Ginger McKnight-Chavers is a writer and attorney whose first novel, In the Heart of Texas, won the 2016 USA Best Book Award for African-American fiction. Though she has lived in New York for decades, Ginger is a native of Dallas, with deep, multigenerational Texas roots. As a result, she can’t stop talking or writing about Texas as a metaphor for everything good, bad and in between. “I want to tell stories from the perspective of different types of Texans than the characters you see in the media. Smart, nuanced stories about the amazing African-American women that surrounded and influenced me.” Ginger’s transition from a demanding corporate/arts/entertainment legal practice to full-time writing was long and often frustrating. “It’s hard for a seasoned professional to be treated like an idiot,” she says. “Luckily, I believed in my work and had others who believed in me as well, and I’m now able to do what I love full-time.” She is currently working on her second novel, Oak Cliff as well as a book about her mother’s life and activism to accompany …