Alison Mills Newman
Alison Mills Newman is a writer, chaplain, and former actress.[1] Her autofictional debut novel Francisco, a chronicle of Black bohemian life in San Francisco, originally published in 1974 by Ishmael Reed,[2][3] was reissued in 2023 to acclaim.[4] She was the first African-American teenage actress on a television series, playing Carol Deering in the sitcom Julia.[5]
Mills Newman has said she decided to be an actress when she was 12 years old, and participated in theater projects with Maya Angelou under the direction of Frank Silvera.[5] She left Hollywood in her twenties, focusing on poetry and music.[1] She sang and performed alongside jazz musicians Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Weather Report, and Taj Mahal. Newman wrote Francisco on roadtrips with her future husband, Francisco Toscano Newman.[6]
Francisco was rediscovered when Jeffrey Yang, an editor at New Directions, heard of the book in an article by poet and academic Harryette Mullen[7] but was unable to find a copy. The only edition had been printed 50 years earlier by Reed, Cannon & Johnson,[8] a small independent press in Berkeley, founded by writers Ishmael Reed, Steve Cannon, and Joe Johnson.[9] He contacted Mills Newman, and she emailed him a photocopy of the text in March 2021. "I was really floored," Yang said.[1] The book was reissued by New Directions in 2023.[8][10]
In the foreword for Francisco, Saidiya Hartman calls the novel "a portrait of the artist as a young Black woman." Stephen Kearse, writing for The Nation, wrote that "Francisco is a novel that is very much of the Black arts Movement."[6]
Newman's second novel, Maggie 3, was published in 2007 by the Ishmael Reed Publishing Company.[2][11]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Nguyen, Sophia (April 1, 2023). "To re-release her 1974 novel, she had to make peace with her younger self". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
- 1 2 "Super Bowl Insurrection: A Conversation with Ishmael Reed". The Collidescope. Interviewed by George Salis. May 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
- ↑ Kearse, Stephen (July 24–31, 2023). "Freebird | Alison Mills Newman's novel of Black bohemianism". The Nation. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ↑ Hartman, Saidiya (March 3, 2023). "A Love Story of the Black Arts Movement". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
- 1 2 "I Always Loved Love: Alison Mills Newman in Conversation with Lynell George". www.smallpresstraffic.org. February 13, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
- 1 2 Kearse, Stephen (July 12, 2023). "The Strange Legacy of 'Francisco,' a Novel of Black Bohemianism". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
- ↑ Mullen, Harryette (2004). "'Artistic Expression Was Flowing Everywhere': Alison Mills and Ntozake Shange, Black Bohemian Feminists in the 1970s". Meridians. 4 (2): 205–35. Retrieved June 22, 2026 – via JSTOR.
- 1 2 George, Lynell (September 26, 2023). "The Back Room | 'what kind of girl am i?'". smallpresstraffic.org. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ↑ George, Lynell (March 25, 2024). "A Reissued Novel Offers a Rare Look at Black Bohemian Life". Alta Online. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
- ↑ "Francisco | Alison Mills Newman". New Directions. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ↑ "Maggie 3 (Ishmael Reed Publishing Company)". 2007. ISBN 9781425735449. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
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