Don’t Erase Me: Stories

The first collection of short stories by a noted black writer portrays the lives of Black teenagers in New York’s South Bronx, where, in the title story, a woman recounts her life after learning she has AIDS.

This remarkable debut collection introduces a wholly new original young voice to fiction by and about African Americans. Ferrell’s remarkable stories show young people on the verge of being erased from society—but determined to endure. They are black or biracial, poor or from broken families, almost-adults navigating a treacherous world. Yet their voices—incandescently street-smart—speak of passion, of connection, of hope wherever they can find it.