Melda Beaty

Author, playwright, English lecturer, and writing consultant, Melda Beaty is the “one to watch.”
Her debut novel, Lime (2012), is being hailed as America’s Next Top Model meets Burning Bed. It is the first book to explore notions of beauty against the horrors of domestic violence. Melda is also the author/editor of a diverse and cathartic compilation of non-fiction writings by black women from across the United States. My Soul to His Spirit: Soulful Expressions from Black Daughters to Their Fathers won the 2006 National Fresh Voices Award. She published articles on minority student recruitment and retention in Black Issues in Higher Education, Illinois Committee on Black Concerns in Higher Education, In Search of Fatherhood Forum and Proud Parent Journal. Melda’s prolific writing style led to an invitation to pen several short stories and poems for the Educational Testing Service for the California Achievement Test. Her current play, Front Porch Society, delves into the complex lives of four elderly black women in rural Mississippi Delta on the eve of the 2008 presidential election.

Melda earned a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a M.A. in Writing at Illinois State University. She currently teaches college Composition at South University. She is also a college writing specialist for Chicago Public Schools through her consulting business, College Bound Consulting.