridgway Awards, the Patterson Poetry Center, the Elizabeth Stone Memorial Award, and the Exceptional women in the Arts Award from Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. Dr. Herron publishes and promotes the writings of Jews of Color internationally including books by the Igbo of Nigeria, the Lemba of Zimbabwe, and the Beta Israel of Ethiopia and Israel. She directs the EpicCentering the National Mall project which connects the work of young local writers with our national epic as expressed in exhibits on the National Mall. Carolivia is a writer with the Pen-Faulkner Writers In Schools program, and is an active member of Tifereth Israel Congregation of Washington, DC.

Volume 1 of the 2 volume novel, Asenath and Our Song of Songs, shares scenes from the life of Shirah Shulamit Ojero, an African American Jewish girl and woman, growing up in Washington, DC. Shirah reexamines and affirms her Judaic ancestry, becomes a graduate student studying epic poetry at the University of Pen Forest, and in the process of writing her doctoral dissertation discovers that hair as nappy as hers has existed only once before - on the head of Ancient Egyptian Asenath. The entertwined stories of Shirah and Asenath becomes a quest for a book unknown in heaven, and leads them through deserts, mountains, and many academic halls. The characters seek the book not only at the University of Pen Forest in Philadelphia, but also at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, West Cambridge University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at the Library of Saïs in Egypt. Asenath's story is mentioned briefly in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, as well as in contemporary texts such as Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann. She is the daughter of the Egyptian priest, Poti-pherah, and eventually becomes the wife of Joseph in Egypt. Volume 2 of the novel focuses on the life of Asenath and her connection with Joseph, Shirah, the Pharaoh, also known as the Directing Angel of the Center for Literary and Cultural Studies, and the Pharaoh's Companion, Nefertha of BlackWomanSong, also known as BeeJay Skerett, the Angel who Knows the Difference.