Donald Writes No More: The Life of Donald Goines, the Godfather of Street Lit

By Eddie Stone

Book Overview

For the 50th anniversary of his murder, this gritty, engrossing, definitive biography of the legendary Black writer Donald Goines - the Godfather of Urban Street Lit and "one of hip hop's greatest inspirations" (The Source Magazine) - is now back in print with a new foreword from New York Times bestselling author JaQuavis Coleman.

Addict, thief, pimp, pusher, player--and most notably, groundbreaking writer. Donald Goines was all of these.

As a kid, Donald Goines was the product of a middle-class family. After high school, he joined theAir Force--and discovered the heroin that would rule the remainder of his life. On the streets, he turned to writing when he was straight enough to keep at it. He used the language of the streets and he wrote of its people. Goines' success was immediate and exciting. But eventually those same streets claimed him. He was murdered as he sat writing a new book. Yet his legacy continues, as a revolutionary in the literary world and also in music, with major hip-hop artists including 50 Cent, Nas, and Jay-Z all crediting Goines's novels as influences. Here is his complete story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1496743040
• ISBN13: 9781496743046
• Release Date: October 2024
• Publisher: Holloway House Publishing Company
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Donald G.

Donald was my favorite author. I have read every book he has published. So it seems only fit to read the biography. It was well written, and it kind of gave some insite to his writing style. I really enjoyed this book.

treated with dignity

Mr. Stone does a fine job here. I had read some of Donald Goines' books more than a decade ago (when I could find them) and thought they were brutal, but truthful--and that's what we want from our literature, at least I do; I like the truth and stay clear of b.s. I'm a white dude by the way, and to me skin color does not matter; what matters is the quality of the writing, the quality of the art--and Donald Goines had it and Mr. Stone has it. I always wondered about the author of Dopefiend, Inner City Hoodlum and other titles; who was he and what happened to him? Why was he silenced and who was behind his murder? Well, we still do not know who killed this talented writer, but at least now with Eddie Stone's effort DONALD WRITES NO MORE we know where Donald Goines came from and what he was about. Writing, as for many others, was the light at the end of that dark tunnel for him and may have eventually pulled him through...and now, because he was murdered, we'll never know...but at least we have his books and Eddie Stones' biography of the man. Highly recommend it to anyone who can appreciate the works of Donald Goines and well-written biographies. We are grateful to Holloway House for standing behind these guys, as well others like Odie Hawkins and Iceberg Slim. They saw value in what these writers had to say long before the majority of the people in the U.S. ever did, although quite a few readers appear to be finally catching on--and we're happy about that!

Amazing

This book made me understand who Donald Goines was. You almost get a mystical feeling as to why he wrote so many books in such a short time. God used him to vividly show his readers the effects of the drugs... The cowards that killed him can run but they can't hide. I was four years old when he died and I did not discover him until I was grown and in the military. The first book I read was dopefiend. Now here it is the year 2000 and I'm one of his number one fans and his legacy still lives on...