Paule Marshall has a new book out - it's a memoir. Here's the review in the NYTimes.
The book, Triangular Road, is a memoir about writing and finding her voice in the triangle formed by Barbados, Africa and Brooklyn. I read Brown Girl, Brownstones in college, where I was just beginning to learn about the connections from the U.S. to the Caribbean and Africa.
That triangle has been very important in my own thinking about my places in the world, so I'm excited about hearing what Paule Marshall has to say. She's on tour, she's 79 and still writing.
Wonderful.
I'm falling in serious like with ...
Literary Obama, a blog about all things literary related to the Obama family. A wonderful idea, the blog is edited by a literature professor in South Carolina - making me even more interested, since I'm an OCG - Original Carolina Girl.
The Practicing Writing blog. I need all the tips and updates on practicing as I can get. So I try to check it daily. Nope, it's not African American - just writing. Still applies.
A recent invite I received to a baby shower - with a request for books by and about African American, Caribbean and African girls and women. I can't go to the shower, but I can't wait to buy the books for this baby's library. I have lots of ideas, but if you've heard of something really new and cool featuring "us" please send a note ...
Friday, March 13, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Quick links
Just a few quick links today. I have a deadline tomorrow and must sleep in between.
Condi Rice has a three-book deal with Crown.
The Dallas Morning News has a story about the integration of the NFL. The reporter mentions a book, Outside the Lines, by Dr. Charles Ross (his name is incorrect in the article), director of African American studies at the University of Mississippi.
Evelyn White, author of Alice Walker: A Life, will speak at the University of Texas at Austin on March 11. She is also going to lead a creative writing workshop. I'd love to be able to hear her. The biography was amazing.
Here's a story about the Coretta Scott King awards for children's literature. It mentions some new middle-grade titles featuring African American or biracial characters.
Condi Rice has a three-book deal with Crown.
The Dallas Morning News has a story about the integration of the NFL. The reporter mentions a book, Outside the Lines, by Dr. Charles Ross (his name is incorrect in the article), director of African American studies at the University of Mississippi.
Evelyn White, author of Alice Walker: A Life, will speak at the University of Texas at Austin on March 11. She is also going to lead a creative writing workshop. I'd love to be able to hear her. The biography was amazing.
Here's a story about the Coretta Scott King awards for children's literature. It mentions some new middle-grade titles featuring African American or biracial characters.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Resources on kids lit
A couple of years ago, a friend mentioned to me that 80 percent of her son's books featured African American characters. My own children's bookshelves were not nearly that diverse. This gave me pause because I had not done nearly as good a job as seeking out books for my children. They have (and had) hundreds of books, but I had not made the extra effort to diversify.
So I began to do it. And now, at the library and in book stores, I pick up books featuring African Americans, even when they don't. So our collection looks better and they see themselves in more books. But I'm always looking for more. Now, particularly, chapter books for my oldest child that feature boys of African descent.
He has read quite a few nonfiction titles about us, including titles that talk about slavery. So he knows about slavery and segregation.
Now I've found a list of some of the slavery titles in kids literature. Here's a link to that list from Carol Hurst's web site.
So I began to do it. And now, at the library and in book stores, I pick up books featuring African Americans, even when they don't. So our collection looks better and they see themselves in more books. But I'm always looking for more. Now, particularly, chapter books for my oldest child that feature boys of African descent.
He has read quite a few nonfiction titles about us, including titles that talk about slavery. So he knows about slavery and segregation.
Now I've found a list of some of the slavery titles in kids literature. Here's a link to that list from Carol Hurst's web site.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Review - land
As usual, Black/African American History Month is a hot one for books by and about "us." Every year this makes me a little sad, a little angry. I still want to know about the books, I want them to be published and read, but does it all have to happen in this month. What would be the harm in spreading the publishing love a bit?
end vent, begin links ...
Here is a 2 - in - 1 review of two new books about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One that is an analysis of the "I Have a Dream Speech," by Eric J. Sundquist, the other, Through It All, by Christine King Farris, Dr. King's sister.
Two professors at Emory University have a new book, "Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus," that explores the tragic exhibition in life and death of a an African woman in the 1800s. Here's a review from the Los Angeles Times.
end vent, begin links ...
Here is a 2 - in - 1 review of two new books about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One that is an analysis of the "I Have a Dream Speech," by Eric J. Sundquist, the other, Through It All, by Christine King Farris, Dr. King's sister.
Two professors at Emory University have a new book, "Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus," that explores the tragic exhibition in life and death of a an African woman in the 1800s. Here's a review from the Los Angeles Times.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
A handful of kid lit links
A few links to round out the week.
A CSMonitor review of Chains, by Laure Halse Anderson.
Here is the description of the book from Simon and Schuster's web site:
If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?
As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifher sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.
From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.
Check out Brothers & Sisters, a collection of poems about family, by Eloise Greenfield.
The bloggers at The Brown Bookself are again doing 28 days featuring authors/illustrators of African-American kids lit. I have already seen authors I haven't heard of before. I think my kids will be getting some new titles soon.
Also, at the top of the blog (may be lower by the time some readers click through) there's an interesting note about whether an author is actually African American.
A CSMonitor review of Chains, by Laure Halse Anderson.
Here is the description of the book from Simon and Schuster's web site:
If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?
As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifher sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.
From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.
Check out Brothers & Sisters, a collection of poems about family, by Eloise Greenfield.
The bloggers at The Brown Bookself are again doing 28 days featuring authors/illustrators of African-American kids lit. I have already seen authors I haven't heard of before. I think my kids will be getting some new titles soon.
Also, at the top of the blog (may be lower by the time some readers click through) there's an interesting note about whether an author is actually African American.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday is for Kids
I should probably come up with a better title for my Friday dip into kids lit. But I haven't yet. Suggestions are welcome in the comments.
One of the most interesting things I read this week was this story in the NYTimes about how a watchdog group has called out Scholastic over their inclusion of electronics, toys, jewelry and other non-book stuff in their catalogs and book fairs at schools.
This is right on the mark. I have one child in elementary school at the moment and have been a volunteer at a school book fair. And seeing all the toys and electronics really has bothered me. The kids can't help but get excited about them, even though they are more expensive than the discount priced books.
It is especially sad to me when I see kids who may not have been sent to school with any money or very little to shop at the book fair and they are picking up toys or electronics that are nearly $20 - when there are $4 books available.
Hopefully they'll pull back on marketing the toys and stick to books, workbooks and activity books. Kids have plenty of ways to see marketing - school is not the place for that.
I'll post some links later today to new books or book lists.
One of the most interesting things I read this week was this story in the NYTimes about how a watchdog group has called out Scholastic over their inclusion of electronics, toys, jewelry and other non-book stuff in their catalogs and book fairs at schools.
This is right on the mark. I have one child in elementary school at the moment and have been a volunteer at a school book fair. And seeing all the toys and electronics really has bothered me. The kids can't help but get excited about them, even though they are more expensive than the discount priced books.
It is especially sad to me when I see kids who may not have been sent to school with any money or very little to shop at the book fair and they are picking up toys or electronics that are nearly $20 - when there are $4 books available.
Hopefully they'll pull back on marketing the toys and stick to books, workbooks and activity books. Kids have plenty of ways to see marketing - school is not the place for that.
I'll post some links later today to new books or book lists.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Hearing Tayari Jones
I want to use Thursday as an opportunity to highlight an author or a book blog. But I'm cheating a bit today by writing about a recent reading I attended.
The author reading was Tayari Jones, who is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I write about her - and link to her site, www.tayarijones.com/blog, a lot, so it feels like cheating to highlight her today.
But it is my little blog after all.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to check her appearances calendar in case she was coming to Florida. It seems rare that any of the authors I love come near my home, so it was really just a little hopeful check. Turns out she was going to be in a town about an hour away the very next week.
So of course I went.
She read at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. It's a small, private college. I've never been to the campus, but I think I've been through the town once before.
The event was full - students there get a "cultural credit" for certain events, which is cool. I sat in the back because I got lost and was a few minutes late. [College campuses can really be tricky if you're not a part of the student/faculty/staff there - signs, people!]
She read from The Untelling first. I haven't read it in years, but was really pulled in as she read a scene that involves sibling rivalry, a red velvet cake, a terrible accident and women who can stop traffic. I'm always surprised when, aurally, I lose the author and really hear her as the characters at a reading. That was the case with Tayari Jones - she was the character and I really wanted to go back and read The Untelling again.
Tayari next read a story she wrote for a contest that required the work to be three minutes long. It was wonderful and fun and really was a story. I am amazed by short stories that are that short.
Tayari was wonderful - the creative, sassy and intellectual spirit really shines in her.
And I was fortunate enough to introduce myself to her, chat a bit and have a picture taken with her. I've "friended" her on Facebook, but I'm really just a fan, not someone who actually knows her. She was very gracious and kind - and stylish. I was taking notes in case one day I am out there reading from my own work.
Now, here are a few things I found that were odd about the event.
When Tayari finished reading, the organizer stood up and said she'd sign books and that there was food in a side room. There was no attempt to see if there were questions.
It may have been because of the travel arrangements, which I understand. It just seems very unusual for a reading not to have any questions. Of course, I just wanted to hear more from Tayari - next time, I guess.
Also, in the days before the event, on the local NPR station, I heard an add that began with a mention of the university name. I was actually excited in those few seconds, because I thought they were actually advertising Tayari's visit. Cool!
Except they weren't. It was an ad for a Nobel prize winner in the sciences who would be speaking later in the month. I get that a Nobel laureate is a big, big deal. It was just interesting to me that they wouldn't not put the money toward advertising an author's visit. Especially since it seemed the crowd at Tayari's reading was only students and faculty - important and their number one audience, for sure. But it didn't seem like there was a big community contingent- I'm 90% certain of this, but since I didn't poll the group I can't say for sure.
So it was wonderful to meet her. I hope she'll come back to my area of Florida - or anywhere in Florida, soon.
The author reading was Tayari Jones, who is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I write about her - and link to her site, www.tayarijones.com/blog, a lot, so it feels like cheating to highlight her today.
But it is my little blog after all.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to check her appearances calendar in case she was coming to Florida. It seems rare that any of the authors I love come near my home, so it was really just a little hopeful check. Turns out she was going to be in a town about an hour away the very next week.
So of course I went.
She read at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. It's a small, private college. I've never been to the campus, but I think I've been through the town once before.
The event was full - students there get a "cultural credit" for certain events, which is cool. I sat in the back because I got lost and was a few minutes late. [College campuses can really be tricky if you're not a part of the student/faculty/staff there - signs, people!]
She read from The Untelling first. I haven't read it in years, but was really pulled in as she read a scene that involves sibling rivalry, a red velvet cake, a terrible accident and women who can stop traffic. I'm always surprised when, aurally, I lose the author and really hear her as the characters at a reading. That was the case with Tayari Jones - she was the character and I really wanted to go back and read The Untelling again.
