Dallas-raised Author Ginger McKnight-Chavers Coming Home on Heels of Successful First Novel

Ginger McKnight-Chavers comes from strong, solid Texas stock. People around Dallas know her as the daughter of Dr. Mamie Abernathy McKnight, a prominent Dallas educator, college professor and administrator, black history scholar and founder of the nonprofit preservation group Black Dallas Remembered (predecessor of the current Remembering Black Dallas). McKnight-Chavers' late father, Elza McKnight, was a teacher in Richardson ISD and a swimming instructor for the Dallas Park Department.McKnight-Chavers gives her beloved mother a run for her money, though, in the areas of scholastic achievement, professional success and all-around involvement. She grew up in Dallas, where she attended Ursuline Academy before moving on to Sarah Lawrence College, Georgetown University and Harvard Law School. Today, the former entertainment attorney lives in New York as a blogger for The Huffington Post and author of books.First lady Michelle Obama was a classmate and friend at Harvard Law School, and you can read about their friendship, complete with photographs, in McKnight-Chavers' blog at www.bluenationreview.com/author/ginger-mcknight-chavers.McKnight-Chavers is proud of her Texas and Dallas roots and uses her own background as seed for her first novel, In the Heart of Texas, which won the 2016 USA Best Book Award for African-American fiction. The book explores a soap star's return to her Texas roots to recover from career and personal mishaps.The author will review and sign copies of the book from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 28 at the African American Museum at Fair Park. The event is free, but the public is asked to RSVP to 214-565-9026, ext. 315.Dr. Harry Robinson Jr., the museum's CEO, noted that as a bonus, McKnight will accompany her daughter on the trip. During a bout of poor health several years ago, she retired and moved to New York to live with her daughter. The event is a sort of homecoming in that McKnight-Chavers and noted actress Regina Taylor were students and McKnight an instructor at the museum's original summer camp in 1976."She's [McKnight-Chavers] homegrown and one of our proud products," Robinson said.McKnight-Chavers said she's looking forward to coming home to share her book."I'm excited and anticipating this as my dream second career," she said. "My writing is influenced by my upbringing in Texas."She said she is about a year from completing her second novel, titled Oak Cliff, which explores female friendships and is based in Dallas."Texas is so diverse," she said. "It's like a well of inspiration."  Continue reading...

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