Fatima Shaik
Author of Fiction and Non-ficton

Fatima Shaik is a former reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Miami News, and assistant editor for McGraw-Hill World News. Her articles have appeared in many national and international publications including the New York Times, Essence, Black Enterprise, Working Woman and Nikkei Architecture. She is the recipient of an NEH fellowship and Kittredge Fund grant.

Coming up next...
the story of a secret society African Americans that lasted for more than 100 years


A certificate of membership for the Société d'Economie et d'Assistance Mutuelle -- The Economy Society. It built a meeting place where men debated politics before the Civil War and musicians played jazz after the turn of the century.

FOR TEACHERS --

ELEMENTARY/​YA: Melitte is on the accelerated readers list. The book takes place in 18th century Louisiana and is used to teach history and slavery in several elementary schools.

COLLEGE-- The Mayor of New Orleans: Just Talking Jazz is featured in a telecourse produced by the University of New Orleans. Scenes from the book and an interview with the author are included in the telecourse called New Orleans Literature.

BOOKS

THE MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: JUST TALKING JAZZ, fiction
“Three lush and evocative novellas” Publishers Weekly

“The colorful diversity of a great city’s people” Booklist

“More like a performance piece than conventional fiction...a terrific charging solo” National Public Radio

Creative Arts Book Co., Berkeley, Ca. Fall 1987
paperback CABC Spring 1989


MELITTE
A first person account of life through the eyes of a slave girl.

“Accessible and affecting historical fiction” School Library Journal
“Full of period detail and vivid sensory writing” Kirkus
“Heart rending novel” The Horn Book
Puffin Paperbacks, Penguin Putnam Publishers, January 2000

MELINDE, German translation of Melitte
Cecilie Dressler Verlag: Hamburg, 1999


ON MARDI GRAS DAY art by Floyd Cooper
An illustrated book on New Orleans’ black carnival.
Best Books of 1999, Holiday, Bank Street College of Education

“An especially appealing book that offers children vicarious enjoyment of this special day.” School Library Journal
Dial Books for Young Readers, January 1999



THE JAZZ OF OUR STREET art by E. B. Lewis
An illustrated book on New Orleans’ neighborhood parades.
Parent’s Choice Recommended Title

“Poetic words and stunning light-filled watercolors express the rhythm and feeling” Booklist
“Shaik’s clever, agile celebration of New Orleans jazz is a compact cultural history” Kirkus
Dial Books for Young Readers, Spring 1998


Get these books at Barnes and Noble

AND READ MORE:
SHAIK IN ANTHOLOGIES


MEN WE CHERISH: AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN PRAISE THE MEN IN THEIR LIVES, edited by Brooke Stephens
Essay, Doubleday, Fall 1997

AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE, edited by Al Young
Short story, HarperCollins, Spring 1996

STREETLIGHTS: ILLUMINATING TALES OF THE URBAN BLACK EXPERIENCE, edited by DorisJean Austin and Martin Simmons Chapter, Penguin Books, Spring 1996

BREAKING ICE: ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN-AMERICAN FICTION, edited by Terry McMillan
Short story, Penguin-Viking, Fall 1990

BIBLIOGRAPHIES
BLACK BOOKS GALORE! GUIDE TO MORE GREAT AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS by Donna Rand et al iley June 2001

A BOOKLOVER’S GUIDE TO NEW ORLEANS, edited by Susan Larson LSU Press Fall 1999

THE READER’S CATALOG 2ND EDITION: AN ANNOTATED LISTING OF THE 40,000 BEST BOOKS IN PRINT IN OVER 300 CATEGORIES by Geoffrey O’Brien
Rc Publications 2nd edition February 1997

LOUISIANA WOMEN WRITERS: SELECTED ESSAYS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY, edited by Dorothy H. Brown and Barbara C. Ewell Louisiana State University Press, 1992