Tayari next read a story she wrote for a contest that required the work to be three minutes long. It was wonderful and fun and really was a story. I am amazed by short stories that are that short.
Tayari was wonderful - the creative, sassy and intellectual spirit really shines in her.
And I was fortunate enough to introduce myself to her, chat a bit and have a picture taken with her. I've "friended" her on Facebook, but I'm really just a fan, not someone who actually knows her. She was very gracious and kind - and stylish. I was taking notes in case one day I am out there reading from my own work.
Now, here are a few things I found that were odd about the event.
When Tayari finished reading, the organizer stood up and said she'd sign books and that there was food in a side room. There was no attempt to see if there were questions.
It may have been because of the travel arrangements, which I understand. It just seems very unusual for a reading not to have any questions. Of course, I just wanted to hear more from Tayari - next time, I guess.
Also, in the days before the event, on the local NPR station, I heard an add that began with a mention of the university name. I was actually excited in those few seconds, because I thought they were actually advertising Tayari's visit. Cool!
Except they weren't. It was an ad for a Nobel prize winner in the sciences who would be speaking later in the month. I get that a Nobel laureate is a big, big deal. It was just interesting to me that they wouldn't not put the money toward advertising an author's visit. Especially since it seemed the crowd at Tayari's reading was only students and faculty - important and their number one audience, for sure. But it didn't seem like there was a big community contingent- I'm 90% certain of this, but since I didn't poll the group I can't say for sure.
So it was wonderful to meet her. I hope she'll come back to my area of Florida - or anywhere in Florida, soon.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Kids Lit for Friday
My hope for Fridays is that I'll feature a children's author or book site on Friday.
Why Friday? Well for my family, that has been a big library day for us. Our branch has story time on Fridays and I like for my older reader to have some additional books to get through the weekend. And since he sometimes finishes books while I'm still in the parking lot (I am really not exaggerating), it's always good to stock up.
Today, I found the micro-site for Scholastic's Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life contest. It's based on the life of Jackie Robinson and is geared for students in 4th - 8th grades. Here's the link.
Why Friday? Well for my family, that has been a big library day for us. Our branch has story time on Fridays and I like for my older reader to have some additional books to get through the weekend. And since he sometimes finishes books while I'm still in the parking lot (I am really not exaggerating), it's always good to stock up.
Today, I found the micro-site for Scholastic's Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life contest. It's based on the life of Jackie Robinson and is geared for students in 4th - 8th grades. Here's the link.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Reviews not found
I really should be posting some reviews today, but I didn't find any and the hour is late.
I will mention that I'm excitehttp://bookcritics.org/news/archive/2008_nbcc_finalists_announced/d that the NBCC has a biography of Ida B. Wells and the book about the Hemings family on their final award list.
Both will go on my to-read list. 2009, here we come.
I will mention that I'm excitehttp://bookcritics.org/news/archive/2008_nbcc_finalists_announced/d that the NBCC has a biography of Ida B. Wells and the book about the Hemings family on their final award list.
Both will go on my to-read list. 2009, here we come.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Author/Blog spotlight
Like many folks, I've been off in inauguration land and am just now winding back to real life. Believe it or not, I still have inauguration-related things taped for later viewing. Just can't get enough.
But, just like the president, I have to get to work!
Thursday is Author/Blog spotlight day. Eventually, I hope to include some interviews or even guest blogs on Thursday for the spotlight. Until then, I will just pick and choose and write what I want ;).
Today's pick: Ravi Howard, author of Like Trees Walking.
Why him?: Because he was recently named the 2008 winner of the Ernest Gaines award for his novel.
I haven't yet read it, but have heard much about it and this award is the one that tips it. I'll get a copy soon.
Howard is a native of Alabama - and Southerners hold a dear place in my heart - a graduate of Howard University, and is surprisingly, one of the few male authors that I have heard about repeatedly over the last few years.
I'm not saying Black men aren't publishing or writing great work - they're just not being talked up, I think.
About the book:
But, just like the president, I have to get to work!
Thursday is Author/Blog spotlight day. Eventually, I hope to include some interviews or even guest blogs on Thursday for the spotlight. Until then, I will just pick and choose and write what I want ;).
Today's pick: Ravi Howard, author of Like Trees Walking.
Why him?: Because he was recently named the 2008 winner of the Ernest Gaines award for his novel.
I haven't yet read it, but have heard much about it and this award is the one that tips it. I'll get a copy soon.
Howard is a native of Alabama - and Southerners hold a dear place in my heart - a graduate of Howard University, and is surprisingly, one of the few male authors that I have heard about repeatedly over the last few years.
I'm not saying Black men aren't publishing or writing great work - they're just not being talked up, I think.
About the book:
When the phone rang at the home of Paul and Roy Deacon in the early morning hours, it often meant that someone had died. The brothers’ family owned the Deacon Memorial Funeral Home and had buried the loved ones of Mobile’s black families for over 100 years. On the morning of March 21, 1981, the call was different. The body of nineteen-year-old Michael Donald was found hanging from a tree on Herndon Avenue. The murder shook the citizens of Mobile, Alabama, especially the Deacon brothers. They had called Michael Donald a friend.
As the brothers navigate their teen years, they face familiar rites of passage; prom night, graduation, college life, but the family business forces them to confront the rites death brings, passages from this world to the next. As Roy and Paul Deacon search for solace, their journeys take them from church sanctuaries to cemeteries, protest marches to courtrooms, from the tree-lined streets of Mobile to the dark beach roads on the Eastern Shore.
Added to the grief of a murdered friend, the brothers and their hometown face the first lynching in over sixty years. Mobile had been as peaceful as its tree-lined streets were beautiful, but the murder gave the city its own sad chapter in the Alabama racial history. Like Birmingham’s four little girls, Selma’s Bloody Sunday, and Tuskegee’s experiment, Mobile had the murder of Michael Donald.
In this riveting debut, Like Trees, Walking explores a fictional aftermath of a true story that will both haunt and illuminate. The novel examines death, faith, truth, and justice, elements that often intersect and at times collide. An old tale set in modern times, Like Trees, Walking explores the complexities and the promises of America’s New South.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Friday for Kids
As I try out a new schedule for organizing posts, I've decided Friday should be for kids literature/books. If memory serves, many children's books featuring children, adults of African descent come out during January and February for the six weeks that is the King holiday and Black History Month. I'll feature some of the new titles here.
The Los Angeles Times has a round up story about the new books out about President-elect Barack Obama, including editions updated to show he won the election and is the 44th president. I'm particularly interested in the biographies for older kids.
Michelle Kerns of Examiner.com shares her three top books about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And finally, here's a site I found just this week, Brown Sugar and Spice Books. They feature books for us and focus on titles that are reality-based, rather than fantasy. I saw lots of books that I'd seen elsewhere (Obama books and others) as well as interesting titles that were new to me.
The Los Angeles Times has a round up story about the new books out about President-elect Barack Obama, including editions updated to show he won the election and is the 44th president. I'm particularly interested in the biographies for older kids.
Michelle Kerns of Examiner.com shares her three top books about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And finally, here's a site I found just this week, Brown Sugar and Spice Books. They feature books for us and focus on titles that are reality-based, rather than fantasy. I saw lots of books that I'd seen elsewhere (Obama books and others) as well as interesting titles that were new to me.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Author/Blog spotlight
In an effort to bring some order and consistency to my posting here, I'm going to try having a different theme for each day of the work week. Hopefully that will give me an easy way to get into topics and share content about some of the writers, books, publishing companies and other bookish things here.
So Thursday is author or blog spotlight day. I picked Black Threads in Kids Lit because I was searching for something else kids-book related. (The other search is not a secret, it's just that my middle-aged mind can't remember how I go there!).
Of the few posts I read, I enjoyed the blog. As a mother of two African American children, I'm always interested in books that interest them and feature people who look like us. Especially chapter books, as we're in that zone now.
There's a good post up top on the blog that is taking a guess at which books will be picked as Coretta Scott King award winners or finalists. There were a few books that I hand't seen or heard of, like March On! and Brand New Day, Brand New Ruby.
So this one goes in my bookmarks.
So Thursday is author or blog spotlight day. I picked Black Threads in Kids Lit because I was searching for something else kids-book related. (The other search is not a secret, it's just that my middle-aged mind can't remember how I go there!).
Of the few posts I read, I enjoyed the blog. As a mother of two African American children, I'm always interested in books that interest them and feature people who look like us. Especially chapter books, as we're in that zone now.
There's a good post up top on the blog that is taking a guess at which books will be picked as Coretta Scott King award winners or finalists. There were a few books that I hand't seen or heard of, like March On! and Brand New Day, Brand New Ruby.
So this one goes in my bookmarks.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
African American memoir
The New York Times reviewed The Black Girl Next Door, by Jennifer Baszile. It's about her growing up in an exclusive, all-white community in the 70s and 80s. She's a frequent first-er (first black student body president, first black female professor of history at Yale).
It sounds interesting to me. I did not grow up with that kind of privilege. And though they don't have that level of wealth, my children are already in several "only" situations.
So I'm likely to check it out.
My only hesitation is that it seems this story has really been done over and over again. What does she add that's new? [And the NYTimes review isn't particularly favorable, btw.]
On another note, I really like Carleen Brice's new blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors. I'm definitely not white, but am getting good recommendations from her site. I just finished her book, Orange Mint and Honey, this month and LOVED it. I'll try to pull together a review soon, I think it's a book that deserves attention.
It sounds interesting to me. I did not grow up with that kind of privilege. And though they don't have that level of wealth, my children are already in several "only" situations.
So I'm likely to check it out.
My only hesitation is that it seems this story has really been done over and over again. What does she add that's new? [And the NYTimes review isn't particularly favorable, btw.]
On another note, I really like Carleen Brice's new blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors. I'm definitely not white, but am getting good recommendations from her site. I just finished her book, Orange Mint and Honey, this month and LOVED it. I'll try to pull together a review soon, I think it's a book that deserves attention.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Poetry, Obama shelf, vacation reading
There will be a poet reading at the inauguration. It gets better every day. I am going to have to get a working television by Jan. 19!
The poet is Elizabeth Alexander. She's African American and a professor at Yale. Her parents took her to the march on Washington in 1963. Beautiful.
Poetry is not my top reading choice. I've been bumping into poetry a lot lately, so it's time I integrated it into my reading. And I certainly can't wait to hear what she'll read.
I was in Books a Million last week and noticed a whole end shelf of Obama titles. Most I had not seen before, including two about Michelle Obama. They are a cottage industry right now. Hopefully it will give the book business a boost.
