bell hooks bell hooks, born Gloria Jean Watkins in 1952, was an American author. When she died in 2021, hooks left behind a lifetime of thought that was decades ahead of its time, including the New York Times bestseller All About Love: New Visions. A proessor of English, African and Afro-American studies, American literature, and women's studies, hooks taught at USC, Yale and Berea College in Kentucky, where the bell hooks centre was established to honour her work. Winner of the American Book Award in 1991 for Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics, a 2000 nominee for the NAACP's Image Award, a 2018 inductee into Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame, and one of Time's 100 Women of the Year in 2020, hooks left her mark in every field she entered. Read More Read Less