McMillan, Terry (1951–)
McMillan, Terry (1951–)
African-American writer and educator. Born Oct 18, 1951, in Port Huron, Michigan; dau. of Edward McMillan (sanitation worker) and Madeline Washington Tilman (factory worker); University of California at Berkeley, BA, 1979; Columbia University, MA; m. Jonathan Plummer; children: Solomon Welch.
Bestselling novelist, published 1st story, "The End," while at Berkeley; published 1st book, Mama (1987), and took on task of marketing novel, contacting black organizations and book stores, earning high sales and critical acclaim; became associate professor at University of Arizona (1988); published 2nd novel Disappearing Acts (1990) to even greater success; served as judge for National Book Award for fiction (1990) and in same year edited Breaking Ice to introduce other black authors to readers; published bestselling novel Waiting to Exhale (1992), which was filmed, followed by A Day Late and a Dollar Short, which featured a character modeled after her mother (2001); had additional popular success with semi-autobiographical novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996), which was also filmed (1998).
See also Diane Patrick, Terry McMillan: The Unauthorized Biography (1999).