bell hooks is Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies at Berea College. Born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, she has chosen the lower case pen name bell hooks, based on the names of her mother and grandmother, to emphasize the importance of the substance of her writing as opposed to who she is. A writer and critic, hooks is the author of more than thirty books, many of which have focused on issues of social class, race, and gender. Among her many books are the feminist classic Ain't I a Woman, the dialogue Breaking Bread (with Cornel West), the children's book Happy to Be Nappy, and the memoir Bone Black. She lives in Berea, Kentucky.

Praise for Art on My Mind:
"In an art world obsessed with identity politics, Art on My Mind is a long-overdue rescue of the liberating, rather than confining, power of art."
--Paper Magazine

"Passionate and highly personal."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Sharp and persuasive."
--The New York Times Book Review

"[Art on My Mind] is a guide to the ways that political meaning and esthetic pleasure may be discovered, bound together, in many works by contemporary artists of color."
--Art America

"[hooks] brings a welcome clarity to such issues as received art and the development of a Western canon."
--San Francisco Examiner