Kim Hinesā young adult novella Wingo Fly (2020) revolves around Christy Wingo, a 10-year-old Black girl in 1965 Minneapolis, Minnesota. The book is filled with humor, mystery and social justice issues. Based in Minneapolis, Kim has been a theater artist for 50 plus years and this is her first book.
“This book is really based on when I was ten years old in 1965. Christy is a lot like me,” says Hines. “We donāt have a lot of stories about Black people growing up in the Midwest. We were middle class.Ā Thereās not a lot of stories about Black kids growing up in a middle class family.Ā Thereās a lot of books out there about kids growing up in poverty and growing up in gangs and you know all the stereotypes that I think White America has about Black people. And growing up I donāt think I read anything that spoke to the way I was living.”
Listen to our story by KFAI’s Dixie Treichel and hear excerpts from the book.
Photo courtesy of Kim Hines. Wingo Fly can be found at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis.Ā Support for MinneCulture on KFAI comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