And, I'm working on a list of books to read over the holiday break. I'll post it if I enjoy them.
The poet is Elizabeth Alexander. She's African American and a professor at Yale. Her parents took her to the march on Washington in 1963. Beautiful.
Poetry is not my top reading choice. I've been bumping into poetry a lot lately, so it's time I integrated it into my reading. And I certainly can't wait to hear what she'll read.
I was in Books a Million last week and noticed a whole end shelf of Obama titles. Most I had not seen before, including two about Michelle Obama. They are a cottage industry right now. Hopefully it will give the book business a boost.
And, I'm working on a list of books to read over the holiday break. I'll post it if I enjoy them.
The boost of rejection
I had an unexpected boost today.
I received a rejection note - and it brought me a little smile rather than doom.
Typically I go for months and sometimes years without submitting anything. I cycle down into no one would want to read/publish what I write, so why bother to write at all doldrums.
I have submitted one or two things lately and this was a rejection of one. It would have felt better to have my pitch accepted - but it was a great reminder that I had written the pitch, put it out there and at least gone through the process.
There are probably scores of rejections out in the universe just waiting for me to send more things out for consideration.
Among them are acceptances as well.
I have work to do.
I received a rejection note - and it brought me a little smile rather than doom.
Typically I go for months and sometimes years without submitting anything. I cycle down into no one would want to read/publish what I write, so why bother to write at all doldrums.
I have submitted one or two things lately and this was a rejection of one. It would have felt better to have my pitch accepted - but it was a great reminder that I had written the pitch, put it out there and at least gone through the process.
There are probably scores of rejections out in the universe just waiting for me to send more things out for consideration.
Among them are acceptances as well.
I have work to do.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Lost titles and other things
I had a long conversation with a writer friend a few weeks ago about how amazed I am that Black women I know had not heard of some of the best contemporary writers in our community.
It shocks me every time I mention Pearl Cleage and the person I'm talking to doesn't know who she is or hasn't read her. Even when she is a regular reader.
Well, I got a little comeuppance today. I saw on Tayari Jones' blog that Linda Villarosa has a novel out - and an essay here talking about how she made the shift from journalist to novelist.
I know who Linda Villarosa is - and you probably do too if you've ever read a few issues of Essence. Yet I had no idea she had a novel out. And I will definitely go and get it this fall.
So, it's not that people aren't reaching for books, it's just that they are not hearing about them. Even when, like me, they spend hours every day thinking about books and authors and publicity and such.
We have almost too many sources and in some ways not nearly enough reach or memory to know everything that's out there. It's not a great tragedy if you miss one book, but I think it's a shame when good and great authors go unnoticed.
It shocks me every time I mention Pearl Cleage and the person I'm talking to doesn't know who she is or hasn't read her. Even when she is a regular reader.
Well, I got a little comeuppance today. I saw on Tayari Jones' blog that Linda Villarosa has a novel out - and an essay here talking about how she made the shift from journalist to novelist.
I know who Linda Villarosa is - and you probably do too if you've ever read a few issues of Essence. Yet I had no idea she had a novel out. And I will definitely go and get it this fall.
So, it's not that people aren't reaching for books, it's just that they are not hearing about them. Even when, like me, they spend hours every day thinking about books and authors and publicity and such.
We have almost too many sources and in some ways not nearly enough reach or memory to know everything that's out there. It's not a great tragedy if you miss one book, but I think it's a shame when good and great authors go unnoticed.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
White privilege, broken down
Alternet has a good piece up that shows how McCain and Palin benefit from white privilege. Basically the piece breaks it down on Palin, with a few nods to McCain.
Seal Press has calls for submissions up for an anthology of letters from girlfriend to girlfriend and a book about divorce.
Just Like a Girl, an anthology from Girl Child Press is on tour. Actually, Michelle Sewell, founder of the press and editor of the anthology is touring. Check out the dates here.
Seal Press has calls for submissions up for an anthology of letters from girlfriend to girlfriend and a book about divorce.
Just Like a Girl, an anthology from Girl Child Press is on tour. Actually, Michelle Sewell, founder of the press and editor of the anthology is touring. Check out the dates here.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Jail or Bailout? Political books
Do you think the folks behind our financial mess should go to jail? Someone over at Rushmore Drive thinks so..
Political books are all the rage - literally. I can't believe folks gave grief to Gwen Ifill over her upcoming book on race and politics. What's really cool, though is that her publisher must really love the huge promotional (free!) attention she received as people argued about it.
And wouldn't you know it - it's already available for pre-order at Amazon. Yep, her publisher must love all this attention.
If you look at the "customers who bought this" list below, almost all of the titles are very anti-left, Barack-bashing or Palin/McCain lifting books. Strange, since there was an implication that Ifill's book would be pro-Barack. If it's pro-Barack, why does Amazon try to hook the user up with anti-left, anti-progressive titles.
Is there a glitch or is somebody trying to pull a cyber hoodwink?
Political books are all the rage - literally. I can't believe folks gave grief to Gwen Ifill over her upcoming book on race and politics. What's really cool, though is that her publisher must really love the huge promotional (free!) attention she received as people argued about it.
And wouldn't you know it - it's already available for pre-order at Amazon. Yep, her publisher must love all this attention.
If you look at the "customers who bought this" list below, almost all of the titles are very anti-left, Barack-bashing or Palin/McCain lifting books. Strange, since there was an implication that Ifill's book would be pro-Barack. If it's pro-Barack, why does Amazon try to hook the user up with anti-left, anti-progressive titles.
Is there a glitch or is somebody trying to pull a cyber hoodwink?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Too much reading, too little blogging
Unfortunately, when everything else is in high gear in my life, this blog is the first thing to be cut. So, I'll keep trying to find my way back.
I was surprised to see the the latest Blair Underwood-Tananarive Due- Steven Barnes book is out next week. Apparently, according to Tananarive's blog, it's already in stock at Amazon.
I wonder how much writing Blair did on the novel. He "presents" these Tennyson Hardwick novels and is part of the process - but I wonder if it's just reading and providing verbal feedback to Barnes and Due.
The first one was a fun read. I love mysteries and am really happy when I find ones featuring African American characters. It's nice to have a new series to go to.
Deberry/Grant
I finished Virginia Deberry and Donna Grant's latest novel, Gotta Keep on Tryin', last month. It was a lot of fun. I haven't read any of their books since Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made, so I couldn't remember what to expect.
I really didn't remember much about the first story. But it started to come flooding back when a certain devious character re-appeared. Those sections actually made me anxious - good work on the authors' part.
If you have a chance to see them read or meet them - do. They're quite funny in person and will give a good event.
I was surprised to see the the latest Blair Underwood-Tananarive Due- Steven Barnes book is out next week. Apparently, according to Tananarive's blog, it's already in stock at Amazon.
I wonder how much writing Blair did on the novel. He "presents" these Tennyson Hardwick novels and is part of the process - but I wonder if it's just reading and providing verbal feedback to Barnes and Due.
The first one was a fun read. I love mysteries and am really happy when I find ones featuring African American characters. It's nice to have a new series to go to.
Deberry/Grant
I finished Virginia Deberry and Donna Grant's latest novel, Gotta Keep on Tryin', last month. It was a lot of fun. I haven't read any of their books since Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made, so I couldn't remember what to expect.
I really didn't remember much about the first story. But it started to come flooding back when a certain devious character re-appeared. Those sections actually made me anxious - good work on the authors' part.
If you have a chance to see them read or meet them - do. They're quite funny in person and will give a good event.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Want to write your book proposal?
Then head to Valerie Boyd's book proposal boot camp.
Book Proposal Boot Camp: How to Write a Proposal
That Sells Without Selling Out
Let Valerie Boyd—award-winning author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of
Zora Neale Hurston—show you how to transform your dream of writing a nonfiction
book into a reality.
The best-kept secret of the publishing world is the book proposal. Did you
know you can write a 15- to 100-page book proposal, submit it to literary
agents and publishers, and actually get paid to write the book of your dreams? With
a few months of effort, any writer who has a strong nonfiction idea and some
writing talent—even without a lot of experience—can research and write a
robust book proposal that will turn publishers’ heads. This Book Proposal Boot
Camp will teach you how.
When
Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 2 and 3, 2008
9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where
Agnes Scott College
Alston Hall, Room 206
Decatur, GA 30030
For more information and to register,
www.valerieboyd. com
[I attended a shorter session that Valerie did on the book proposal at one of Tina McElroy Ansa's workshops. It was illuminating. If I didn't already have a trip planned, I'd make the drive to go to this workshop.]
Book Proposal Boot Camp: How to Write a Proposal
That Sells Without Selling Out
Let Valerie Boyd—award-winning author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of
Zora Neale Hurston—show you how to transform your dream of writing a nonfiction
book into a reality.
The best-kept secret of the publishing world is the book proposal. Did you
know you can write a 15- to 100-page book proposal, submit it to literary
agents and publishers, and actually get paid to write the book of your dreams? With
a few months of effort, any writer who has a strong nonfiction idea and some
writing talent—even without a lot of experience—can research and write a
robust book proposal that will turn publishers’ heads. This Book Proposal Boot
Camp will teach you how.
When
Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 2 and 3, 2008
9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where
Agnes Scott College
Alston Hall, Room 206
Decatur, GA 30030
For more information and to register,
www.valerieboyd. com
[I attended a shorter session that Valerie did on the book proposal at one of Tina McElroy Ansa's workshops. It was illuminating. If I didn't already have a trip planned, I'd make the drive to go to this workshop.]
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Do you have a platform?
I stopped at MJ Rose's Buzz, Balls, Hype site - a bookmark authors and publicists should have, and saw her link to a NY Observer article about the importance of having a "platform" for authors. Apparently publishing houses (some anyway) are looking not just at the work, but at what the author brings to the table in terms of audience and publicity power. No big surprise, but it's good to hear the term and see an exploration of it.
I think Ta-Nahesi Coates is an example of an author with a platform. I used to read his column, so when I heard about his new book, it definitely made me want to read it. He's profiled in the LA Times. The book, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, is a memoir.
Lots of other links I will share, but I think I hear a little work calling me away ...
But I will say that I'm nervous about whatever Jesse Jackson said. I expect that's going to be a little mess.
I think Ta-Nahesi Coates is an example of an author with a platform. I used to read his column, so when I heard about his new book, it definitely made me want to read it. He's profiled in the LA Times. The book, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, is a memoir.
Lots of other links I will share, but I think I hear a little work calling me away ...
But I will say that I'm nervous about whatever Jesse Jackson said. I expect that's going to be a little mess.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Pearl Cleage's new site
I love to visit my favorite authors' web sites - and even sites of authors I haven't read yet. It amazes me sometimes when I see a site for a big name author and it is really out of date or just doesn't seem to match in quality the author's reputation, writing or popularity.
