Tina McElroy Ansa


Tina McElroy Ansa is an African-American novelist, filmmaker, teacher, entrepreneur and journalist. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Atlanta Constitution, Florida Times-Union, Essence Magazine, The Crisis, Ms. Magazine, America Magazine, and Atlanta Magazine.

Personal life

Born Tina McElroy to Walter J. and Nellie McElroy in Macon, Georgia, where she grew up in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood. Ansa graduated from Spelman College and is married to Jonée Ansa, a filmmaker. Ansa lives on St. Simons Island, Georgia where she and her husband collaborate on making movies.

Writing career

After graduating from college and working for several years in a variety of positions at the Atlanta Constitution, Ansa wrote several novels and has been a frequent contributor to numerous periodicals, including the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ansa's fiction portrays a variety of Black women in the recent and modern American South, with a blend of the supernatural and traditional superstition. Her first novel, Baby of the Family, was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. Baby of the Family was also on the African-America Best-seller List for Paperback Fiction. In October 2001, Baby of the Family was chosen by the Georgia Center for the Book as one of the "Top 25 books Every Georgian Should Read." The book was selected for the American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults in 1990, and won the 1989 Georgia Authors Series Award.
She instructs writing workshops at Spelman College, Emory University, and Coastal Georgia Community College. Ansa and her husband are currently adapting Baby of the Family for the screen in a feature film starring Alfre Woodard, Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Vanessa A. Williams, Todd Bridges, Pam Grier.
In March 2007, Ansa launched an independent publishing company, DownSouth Press, with a focus on African-American literature. Her fifth novel, Taking After Mudear, was the lead title on DownSouth Press's first list in the fall of 2007.