An American novelist whose works have been among the first to explore the loves and emotions of African American women through a style which might be described as popular fiction rather than literary, Terry McMillan saw her 1992 best-seller "Waiting to Exhale", about four women in Phoenix, Arizona, sell more than three million copies worldwide. It was also the basis for a hit movie, for which she co-wrote the screenplay (with Oscar-winner Ron Bass).The daughter of a Michigan factory worker, McMillan earned a BA in journalism at Berkeley, but dropped out of Columbia's screenwriting program,