Pearl Cleage's web site used to be one of those.
Now do not start sending me daggers or evil comments. I love Pearl Cleage. There are no two ways about that.
But it made it hard to understand why she didn't have a better site.
All that is over, now. She has new site design (I'm just seeing it now, so it may be a couple of months old). It looks fabulous! See it here.
And, as a fan, I looked at all the pictures and, as usual, the appearances to see if she would be anywhere near my town.
Anyway - it's a great site and, I think, a much better fit for the wonder and wisdom of Ms. Cleage.
Pearl Cleage's web site used to be one of those.
Now do not start sending me daggers or evil comments. I love Pearl Cleage. There are no two ways about that.
But it made it hard to understand why she didn't have a better site.
All that is over, now. She has new site design (I'm just seeing it now, so it may be a couple of months old). It looks fabulous! See it here.
And, as a fan, I looked at all the pictures and, as usual, the appearances to see if she would be anywhere near my town.
Anyway - it's a great site and, I think, a much better fit for the wonder and wisdom of Ms. Cleage.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
A movie deal and other notes
Carleen Brice's Orange Mint and Honey has been optioned by Lifetime TV. She has a brief note about that on her web site. I'm glad to hear it - and need to go and get the book :).
She's also taking a hiatus (on hiatus?) this summer. And she's holding a contest for her readers to send in ways they're taking care of themselves. The contest is detailed on her blog.
More on Movies
I'm really excited about the movie version of PUSH, so I've been reading about that and the "unknown" actress who'll play Precious in the movie. What an amazing story - and I can't wait to see how she does and where this leads her.
This week, I saw the trailer for The Longshots, which stars Keke Palmer and Ice Cube. Will definitely have to see that. I am eating up stories with strong, smart, beautiful young African American girls. Hopefully I'll be able to have a good collection of those on DVD by the time my own daughter hits her tweens.
Kids books
I stumbled upon this beautiful book in the library on Thursday. It's called Hair for Mama and is by Kelly Tinkham and illustrated by Amy Bates.
The boy in the book wants to get/give hair to his mother, who has lost hers due to treatments for cancer. It's beautiful - I loved the imagine of the two of them together with bald heads. So, if you know anyone that could use that story (which might really be anyone of us - who hasn't been touched by cancer?), pass it on.
A few weeks ago, I found several Mildred D. Taylor novels in a bookstore. It was very exciting for me. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was one of my favorite books as a child. It is also, unfortunately, frequently banned or protested. I never read (or even knew of) her other books. So I bought three of her other titles to hold until my children are old enough to read them. They are:
The Gold Cadillac
The Well: David's Story
The Road to Memphis
She's also taking a hiatus (on hiatus?) this summer. And she's holding a contest for her readers to send in ways they're taking care of themselves. The contest is detailed on her blog.
More on Movies
I'm really excited about the movie version of PUSH, so I've been reading about that and the "unknown" actress who'll play Precious in the movie. What an amazing story - and I can't wait to see how she does and where this leads her.
This week, I saw the trailer for The Longshots, which stars Keke Palmer and Ice Cube. Will definitely have to see that. I am eating up stories with strong, smart, beautiful young African American girls. Hopefully I'll be able to have a good collection of those on DVD by the time my own daughter hits her tweens.
Kids books
I stumbled upon this beautiful book in the library on Thursday. It's called Hair for Mama and is by Kelly Tinkham and illustrated by Amy Bates.
The boy in the book wants to get/give hair to his mother, who has lost hers due to treatments for cancer. It's beautiful - I loved the imagine of the two of them together with bald heads. So, if you know anyone that could use that story (which might really be anyone of us - who hasn't been touched by cancer?), pass it on.
A few weeks ago, I found several Mildred D. Taylor novels in a bookstore. It was very exciting for me. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was one of my favorite books as a child. It is also, unfortunately, frequently banned or protested. I never read (or even knew of) her other books. So I bought three of her other titles to hold until my children are old enough to read them. They are:
The Gold Cadillac
The Well: David's Story
The Road to Memphis
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Do Progressives need a book club?
We'll see about that book club. The Progressive Book Club launches tomorrow. I'm curious about their selections, but have always been wary of book and music clubs. I always fear I'm going to be sucked into a contract that I'll hate later. I wonder how they'll combat that feeling - I can't be the only progressive who shies away from such.
Read the NYTimes story.
Obama Moment
Earlier this week I was in love with this article about the reaction to Obama by Blacks in France. And very pleased to see an author quoted in it - I hope her book is or will be available in English. Her name is Leonora Miano and the book title is “Tels des Astres Éteints” (“Like Extinguished Stars”).
Can't believe I missed it
Tananarive Due's book, Blood Colony, came out on June 3. I love her work and that storyline in particular. I can't believe I let the date get by me. I will get a copy in a week or so.
Upcoming and recent releases:
Palace Council, by Stephen L. Carter on July 8
The Importance of Being Dangerous, by David Dante Troutt on June 3 (love this title)
Catwalk, by Deborah Gregory on June 24
"Keeping Down the Black Vote: The Politics of Election Administration in America", by Frances Fox Piven, Lori Minnite, Margaret Groarke, Dec. 8, 2008
A Mercy, by Toni Morrison, Nov. 11, 2008 (set in the American past - that was the only description on Amazon - curious).
Read the NYTimes story.
Obama Moment
Earlier this week I was in love with this article about the reaction to Obama by Blacks in France. And very pleased to see an author quoted in it - I hope her book is or will be available in English. Her name is Leonora Miano and the book title is “Tels des Astres Éteints” (“Like Extinguished Stars”).
Can't believe I missed it
Tananarive Due's book, Blood Colony, came out on June 3. I love her work and that storyline in particular. I can't believe I let the date get by me. I will get a copy in a week or so.
Upcoming and recent releases:
Palace Council, by Stephen L. Carter on July 8
The Importance of Being Dangerous, by David Dante Troutt on June 3 (love this title)
Catwalk, by Deborah Gregory on June 24
"Keeping Down the Black Vote: The Politics of Election Administration in America", by Frances Fox Piven, Lori Minnite, Margaret Groarke, Dec. 8, 2008
A Mercy, by Toni Morrison, Nov. 11, 2008 (set in the American past - that was the only description on Amazon - curious).
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Will Scarlet ever fade?
I just read an article at Diversity Inc. about America's favorite books. The Bible is number one. No. 2? It's that old favorite, Gone With the Wind. It's the favorite across the whole group surveyed.
I still haven't read it. And I only saw the movie 8 years ago.
Maybe one day I'll read it. It is the second favorite book of our nation, supposedly.
Read the story for yourself.
I still haven't read it. And I only saw the movie 8 years ago.
Maybe one day I'll read it. It is the second favorite book of our nation, supposedly.
Read the story for yourself.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Quick finds
My mind is on the theatre this week, so of course that's all I see out there in the world of the web.
Here's a new collection of essays on African American women playwrights:
Contemporary African American Women Playwrights: A Casebook, by Philip Kolin. Read an article about it here.
I was going to order it, but it's $120.00! So, it's to the library for me.
Laurence Fishburne is doing a one-man show on Thurgood Marshall's life in NYC. Read the NYTimes story.
I am a hopeless Fishburne fan - hopefully I can get up there to see him in this show.
And ...
Mediabistro's Galleycat has an interesting post up - short though - about whether women's fiction covers are anti-feminist. You know the focus on pink, the backs of women's bodies, body parts, shoes and shopping bags. I read it yesterday and today and it made me ask whether urban fiction covers are racist.
They often focus on hyper sexual images of Black people.
The books and the art are very focused on hard, thug life stereotypes.
Maybe they are actually anti-feminist and racist too. A two-fer in your local bookstore.
Here's a new collection of essays on African American women playwrights:
Contemporary African American Women Playwrights: A Casebook, by Philip Kolin. Read an article about it here.
I was going to order it, but it's $120.00! So, it's to the library for me.
Laurence Fishburne is doing a one-man show on Thurgood Marshall's life in NYC. Read the NYTimes story.
I am a hopeless Fishburne fan - hopefully I can get up there to see him in this show.
And ...
Mediabistro's Galleycat has an interesting post up - short though - about whether women's fiction covers are anti-feminist. You know the focus on pink, the backs of women's bodies, body parts, shoes and shopping bags. I read it yesterday and today and it made me ask whether urban fiction covers are racist.
They often focus on hyper sexual images of Black people.
The books and the art are very focused on hard, thug life stereotypes.
Maybe they are actually anti-feminist and racist too. A two-fer in your local bookstore.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Don't Call It a Comeback
Yes - I'm slacker blogger of the week. It hasn't quite been two months - just really close.
But I'm willing to get back into this blog thing.
The Crime Sistah blog has a post up about book signings - apparently authors sell between 4 and 7 books at signings. THat seems really, really low to me. And hardly worth the travel effort. But the connections are worth it - I hope!
I'll be interested to see what kind of discussion follows that post.
Celebrity author - pro or con?
Tananarive Due's new novel, Blood Colony, will be out in June of this year. I can't wait to read that - it's the third in a series that I love.
She co-authored, with Blair Underwood and her husband, Steven Barnes, Casanegra. The mystery novel is the first in a series and the second will be out in September. Blair was quoted somewhere recently - unfortunately I can't remember where! - and mentioned his second novel would be out in September. He did not mention his co-authors, but I'm sure that's just because of space.
But I'm willing to get back into this blog thing.
The Crime Sistah blog has a post up about book signings - apparently authors sell between 4 and 7 books at signings. THat seems really, really low to me. And hardly worth the travel effort. But the connections are worth it - I hope!
I'll be interested to see what kind of discussion follows that post.
Celebrity author - pro or con?
Tananarive Due's new novel, Blood Colony, will be out in June of this year. I can't wait to read that - it's the third in a series that I love.
She co-authored, with Blair Underwood and her husband, Steven Barnes, Casanegra. The mystery novel is the first in a series and the second will be out in September. Blair was quoted somewhere recently - unfortunately I can't remember where! - and mentioned his second novel would be out in September. He did not mention his co-authors, but I'm sure that's just because of space.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Random author events to share
Chris Abani will speak in Orlando on Thursday (3/6).
Check out Carleen Brice (Orange Mint and Honey) tour schedule.
And there's an interview on Bookslut with Natasha Trethewey.
Check out Carleen Brice (Orange Mint and Honey) tour schedule.
And there's an interview on Bookslut with Natasha Trethewey.
Fact Checkers need not apply
This is really wild. It amazes me that there was such limited fact-checking on this story about a biracial (white and Native) woman's gangland memoir. Especially now, when some of the research is or should be so much easier with eletronic databases. I wonder how many publishers are scrambling to cover bases on recently published or about-to-be-published memoirs.
