With a new introduction by JESMYN WARD''Warm, witty, imaginative . . . A rich and winning book'' NEW YORKER ''Devilishly funny and academically solid: delicious mixture'' MAYA ANGELOU''One of the greatest writers of our time'' TONI MORRISONFirst published in 1942 at the height of her popularity, Dust Tracks on a Road is Zora Neale Hurston''s candid, exuberant account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural South to a prominent place among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. As compelling as her acclaimed fiction, Hurston''s literary self-portrait offers a revealing, often audacious glimpse into the life - public and private - of an extraordinary artist, anthropologist, chronicler and champion of the black experience in America. Full of the wit and wisdom of a proud, spirited woman who started off low and climbed high: ''I have been in Sorrow''s kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows with a harp and a sword in my hands''.