Wednesday links

I'm working toward finding balance between blog posts and Twitter and Facebook. So tonight I'm going to cross post from Twitter to here - I don't have a tool for it, so this is the old fashioned copy and paste way!

Erika Dreifus of the Practicing Writing blog is now on Twitter. Check out her blog and her feed. (for the uninitiated, Erika posts job opportunities, contests, journal calls and more for writers.)

Lynn Neary (NPR) talks to Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her debut novel, Wench, and the relationships between owners and slaves. Listen here.

Junot Diaz critiques President Obama's storytelling ability. It's an interesting essay. Stories are really important to our understanding of the world and how we make decisions. I'm thinking about Diaz' idea that President Obama - an excellent storyteller - has dropped the ball now that he's in office. Is part of the problem that, from outside the White House, he told his stories too well and people now are unwilling to settle for any less than the wonderful way he painted that picture of hope. In other words did he draw us into setting our expectations too high?

Deaths and births

Obituaries -
I learn so much from reading obituaries. Each one is a miniature history lesson and insight into our culture. Particularly about public figures and artists. (The obits sadden me, too. I am not minimizing the pain of the families and friends of the deceased. I also know that a well done obituary can be a powerful way to tell the deceased's life story one more time. I hope that being one of many readers who is edified and inspired by their loved one's life story is some kind of tribute).

Unfortunately, there are many writers and artists who I only hear about when their obituaries appear.

A couple of the links I've wanted to share this week are obituaries, so, before I share more of them, I thought I'd explain.

Joseph Wilcots, cinematographer on 'Roots' - LATimes
Carleen Hatcher Polite, whose novels explored racism and sexism - NYTimes
Percy E. Sutton, civil rights and political trailblazer, attorney for Malcolm X - NYTimes

Births -
Really, I'm just posting about one birth, the debut of Dolen Perkins-Valdez's novel, WENCH. Today is the publication date. Haven't heard about the book? Here are a few links to catch you up.
(Congratulations, Dolen!)

Check out the author's blog.

She sold the historical fiction novel on the first try - Examiner.com

If you aren't buying it at a local bookstore (HINT), here's the Amazon link.
And it will be featured in the February issue of O Magazine.

Into the new year

Today has been a wonderful day. I woke up with what felt like the beginning of a cold, but I pressed on anyway. And made the New Year's brunch and just chilled at home (well, after the cooking, clean up, playing with kids, etc).

And it has been one of the best days I've had in years.

So I am quite hopeful for the new year.

I'm looking forward to reading more authors (new to me authors), releases from favorite authors (inc. Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones) and doing more of my own writing here on the blog and elsewhere.

A few thoughts and links:
New Year's resolutions - shouldn't we really keep quiet about those until March? It would make more sense to talk about the new habits you've kept up with once there's some data that you'll stick to it.

Book of the year?:
USA Today named Kathryn Stockett's book, The Help, book of the year. I'm mystified. It's still on my to-be-read list. But I am dragging my feet a bit.

Kids lit - Books about President Obama:
There's a post on the WaPost's book blog about kids books about Pres. Obama. A professor has been keeping tabs on books about presidents. In Pres. George W. Bush's first year in office there were 6 kids books published about him. In President Obama's first term - there have been 48 kids books published about him. Amazing (and wonderful, too).

Kicking off 2010

I am working on entering 2010 with an attitude of hope and confidence. I hope you're also ending the year on a positive note and, if not, at least moving as quickly as possible to a new start in January.

Now for a few links.

Women on Writing plans an issue in March focused on YA writers. Find out how to submit a query here. (Saw this at Erika Dreifus' blog, Practicing Writer).
Brown Girl is kicking off an African Diaspora Reading Challenge in 2010 - details here. (Found on Tayari Jones' blog, www.tayarijones.com/blog.
Somehow I missed Bernice McFadden's 10th Anniversary, 10,000-books campaign for her debut novel, Sugar. Sounds like it was a success. Read her blog. I'm going to get Sugar and Glorious, her new novel out in May.