If you haven't heard about this, read or listen to stories about Love and Consequences, a completely fake memoir published last week. To good reviews.
NYTimes story (different than above)
Galley Cat surveys the reactions
NPR's report
I wonder ...
If the book would have gotten so much attention, or even been published if it was a Black woman's story?
Would it have been fact checked more closely?
Was the story marketable mostly because the woman is part white and looks white?
It's interesting to me that in some ways this seems like a story that boils down to:
Woman Raised by Wolves [Black people] Tells Story.
Somehow, telling her story as the outsider raised by the outsiders/savages, was really a good sell for her, her agent and publishing company. And no, I haven't read it, just riffing off the coverage and descriptions so far.
What do you think?
If you haven't heard about this, read or listen to stories about Love and Consequences, a completely fake memoir published last week. To good reviews.
NYTimes story (different than above)
Galley Cat surveys the reactions
NPR's report
I wonder ...
If the book would have gotten so much attention, or even been published if it was a Black woman's story?
Would it have been fact checked more closely?
Was the story marketable mostly because the woman is part white and looks white?
It's interesting to me that in some ways this seems like a story that boils down to:
Woman Raised by Wolves [Black people] Tells Story.
Somehow, telling her story as the outsider raised by the outsiders/savages, was really a good sell for her, her agent and publishing company. And no, I haven't read it, just riffing off the coverage and descriptions so far.
What do you think?
Monday, March 03, 2008
This and that for Monday
I can't wait to get a copy of Incognegro, by Mat Johnson. A graphic novel about passing? That is so in my vein - not to mention how many times I said "incognegro" in my 20s. It will be my first graphic novel, though. Read the review in the NYTimes.
Things I shouldn't have access to: mobile access to Amazon.com. That's not even right. I try to forget that I can get there from my phone, because it's too, too easy to buy. And we don't have enough shelves at the moment.
Things I shouldn't have access to: mobile access to Amazon.com. That's not even right. I try to forget that I can get there from my phone, because it's too, too easy to buy. And we don't have enough shelves at the moment.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Quick hits on a couple of resources
Deberry/Grant - the two-woman writing team - has a new book out, Gotta Keep on Tryin'. It's the sequel to their first novel.
And on their blog, they referenced Connie Briscoe's blog - which is fabulous! She is interviewing authors and publicists. Recent interviews include Deberry/Grant, Lolita Files (who also has a blog) and Connie writes about writing. Go see - and bookmark it.
An unfinished work by Richard Wright has been pieced together and published. Tayari Jones says - leave dead authors' work alone.
Here's the review of the book, A Father's Law, from the NYTimes.
And from the review:
And on their blog, they referenced Connie Briscoe's blog - which is fabulous! She is interviewing authors and publicists. Recent interviews include Deberry/Grant, Lolita Files (who also has a blog) and Connie writes about writing. Go see - and bookmark it.
An unfinished work by Richard Wright has been pieced together and published. Tayari Jones says - leave dead authors' work alone.
Here's the review of the book, A Father's Law, from the NYTimes.
And from the review:
But context is one thing; text is another. In this case, text threatens to ambush context before context even gets to town. “A Father’s Law” is not simply an unfinished novel; it is an unfinished novel in abject need of revision. Its flaws are so many and so foregrounded that they all but dare the reader to work through them and engage the ideas with which Wright was grappling. Without having first read his thunderous classics, one might plausibly dismiss this author as a tendentious, technically naïve amateur and disdain the works that made him indispensable in American letters.
Friday, February 22, 2008
This and that
Mark Sarvas posted a link to an article in the Los Angeles Wave about African American authors, serious literature and the important role Black booksellers and independent publishers play in promoting our authors. Rosie Milligan, founder of Black Writers on Tour, and James Fugate of Eso Won books are quoted.
Read it here: Extending their shelf lives
Want more on the concerns about serious Black literature and street lit?
Check out the notes from the ringshout group - a new group that launched this year.
Their members have been writing about it, including Bridgett Davis' essay on theroot.com - which I haven't read yet, but will.
Thanks to Eisa Ulen for the links - she is a ringshout founder as well.
Read it here: Extending their shelf lives
Want more on the concerns about serious Black literature and street lit?
Check out the notes from the ringshout group - a new group that launched this year.
Their members have been writing about it, including Bridgett Davis' essay on theroot.com - which I haven't read yet, but will.
Thanks to Eisa Ulen for the links - she is a ringshout founder as well.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Promotion find of the day
I saw a reference recently to a site, www.bookmovement.com, that I hadn't heard of in all my trolling for book-related stuff. So I'm sharing it in case you haven't heard of it either.
Book Movement is a site for book clubs and allows clubs and members to list and rank the books that they're reading. So the site turns that into lists of the popular books among book clubs.
I searched a couple of African American authors names - by no means an exhaustive list, just a casual search.
Here's what I found on the site - titles by:
Pearl Cleage
Christopher Abani
Alice Walker
Carl Weber
Anthony Grooms
Walter Mosley
I didn't see anyway for authors to feed in to the system - other than paying for featured placement. But perhaps it would be a tool worth mentioning to fans in book clubs.
Book Movement is a site for book clubs and allows clubs and members to list and rank the books that they're reading. So the site turns that into lists of the popular books among book clubs.
I searched a couple of African American authors names - by no means an exhaustive list, just a casual search.
Here's what I found on the site - titles by:
Pearl Cleage
Christopher Abani
Alice Walker
Carl Weber
Anthony Grooms
Walter Mosley
I didn't see anyway for authors to feed in to the system - other than paying for featured placement. But perhaps it would be a tool worth mentioning to fans in book clubs.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Quick hits from the last few days
NYTimes Review of Race Card by Richard Thompson Ford. Subtitle: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse.
From my quick read of the review, it sounds like the book is worth reading - though I am getting a bit of a conservative vibe from it. I'm working on doing more nonfiction reading and less escaping from reality, so perhaps this makes it to the to-be-read list.
A group of newspaper cartoonists are banding together to do strips on one topic this Sunday - the lack of diversity in newspaper comics. Read more in the Washington Post.
I went to John Ridley's blog on NPR.org for the first time today. And then went over to their NPR mobile set up - NPR content on your phone - that made me happier than I should admit.
Did you know that NPR has a "Race" page? Neither did I. Here it is.
From my quick read of the review, it sounds like the book is worth reading - though I am getting a bit of a conservative vibe from it. I'm working on doing more nonfiction reading and less escaping from reality, so perhaps this makes it to the to-be-read list.
A group of newspaper cartoonists are banding together to do strips on one topic this Sunday - the lack of diversity in newspaper comics. Read more in the Washington Post.
I went to John Ridley's blog on NPR.org for the first time today. And then went over to their NPR mobile set up - NPR content on your phone - that made me happier than I should admit.
Did you know that NPR has a "Race" page? Neither did I. Here it is.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Book trailer: Kimberla Lawson Roby
Here's the trailer for Kimberla Lawson Roby's new title, Sin No More.
She'll be in Savannah this weekend for the Savannah Book Festival - a first event for the city. See all of her tour dates here.
Other African American authors appearing at the festival include:
Tina McElroy Ansa
Cora Daniels
Michael A. Fletcher
Dr. Robert Franklin (Pres. of Morehouse College)
Kevin Merida
She'll be in Savannah this weekend for the Savannah Book Festival - a first event for the city. See all of her tour dates here.
Other African American authors appearing at the festival include:
Tina McElroy Ansa
Cora Daniels
Michael A. Fletcher
Dr. Robert Franklin (Pres. of Morehouse College)
Kevin Merida
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A couple of events and two promotion resources
Nathan McCall in Charlotte From an e-mail forwarded to me.
Hello to All,
Nathan McCall, the NY Times best selling author of "Makes Me Wanna Holler", will be in Charlotte Saturday to support The Brown Angel Center, which helps formerly incarcerated women become financially independent. McCall, who was formerly incarcerated, will be at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church talking about his life and his debut novel, "Them." A book signing will follow. The event starts at 1 pm and admission is $7. Books will be on sale. The church is at 3400 Beatties Ford Road. Please share this information!
I am sure you will find his story very motivating.
Thank you for your support.
Patrice Gaines
The brown Angel Center
And from another forwarded e-mail (both from Tina McElroy Ansa):
You are invited to hear:
Dr. Henry Louis Gates
W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois
Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University
Sunday, February 3, 2008
3:00 p.m.
St. John Baptist Church
522 Hartridge St.
Savannah, GA 31401
Free and Open to the Public
Followed by Catered reception with the speaker
For More Information:
912-234-8000
www.kingtisdell.org
www.savannnahblackheritagefestival.com
(Please forward to your contacts)
A former publishing executive has launched a web-based broadcast with and about authors. Read the NYTimes story here. See the broadcast here [actually, you can't see it yet - just sign up for notification]. It's called Titlepage TV and the tagline is "Passionate Conversations About Books."
A social networking and promotion site for authors - Red Room - got a lot of attention this week because of the site's involvement in a special blog effort to promote Patry Francis' book, The Liar's Diary. Francis is having a health crisis and won't be able to promote her book in the traditional way - so more than 300 bloggers did it for her today by writing about her and the book. If you visit Red Room and visit the blog section, you'll see many posts about her.
Shows what writers can do when they come together - what if authors did that every day of the year - gather to focus on one another's books?
Hello to All,
Nathan McCall, the NY Times best selling author of "Makes Me Wanna Holler", will be in Charlotte Saturday to support The Brown Angel Center, which helps formerly incarcerated women become financially independent. McCall, who was formerly incarcerated, will be at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church talking about his life and his debut novel, "Them." A book signing will follow. The event starts at 1 pm and admission is $7. Books will be on sale. The church is at 3400 Beatties Ford Road. Please share this information!
I am sure you will find his story very motivating.
Thank you for your support.
Patrice Gaines
The brown Angel Center
And from another forwarded e-mail (both from Tina McElroy Ansa):
You are invited to hear:
Dr. Henry Louis Gates
W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois
Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University
Sunday, February 3, 2008
3:00 p.m.
St. John Baptist Church
522 Hartridge St.
Savannah, GA 31401
Free and Open to the Public
Followed by Catered reception with the speaker
For More Information:
912-234-8000
www.kingtisdell.org
www.savannnahblackheritagefestival.com
(Please forward to your contacts)
A former publishing executive has launched a web-based broadcast with and about authors. Read the NYTimes story here. See the broadcast here [actually, you can't see it yet - just sign up for notification]. It's called Titlepage TV and the tagline is "Passionate Conversations About Books."
A social networking and promotion site for authors - Red Room - got a lot of attention this week because of the site's involvement in a special blog effort to promote Patry Francis' book, The Liar's Diary. Francis is having a health crisis and won't be able to promote her book in the traditional way - so more than 300 bloggers did it for her today by writing about her and the book. If you visit Red Room and visit the blog section, you'll see many posts about her.
