WELCH-TYSON, Delorys

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY; Southern France. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Writer and painter. Formerly worked as an art gallery owner.

WRITINGS:

Gingersnaps, One World Publishing (New York, NY), 1998.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A second novel.

SIDELIGHTS: Author Delorys Welch-Tyson's first novel, Gingersnaps, recounts the interwoven stories of six African-American women as they strive to meet the challenges life throws at them. Aletha is a successful talk show host whose love life is less than rewarding; Desiree serves as therapist to her friends; Veronica is a television producer who finds herself raising a child alone when her baby's father leaves her; Debra's mother is pressing her to find a man as she approaches forty; Janeen's boyfriend is not living up to her dreams; and Louise is a former nun who has become the controversial, best-selling author of Black Men: How to Find One, How to Get One, How to Keep One. The group gathers with an assortment of friends and relatives for a Christmas party in Connecticut, where Welch-Tyson reveals how the relationships connect.

Emily Jones, in a review of Gingersnaps for Library Journal, remarked of Welch-Tyson that "although she attempts to cover several crucial issues affecting African American middle-aged women, she has done so in a cursory fashion." However, Lillian Lewis, in Booklist, called Welch-Tyson's effort an "African American fictional tale destined for the bestseller list."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1998, Lillian Lewis, review of Gingersnaps, p. 68.

Library Journal, October 15, 1998, Emily Jones, review of Gingersnaps, pp. 101-102.

Publishers Weekly, August 17, 1998, review of Gingersnaps, p. 47.

ONLINE

Random House of Canada Web site,http://www.randomhouse.ca/ (December 8, 2004), "Delorys Welch-Tyson."