A native of Texas, with paternal roots in the Carolinas, Gwendoline Alpha Young Fortune has lived most of her life in Illinois. She is an educator in Interdisciplinary Social Science and a classically trained soprano. She wrote regular columns for Illinois and North Carolina newspapers and guest columns for magazines and journals.

Gwen Fortune’s intent and goal are to share a perspective on American life that differs from the stereotypical model of people of color. Her experience is a reflection of African-European-Indigenous American heritage, study, and travel on five continents equips her for her chosen role—communicator of multi-cultural history and life.

Following a career in education, she moved to North Carolina where she was co-organizer for Macon County Writers, member of the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, and 2008 judge of the “Heritage Poetry Contest,” for the North Carolina Poetry Society. Her awards include a
Blumenthal Readers and Writers from the North Carolina Writers’ Network, QBR-Poets and Writers
Toni Cade Bambara Fiction Contest. Notable authors have been generous with highly
favorable reviews of her novels.

She remains active in academia, giving papers at Meredith College in North Carolina, the African American Association of Historical Research and Preservation at Seattle University, and essays in anthologies.

She has recorded and offers a thirteen program recorded series titled, “We do it all, classical music composed and performed by people of African descent.”

Fortune lives in Gainesville, Florida. She has three adult sons and three granddaughters. She writes daily, with much more to complete.

Title:  Weaving the Journey: Noni and the Great Grands

245 pages

ISBN: 978-1888105810

Publisher: Avisson Press Fiction

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When 11-year old C.J. asks her grandmother, "Noni, where did I come from," a memorable quest begins. Weaving the Journey: Noni and the Great Grands is a multi-generational saga of family, culture and race that begins with Sariah, a slave in the early 1800s, and concludes with Sariah's descendants in the 21st Century. The reader will meet a multi-ethnic cast of characters--black, brown, red and white--who move through space and time in a compelling landscape. This is the sympathetic and ultimately healing story of the intermingling--the weaving--of a truly American family.