Shows what writers can do when they come together - what if authors did that every day of the year - gather to focus on one another's books?
Monday, January 28, 2008
Catching up - Karibu and The Root
Many of you have already heard about the news that Karibu books in the Baltimore-D.C. area is closing. If you haven't, here's the link to the store site, with a letter about the closing:
http://www.karibubooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp
And here are the articles:
Baltimore Sun: Readers say goodbye to a friend
Washington Post: Karibu Bookstores to Close Doors in DC Area
Publishers Weekly: Karibu Books to Close
With all the Black bookstore closings and the troubling news about the economy, it seems like a good time for someone to pull together a proposal to do a history of the contemporary Black bookstores in this country. And talk about what they brought/bring to the community and why they succeed or falter.
The Root
Henry Louis Gates and The Washington Post launched a new online magazine called The Root today. I didn't have much time to spend on the site, but I did like Kim McLarin's essay about Michelle Obama. She writes that it is Mrs. Obama who makes her (McLarin) really like the Senator - since he chose a sister who is one of us. One of those brown-skinned girls, "reglar" but not ordinary.
http://www.karibubooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp
And here are the articles:
Baltimore Sun: Readers say goodbye to a friend
Washington Post: Karibu Bookstores to Close Doors in DC Area
Publishers Weekly: Karibu Books to Close
With all the Black bookstore closings and the troubling news about the economy, it seems like a good time for someone to pull together a proposal to do a history of the contemporary Black bookstores in this country. And talk about what they brought/bring to the community and why they succeed or falter.
The Root
Henry Louis Gates and The Washington Post launched a new online magazine called The Root today. I didn't have much time to spend on the site, but I did like Kim McLarin's essay about Michelle Obama. She writes that it is Mrs. Obama who makes her (McLarin) really like the Senator - since he chose a sister who is one of us. One of those brown-skinned girls, "reglar" but not ordinary.
A new favorite thing
Booktour.com
I've become a fan of booktour.com, both as a tool for author publicity and as a cool way for readers to hear about authors on tour in their area. My new favorite thing on the site is "following" authors that I'm interested in - and the possibilities for fans, colleagues and organizations to leverage booktour.com for content on their sites.
Here's one of the things that caught my eye:
Putting an author's tour schedule on your site. This is great for small presses and authors who don't have the time or resources to update their information in multiple places - or who want an easy way to pass this on for use on affiliate, fan and other sites.
So if you haven't checked out booktour - go over now. It's easy, free, and puts authors names in front of readers - very likely new readers to many writers.
I've become a fan of booktour.com, both as a tool for author publicity and as a cool way for readers to hear about authors on tour in their area. My new favorite thing on the site is "following" authors that I'm interested in - and the possibilities for fans, colleagues and organizations to leverage booktour.com for content on their sites.
Here's one of the things that caught my eye:
Putting an author's tour schedule on your site. This is great for small presses and authors who don't have the time or resources to update their information in multiple places - or who want an easy way to pass this on for use on affiliate, fan and other sites.
So if you haven't checked out booktour - go over now. It's easy, free, and puts authors names in front of readers - very likely new readers to many writers.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Awards - and completion theory
The American Library Association - Association for Library Service for Children announced its literary awards this week, including the Caldecott and Newberry medals. See the winners here.
What I love about reading the awards announcements are finding out about authors and books that I haven't seen before - or being nudged toward those works that have been in my sight for awhile but not quite urgent reads yet. Here are some children's authors or illustrators of African descent who are new to me this week:
Sundee Frazier
Ashley Bryan
Magarita Engle, The Poet Slave of Cuba
Christopher Paul Curtis, Elijah of Buxton
Great to see more than one title with boys of African descent - I will probably get multiple copies of those.
About completion ...
Years ago, around a kitchen table, I had a good laugh with two friends over one of us having completion disorder - starting, but not finishing things. Let's just say that I should not have laughed, as I'm in the same boat now. I'm not much of a finisher - I start things really well and love it, but have trouble getting to the finish line.
So I was really glad to see Marilynn Griffith's post today about completion and her 8-minute to your novel talk. Here's a link to the notes from that talk - just reading this today helped me feel like things are possible and I don't always have to be surrounded by incomplete dreams. Wonderful for writers who are surrounded by lots of obligations. I hope I'll have a chance to hear her do the workshop in person - hint, hint Mrs. G.
What I love about reading the awards announcements are finding out about authors and books that I haven't seen before - or being nudged toward those works that have been in my sight for awhile but not quite urgent reads yet. Here are some children's authors or illustrators of African descent who are new to me this week:
Sundee Frazier
Ashley Bryan
Magarita Engle, The Poet Slave of Cuba
Christopher Paul Curtis, Elijah of Buxton
Great to see more than one title with boys of African descent - I will probably get multiple copies of those.
About completion ...
Years ago, around a kitchen table, I had a good laugh with two friends over one of us having completion disorder - starting, but not finishing things. Let's just say that I should not have laughed, as I'm in the same boat now. I'm not much of a finisher - I start things really well and love it, but have trouble getting to the finish line.
So I was really glad to see Marilynn Griffith's post today about completion and her 8-minute to your novel talk. Here's a link to the notes from that talk - just reading this today helped me feel like things are possible and I don't always have to be surrounded by incomplete dreams. Wonderful for writers who are surrounded by lots of obligations. I hope I'll have a chance to hear her do the workshop in person - hint, hint Mrs. G.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Mad at Gloria
It always comes to this, at some point in our American conversation.
Gender v. race. Choose your sides.
Gloria Steinem had an Op-Ed in today's NYTimes entitled, "Women Are Never Front-runners."
In it she makes her case that women are never in the lead and that
She also says this:
I find this unbelievable - that Gloria Steinem can put out such a half-baked version of how race and gender work in this country. The above is a technically true statement, but glosses over the reality of Black men, and later, Black women and the vote in the U.S. In many places Black men had the right to vote in name only - and faced many obstacles before ever reaching the polls - including the threat and reality of violence.
How dare she count that as a privilege.
I have so many encounters that remind me of this useless call to see whose privilege, whose struggle, trumps. In the company of so-called progressives, I am continually amazed by the blindspots in individuals knowledge of American history and their interpretation of how gender and race operate here.
I know that there will be lots of commentary about this Op-Ed - and were I to have the choice, I would love to see Pearl Cleage or Michael Eric Dyson write back on this. (And had Mad at Miles pulled off my own bookshelf and handed to me tonight during my rant on this - that's like fanning the flames, for sure - in the best way possible).
I think I'm calm enough to go to sleep - and I did mention one book!
Gender v. race. Choose your sides.
Gloria Steinem had an Op-Ed in today's NYTimes entitled, "Women Are Never Front-runners."
In it she makes her case that women are never in the lead and that
"Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House."
She also says this:
"That’s why the Iowa primary was following our historical pattern of making change. Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot,"
I find this unbelievable - that Gloria Steinem can put out such a half-baked version of how race and gender work in this country. The above is a technically true statement, but glosses over the reality of Black men, and later, Black women and the vote in the U.S. In many places Black men had the right to vote in name only - and faced many obstacles before ever reaching the polls - including the threat and reality of violence.
How dare she count that as a privilege.
I have so many encounters that remind me of this useless call to see whose privilege, whose struggle, trumps. In the company of so-called progressives, I am continually amazed by the blindspots in individuals knowledge of American history and their interpretation of how gender and race operate here.
I know that there will be lots of commentary about this Op-Ed - and were I to have the choice, I would love to see Pearl Cleage or Michael Eric Dyson write back on this. (And had Mad at Miles pulled off my own bookshelf and handed to me tonight during my rant on this - that's like fanning the flames, for sure - in the best way possible).
I think I'm calm enough to go to sleep - and I did mention one book!
Monday, January 07, 2008
A round of links
Playing on the PC tonight - thus I can do links! Woo hoo.
Quickly, though :).
I didn't even know there was a NC Literary Festival. Apparently it is a challenge to put it on each year. The 2008 festival isn't happening, but UNC - Chapel Hill is stepping up to the plate to make it happen in 2009.
How are all those other festivals surviving if universities can't keep festivals alive? And is moving it around every two years worth it, if the institutions struggle to keep it going?
New term to me: shopdropping
I read this in the NYTimes, after it was linked to by MJ Rose. So it's likely an old term and I'm just showing my square-ness by using it late in the game. Same as it ever was.
In case you don't know shopdropping is putting things (either re-placing them or bringing them from outside) where they don't belong in retail establishments to make a point or build buzz.
I feel a bit of tension around that idea - I like it, but I know I'd be teed off if I picked up a shopdropped item that didn't make me happy, like something from the right side of the political spectrum.
Any authors who've shopdropped out there? Let us know how that worked out for you ...
Quickly, though :).
I didn't even know there was a NC Literary Festival. Apparently it is a challenge to put it on each year. The 2008 festival isn't happening, but UNC - Chapel Hill is stepping up to the plate to make it happen in 2009.
How are all those other festivals surviving if universities can't keep festivals alive? And is moving it around every two years worth it, if the institutions struggle to keep it going?
New term to me: shopdropping
I read this in the NYTimes, after it was linked to by MJ Rose. So it's likely an old term and I'm just showing my square-ness by using it late in the game. Same as it ever was.
In case you don't know shopdropping is putting things (either re-placing them or bringing them from outside) where they don't belong in retail establishments to make a point or build buzz.
I feel a bit of tension around that idea - I like it, but I know I'd be teed off if I picked up a shopdropped item that didn't make me happy, like something from the right side of the political spectrum.
Any authors who've shopdropped out there? Let us know how that worked out for you ...
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Transitioning hardware
I am trying mightily to begin using a Mac as my only personal computer at home. But I keep running into frustrating (for me) wrinkles - like not seeing a hyperlink button in the blogger window. So I am posting individual notes rather than one long item here.
What is most frustrating for me is that I don't feel I have any time for the things I imagine I like to do - like this blog, writing and just playing on the computer. So a little glitch - when I need to be done in 15 minutes, can ruin the idea altogether.
Today (and on previous occasions, too) I read that what really makes distinguishes successful people is that they do not see failure as an end point. I am trying to work through that issue - as I struggle with failure - it is an endpoint for me and I have left most of my dreams behind because of first failures.
Can you tell it's the first day of the new year, yet? I am, like many, ruminating on what's lost, what's ahead and what I need to fix within myself. Aargh. (yes - I jump from missing buttons on screen to self-evaluation and melancholy).
It would be so lovely for the screen to look just they way it does on the PC - with the hyperlink button.
What is most frustrating for me is that I don't feel I have any time for the things I imagine I like to do - like this blog, writing and just playing on the computer. So a little glitch - when I need to be done in 15 minutes, can ruin the idea altogether.
