[2] From 1989 until 1994, Austin taught workshops about fiction at Columbia University and at the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.
[2][3] A member of the Harlem Writers Guild (originally established in 1950), she went on to co-found The New Renaissance Guild, which was inspired by writers groups during the Harlem Renaissance, others involved including Arthur Flowers, Terry McMillan, Malaika Adero, Joyce Dukes, Brenda Conner Bey and B. J.
"[8] The novel draws inspiration from people who attended the Baptist church that Austin went to when young, and is about "idealism and tainted relationships".
[2] Her short story, "Heirs and Orphans," is based on a character in After the Garden, and was featured in the anthology Black Southern Voices.
She had additional short stories appear in Street Lights: Illuminating Tales of the Urban Black Experience, which she co-edited.