Macon, Georgia (November 18, 1949- September 10, 2024) 74 yrs

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