Today (and on previous occasions, too) I read that what really makes distinguishes successful people is that they do not see failure as an end point. I am trying to work through that issue - as I struggle with failure - it is an endpoint for me and I have left most of my dreams behind because of first failures.
Can you tell it's the first day of the new year, yet? I am, like many, ruminating on what's lost, what's ahead and what I need to fix within myself. Aargh. (yes - I jump from missing buttons on screen to self-evaluation and melancholy).
It would be so lovely for the screen to look just they way it does on the PC - with the hyperlink button.
Alice Walker's papers ...
Are now at Emory University in Atlanta (my alma mater!). I can't wait to see them - they should be available for viewing sometime next year.
Tayari Jones posted about this - and had some comments on the notion of where papers land.
Here's an AJC article about Emory and Alice Walker.
Tayari Jones posted about this - and had some comments on the notion of where papers land.
Here's an AJC article about Emory and Alice Walker.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Word of the day
The word of the day over at Merriam-Webster is auctorial, of or relating to an author. Seeing that made me a bit nostalgic for grad school so I could find a way to work that word in. But simple rules out here in the real world.
Good news for Due fans
I wandered over to Tananarive Due's blog this week to see if she had any new posts. And I was rewarded with the news that the third novel about Dawit and Jessica will be out early in 2008. I'm a big fan of her work and it is on my list of must-haves. If it were available now, I'd be dropping big hints about it for Christmas.
The novel, Blood Colony, won't be out until June 2008. So it will be awhile before you can get your hands on it - still that's more than enough time to re-read her early novels in this story.
The novel, Blood Colony, won't be out until June 2008. So it will be awhile before you can get your hands on it - still that's more than enough time to re-read her early novels in this story.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Book reviewers, ethics and a new detective
The National Book Critics Circle has posted the results from their latest survey of book reviewers about ethics. There's a summary of some of the results on the blog and you can link to the results with comments from 2007 and 1987.
Trying to muddle through the conflict questions was a little tricky for me. Not because I'm an ethically loose kind of person. It's more likely because I've only had about 5 hours sleep and, in this new socially networked, multiple stream of income world, I wonder how hard it is as reviewer and a book editor to identify and shut out those conflicts.
If an editor cannot review books by any of their freelance reviewers, that's strange to me. Sure there are thousands of books being published, so content is not the issue, but coverage (if any of them has a noteworthy, popular or very unique book) is.
And as the actual job of book reviewer disappears and all reviewers are freelancers or writers who do other things as well, how can that last?
Interesting reading and thinking.
New P.I. on the block
Walter Mosley will introduce a new detective, Leonid McGill, in 2009. Mosley has left Little, Brown and is now with Riverhead Books. He has a three-book deal there - two will be entries in the detective series and one is a literary novel.
Easy Rawlins was my first adult love in the mystery genre - I still remember reading the early novels and not being able to get enough of Easy. I will be eager to get into the other series. (BTW, my elementary mystery fix was good old Encyclopedia Brown - who doesn't love a mystery solving nerd).
Trying to muddle through the conflict questions was a little tricky for me. Not because I'm an ethically loose kind of person. It's more likely because I've only had about 5 hours sleep and, in this new socially networked, multiple stream of income world, I wonder how hard it is as reviewer and a book editor to identify and shut out those conflicts.
If an editor cannot review books by any of their freelance reviewers, that's strange to me. Sure there are thousands of books being published, so content is not the issue, but coverage (if any of them has a noteworthy, popular or very unique book) is.
And as the actual job of book reviewer disappears and all reviewers are freelancers or writers who do other things as well, how can that last?
Interesting reading and thinking.
New P.I. on the block
Walter Mosley will introduce a new detective, Leonid McGill, in 2009. Mosley has left Little, Brown and is now with Riverhead Books. He has a three-book deal there - two will be entries in the detective series and one is a literary novel.
Easy Rawlins was my first adult love in the mystery genre - I still remember reading the early novels and not being able to get enough of Easy. I will be eager to get into the other series. (BTW, my elementary mystery fix was good old Encyclopedia Brown - who doesn't love a mystery solving nerd).
Sunday, December 09, 2007
A Good Blog is Hard to Diversify?
Karin Gillespie, the editor (or site manager?) of A Good Blog is Hard to Find - the currently all-white Southern writers blog, I posted about - left a comment. Here's what here response was to my rant about there being no people of color in the ranks over there:
She posted it in comments, but I thought it worth sharing in the regular content here. So there you have it - she's working on it. I hope somebody takes her up on the offer - and that she has a good list of folks to query.
For now, the blog is still in my bookmarks and I'll keep checking back.
Thanks for the response, Karin.
Other notes to share
I found, on the Crime Sistahs' blog, a post by Persia Walker (web site | blog). I wasn't familiar with her work and am glad to have seen her post and gone to her web site. She writes mysteries set in Harlem in the 1920s.
Mysteries are my current (as in last five years or so) obsession and I'm always sad when I find an author I like who has only 2 - 3 titles, because I end up hunting for someone new to read. So Persia Walker's on my list - right after I finish the two Nichelle Tramble books I bought (finally!) this weekend.
I am currently reading the The Dying Ground and were it not for having to help people play, eat and get to bed, I'd be finished with it already. It's really the kind of book I want when I have a day (ha!) alone in my pajamas. And it made me come up with an idea - a book lock - that I really like and is completely bizarre, unmarketable and useless to 99.98% of the world.
Yes, this is a product I would consider buying. I'm that possessive of new books. Read it after I'm done!
Hi there,
I'm the Southern site person. I did invite several African American authors. Never heard a word back. I had the same problem with men. There's way more women than men. Anyway, I'm working on the diversity thing. Just didn't want you to think it was deliberate.
Karin Gillespie
She posted it in comments, but I thought it worth sharing in the regular content here. So there you have it - she's working on it. I hope somebody takes her up on the offer - and that she has a good list of folks to query.
For now, the blog is still in my bookmarks and I'll keep checking back.
Thanks for the response, Karin.
Other notes to share
I found, on the Crime Sistahs' blog, a post by Persia Walker (web site | blog). I wasn't familiar with her work and am glad to have seen her post and gone to her web site. She writes mysteries set in Harlem in the 1920s.
Mysteries are my current (as in last five years or so) obsession and I'm always sad when I find an author I like who has only 2 - 3 titles, because I end up hunting for someone new to read. So Persia Walker's on my list - right after I finish the two Nichelle Tramble books I bought (finally!) this weekend.
I am currently reading the The Dying Ground and were it not for having to help people play, eat and get to bed, I'd be finished with it already. It's really the kind of book I want when I have a day (ha!) alone in my pajamas. And it made me come up with an idea - a book lock - that I really like and is completely bizarre, unmarketable and useless to 99.98% of the world.
The Book Lock - Are you ever frustrated by a spouse/partner/child/sibling/parent who picks up that wonderful novel you've been reading and then can't put it down? Stop rolling your eyes at them and get a book lock with your own combination. With the book lock you'll be able to finish a book without delays and annoying references to the ending.
Yes, this is a product I would consider buying. I'm that possessive of new books. Read it after I'm done!
Friday, December 07, 2007
A rant - and a little naivete
I read about a new blog a few weeks ago. A group blog by Southern writers. Sounded like just my kind of reading - as I am a Southerner, a writer, a reader and a lover of stories of all kinds, including the sometimes wonderful, terrible, fascinating tales of the South.
I am so naive.
Here is the site - A Good Blog is Hard to Find.
As I said before, I'm from the South. I know quite a bit about the South and the history of the American South and its culture. So this should be no surprise to me, but it was.
The surprise? As far as I can tell, and I clicked through to all of the author pages, all of these contributors are white. ANd it is 2007 and that is unbelievable. Forget being a Southern writers blog, an American writers blog with that many contributors ought to have some contributors who are non-white. Unless of course the originators of the blog completely ignore large portions of the writing, reading and published population.
I've been stewing about this for a few weeks and just did not want to make it a post, but it keeps making me feel like smoke is coming out of my ears. I would have hoped that contemporary, living Southern authors would not have a circle that is so limited that the only other authors they think of are white.
But perhaps they reached out and not African American authors responded or were interested in participating? Hmmmm. On another day, when I am feeling more confrontational, I will e-mail whoever is the master of the site and pose this. When the smoke clears.
Now, onward and upward.
I am so naive.
Here is the site - A Good Blog is Hard to Find.
As I said before, I'm from the South. I know quite a bit about the South and the history of the American South and its culture. So this should be no surprise to me, but it was.
The surprise? As far as I can tell, and I clicked through to all of the author pages, all of these contributors are white. ANd it is 2007 and that is unbelievable. Forget being a Southern writers blog, an American writers blog with that many contributors ought to have some contributors who are non-white. Unless of course the originators of the blog completely ignore large portions of the writing, reading and published population.
I've been stewing about this for a few weeks and just did not want to make it a post, but it keeps making me feel like smoke is coming out of my ears. I would have hoped that contemporary, living Southern authors would not have a circle that is so limited that the only other authors they think of are white.
But perhaps they reached out and not African American authors responded or were interested in participating? Hmmmm. On another day, when I am feeling more confrontational, I will e-mail whoever is the master of the site and pose this. When the smoke clears.
Now, onward and upward.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
All I want for Christmas - books and two days of quiet
I doubt seriously that I'll get both those items, but I can always dream. In lieu of having all my dreams come true, I'll hunting for some good reads for this month.
One book I'm getting closer to buying is Nathan McCall's Them, reviewed in the LATimes by Paula L. Woods (whose mysteries I love, btw). He's appearing at the Margaret Mitchell House (which makes me laugh for multiple reasons) in Atlanta on Dec. 6 and at Medu Bookstore in Greenbriar Mall on Dec. 8. Tina McElroy Ansa will also be at the Medu event with a bunch of other authors - make a day of it.
And, as my mother says, I'm switching subjects now ...
I love it that Nichelle Tramble is a writer on Women's Murder Club. I only watched it because of her talking about it on her blog and I really love the show. I am a police procedural junkie anyway, so it was kind of an easy sell. I'm ashamed to admit that I don't have her novels yet. (Okay - so that's my to do for today, order them!)
She's also been posting about the WGA strike. Here's a news story about black writers who are participating in the strike. I hope it's resolved soon, since I think they're right, I don't like reality shows, and I really count on my taped shows for diversion.
One book I'm getting closer to buying is Nathan McCall's Them, reviewed in the LATimes by Paula L. Woods (whose mysteries I love, btw). He's appearing at the Margaret Mitchell House (which makes me laugh for multiple reasons) in Atlanta on Dec. 6 and at Medu Bookstore in Greenbriar Mall on Dec. 8. Tina McElroy Ansa will also be at the Medu event with a bunch of other authors - make a day of it.
