Phony Pony - 2020 Winner of Tillie Olsen Prize at San Francisco State University

This short story follows Kenyetta, a young black child who grows up in the Deep South during the 1960s. In the Deep Black South, hair is everything---the straighter, the better. For a little black girl, the trauma of having kinky hair can span through generations. Kenyetta must learn the hard lesson of embracing one's authentic self in a world who may never embrace you.