found: African American National Biography, accessed January 20, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database:(Forrest, Leon; fiction writer; born in 1937 in Chicago, Illinois, United States; graduated from Hyde Park High School (1955); first piece of published fiction was, That's Your Little Red Wagon (1966); was an editor and managing editor of Muhammad Speaks, the Nation of Islam's official newspaper, becoming the last non-Muslim editor (1969-1973); published first novel, There Is a Tree More Ancient than Eden (1973); full professor and chair of Northwestern University's Department of African American Studies (1973-1997); first African American president of the Society of Midland Authors; international recognition with The Bloodworth Orphans, Two Wings to Veil My Face, and Divine Days, the most transformative and noted work (1977-1992); honors, include the Carl Sandberg Award, the Friends of Literature Prize, and the Chicago Sun-Times Book of the Year Award; died in 1997 in Evanston, Illinois, United States)