Around link land

This post by Sandra Beasley, a writer who quit her job during a recession to write full time, really hit home for me. She does have a book under contract, so it's a smart move. Still, I see the risks.
A new collection of essays by Chinua Achebe. Reviewed in the Christian Science Monitor.
I saw This Is It (the Michael Jackson rehearsal film) this weekend. Enjoyed it - I'll always enjoy his music. Now I see that there's a book about his final years. I'm interested in it, but afraid it will be so sad and chaotic. Here's a mediabistro post on it.
There's a new Coretta Scott King book out - by Ntozake Shange. Looks wonderful.
Carleen Brice weighs in on the Precious debate (which is also a debate, again, about Sapphire's novel, Push).
Do you know about The Black Book. It's a compendium of images from Black history in the U.S. A 35th anniversary edition is out now. The original editor was Toni Morrison. Thanks to Felicia Pride for writing about this on TheRoot.com.

The Help and resentment

I am now considering reading Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help."

If you've been following the fawning and the criticism of the book, you'll know why I am actually taking time to think about whether I want to read it.

If you haven't, here's my quick overview of the brouhaha:
Stockett is a southern-born white woman who has written a book with Black maids speaking in dialect. Her white female protagonist goes and captures their oral stories.

The book has gotten so much attention and great reviews and her publishing story is even being covered. (The book was rejected by scores of literary agents before she hit paydirt).

I am (was) so reluctant to even see this book, much less read it. Honestly I know that I harbor more than a little resentment when Black stories told by white authors/protagonists are seen as literary victories.

I wonder ...
if there is a Black author whose book, published in the same year, isn't getting even half the attention of this tale.
if there are Black authors who can't even get signed to an agent, much less a publishing house, because their story isn't seen as hot, or authentic, or something.
how many non-Black readers will pick up this book, buy it, read it and spread the word, but will not see books by Black authors because of the way bookstores or organized, or because those books don't receive coverage, or because they just don't look for them.
if this story comes to define the contemporary reading of Black women in the servant class in the South.
if reading it will be annoying ... will I constantly question the voice, the dialect, the motivations.

I am leaning toward reading it because ...
a friend I trust has read it and found it worthwhile.
it's really shallow to have this much resentment about a title I haven' t even read.
it will likely be made into a big Hollywood movie with a great African American cast and we don't get many of those, so I'll have to go see it.
I'm in an MFA program and I really have to make myself read outside of my pleasure reading bounds.
secretly, I want to know what's in her book that's causing all the attention.

I don't begrudge her attention, I think. I just wish I could hear so much attention lavished on my favorite African American authors writing about the Southern experience.

More on Stockett and The Help:
Amazon listing

Kathryn Stockett's site
Huffington Post

The Huffington Post piece links to others ... so it's a good start.

Link roundup - starting with Mrs. Obama

Lots of coverage about the new book by the editors of the Mrs. O blog. I've been a fan of the blog and am curious about the book. I haven't yet held a copy in my hands, that final test of whether I'll make the leap and buy a book. Here are a few links in case you haven't read it yet.

"Taking a Hard-bound look at first lady's fashionableness," Washington Post

Book explores Michelle [Obama's] icon status, Politico


And other links -
I read about Jericho Brown receiving the Whiting Award on Tayari Jones' blog. Now here he is featured on mediabistro's galleycat. Cool.
As always, there are jobs on the Practicing Writing blog :) Plus an extension of the Lilith contest in fiction - the fiction must portray Jewish women. And since I've known at least one Jewish woman of African descent, this fits in here. (Our world is wide).
Though I am from South Carolina, I had not heard the story of Edith Childs, the Greenwood, S.C. woman behind the Obama campaign's "Fired up and ready to go" phrase. Here's Candidate Obama telling the story. Thanks to Literary Obama for the link to the video.
Marie NDiaye won the Prix Goncourt. I read about her last week. I'm disappointed to see that the prize amount is so low ... abut $15 according to the LA Times book blog. Hopefully she'll get a lot of attention and that will be the real reward.