And, as my mother says, I'm switching subjects now ...
I love it that Nichelle Tramble is a writer on Women's Murder Club. I only watched it because of her talking about it on her blog and I really love the show. I am a police procedural junkie anyway, so it was kind of an easy sell. I'm ashamed to admit that I don't have her novels yet. (Okay - so that's my to do for today, order them!)
She's also been posting about the WGA strike. Here's a news story about black writers who are participating in the strike. I hope it's resolved soon, since I think they're right, I don't like reality shows, and I really count on my taped shows for diversion.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday morning surf
I'm not much of a romantic and I don't cry at weddings. But this story in the NYTimes today nearly made me cry.
Nooses - to ignore or not?
Two pieces this week question whether or not we should pay any attention to things like nooses that are used to spark a rise in us.
In today's Washington Post Robin Givhan, in writing about Kara Walker's retrospective at the Whitney, writes about how much power we give these symbols. And how we should no longer give that power to the symbol and to the people who use it against us.
And earlier this week I listened to John McWhorter's commentary on NPR and he said very similar things about not giving over power to the symbol.
I generally argue against that kind of thinking which essentially urges us to let racist symbols be. I don't want to ignore those symbols - and certainly if I ever see a noose anywhere near me or my family, I certainly will raise a stink. But is that the right thing? It, as McWhorter and Givhan argue, doesn't work and doesn't matter. We hold vigils and "raise saying" and still the symbols are waved in our faces. So what does it matter? Does a noose, raised by an ignorant white person (or any other race), erase or diminish any of our opportunities? Or accomplishments?
It's a part of the discussion we haven't had yet, I think, among all the Jena 6 protests.
And it's interesting that we can come up with this much support and energy around this one case, when so much else that we can impact is going on.
Nooses - to ignore or not?
Two pieces this week question whether or not we should pay any attention to things like nooses that are used to spark a rise in us.
In today's Washington Post Robin Givhan, in writing about Kara Walker's retrospective at the Whitney, writes about how much power we give these symbols. And how we should no longer give that power to the symbol and to the people who use it against us.
And earlier this week I listened to John McWhorter's commentary on NPR and he said very similar things about not giving over power to the symbol.
I generally argue against that kind of thinking which essentially urges us to let racist symbols be. I don't want to ignore those symbols - and certainly if I ever see a noose anywhere near me or my family, I certainly will raise a stink. But is that the right thing? It, as McWhorter and Givhan argue, doesn't work and doesn't matter. We hold vigils and "raise saying" and still the symbols are waved in our faces. So what does it matter? Does a noose, raised by an ignorant white person (or any other race), erase or diminish any of our opportunities? Or accomplishments?
It's a part of the discussion we haven't had yet, I think, among all the Jena 6 protests.
And it's interesting that we can come up with this much support and energy around this one case, when so much else that we can impact is going on.
Friday, October 19, 2007
It's really not all-Terry all the time, is it?
Well, I've been watching the Terry McMillan / Jonathan Plummer spectacle - like so many. I'm amazed at how much press this is getting and how this twisted personal drama is now the thing making us talk about ghetto/urban literature. I suppose as long as we have the discussion it matters, but it seems so weird to hear stories about it that start with the divorce drama. I feel like I'm gossiping every time I read something about this.
I have to admit to being in the dark about who Karen Hunter is, though. But now I certainly know who she is and I'm surprised at the number of books she's had and has coming out. The Black men love white women book is one that I'll be curious to see if it has any legs once she stops getting the attention drawn to her by Terry. What a bizarre book to even write in 2007. And the Ray J book - there are just so many "ew" factors with that that I am amazed she can talk about that book in meetings. 1,000 women and he's in his mid-twenties? Who would even believe that? And even if it were true, I think it's crazy and I wouldn't even what that in my head.
Oh well. Here are some of the links in case you don't have enough Terry, Jonathan and ghetto lit in your life:
NPR: Publishing Company Called Out Over Ghetto Lit
The Advocate: Bookstore Refuses to Carry Plummers Tell-All Novel
A few things to read and hear:
About Edwidge Danticat and her new book, Brother I Am Dying -
Review in the Washington Post by Bliss Broyard
Interview on Fresh Air
Amy Alexander reviews Margaret Cezair-Thompson's The Pirate's Daughter - WashPost
And I didn't know that Target sponsored Children's Book Festivals. If you're a children's author, this sounds like a good thing.
I have to admit to being in the dark about who Karen Hunter is, though. But now I certainly know who she is and I'm surprised at the number of books she's had and has coming out. The Black men love white women book is one that I'll be curious to see if it has any legs once she stops getting the attention drawn to her by Terry. What a bizarre book to even write in 2007. And the Ray J book - there are just so many "ew" factors with that that I am amazed she can talk about that book in meetings. 1,000 women and he's in his mid-twenties? Who would even believe that? And even if it were true, I think it's crazy and I wouldn't even what that in my head.
Oh well. Here are some of the links in case you don't have enough Terry, Jonathan and ghetto lit in your life:
NPR: Publishing Company Called Out Over Ghetto Lit
The Advocate: Bookstore Refuses to Carry Plummers Tell-All Novel
A few things to read and hear:
About Edwidge Danticat and her new book, Brother I Am Dying -
Review in the Washington Post by Bliss Broyard
Interview on Fresh Air
Amy Alexander reviews Margaret Cezair-Thompson's The Pirate's Daughter - WashPost
And I didn't know that Target sponsored Children's Book Festivals. If you're a children's author, this sounds like a good thing.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Decatur Book Festival - not live blogging, but here
I'm at the AJC Decatur Book Festival this weekend and it's been fun. I'm actually here working as a publicist, but did get to visit quite a few vendor booths and just walk around and get a feel for the events.
Today I went to Hank Klibanoff's presentation about his book, The Race Beat, on the press and the coverage of the Civil Rights Movement. I have always been very interested in movement history and my undergraduate years stoked that interest. One of my professors, Claude Sitton, is one of the most prolific white reporters from that time and Hank mentioned him today. So that was cool to hear.
I'm excited to read Hank's book. It's been awhile since I've done serious reading about the movement.
Yesterday I went to Tina McElroy Ansa's reading - she's the reason I'm at the festival, actually - and that was great fun. Lots of laughter and excitement for her new work, Taking After Mudear.
I haven't been to downtown Decatur in a long time. It is such a cute downtown and filled with shops - shops that I would actually spend money in. So cute that I want to move here. It's also perfect for the festival - no shortage of sweet restaurants to sit in and talk about books.
Some other authors I'm interested in are here, including L.A. Banks, but I haven't made it to their events. I was really low-key on my festival planning and decided to just chill a bit this weekend. Other folks that I've seen here are Dr. Beverly Tatum from Spelman College and Valerie Boyd, author Wrapped in Rainbows.
I've enjoyed browsing at all the book tents, though I am always, perhaps too much so, analyzing whose books are placed or not placed and how the staff at the tents are selling books. At one tent, for a publisher, I don't remember being greeted, which is especially odd because it's such a small space. But I browsed anyway, as it was really a press with a lot of authors or titles that seemed to speak to me. Then I heard the staff member telling someone else that they did have a lot of Caribbean, African American and African titles, authors and/or subjects in their list and that was a focus for them.
On the one hand, I'm glad he didn't assume that, because I'm Black that I would just have to know that. But on the other hand (a more than slightly cynical hand) I wondered why he didn't share that with me. Did I just not look like a book buyers?
So I didn't buy anything there, though I was definitely looking at two titles and trying to decide between them.
Oh well, I bought books elsewhere and am moving on.
I'd love to hear reports from other book festivals - from authors or readers - send yours if you'd like to see it posted.
Today I went to Hank Klibanoff's presentation about his book, The Race Beat, on the press and the coverage of the Civil Rights Movement. I have always been very interested in movement history and my undergraduate years stoked that interest. One of my professors, Claude Sitton, is one of the most prolific white reporters from that time and Hank mentioned him today. So that was cool to hear.
I'm excited to read Hank's book. It's been awhile since I've done serious reading about the movement.
Yesterday I went to Tina McElroy Ansa's reading - she's the reason I'm at the festival, actually - and that was great fun. Lots of laughter and excitement for her new work, Taking After Mudear.
I haven't been to downtown Decatur in a long time. It is such a cute downtown and filled with shops - shops that I would actually spend money in. So cute that I want to move here. It's also perfect for the festival - no shortage of sweet restaurants to sit in and talk about books.
Some other authors I'm interested in are here, including L.A. Banks, but I haven't made it to their events. I was really low-key on my festival planning and decided to just chill a bit this weekend. Other folks that I've seen here are Dr. Beverly Tatum from Spelman College and Valerie Boyd, author Wrapped in Rainbows.
I've enjoyed browsing at all the book tents, though I am always, perhaps too much so, analyzing whose books are placed or not placed and how the staff at the tents are selling books. At one tent, for a publisher, I don't remember being greeted, which is especially odd because it's such a small space. But I browsed anyway, as it was really a press with a lot of authors or titles that seemed to speak to me. Then I heard the staff member telling someone else that they did have a lot of Caribbean, African American and African titles, authors and/or subjects in their list and that was a focus for them.
On the one hand, I'm glad he didn't assume that, because I'm Black that I would just have to know that. But on the other hand (a more than slightly cynical hand) I wondered why he didn't share that with me. Did I just not look like a book buyers?
So I didn't buy anything there, though I was definitely looking at two titles and trying to decide between them.
Oh well, I bought books elsewhere and am moving on.
I'd love to hear reports from other book festivals - from authors or readers - send yours if you'd like to see it posted.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Original music, Sapphire and more
Just read an interesting post at M.J. Rose's blog about original music being the next big thing for book promotion. Not exactly new, but perhaps it will be hotter now. I seem to remember that there was original music, or maybe a compilation "soundtrack" for one of E. Lynn Harris' novels. And I think Erica Simone Turnipseed had some music hookup for A Love Noire. Oh well, as fast as the promotional trend globe is turning, everything two years old is new again.
In an interview with Mo'nique, the comedian talking about being cast in the film version of Sapphire's Push. The novel is about a young Black girl who's been sexually and physically abused - that's not the whole story, so go read it if you haven't. It's one of the best serious books I've read and one of the hardest to take in. I've read it twice and didn't think I could read it again, but I do want to see the movie. It's amazing that Sapphire could write this particular story, make it nearly impossible not to read and finish and yet it is such a terrible tale in some ways.
[Warning - I'm totally in a change the subject without warning mood.]
The latest Easy Rawlins mystery, Blonde Faith, will be out in October. And I have a galley copy. I'm going to find a place to review it, I hope, but am very excited that Easy is back.
In an interview with Mo'nique, the comedian talking about being cast in the film version of Sapphire's Push. The novel is about a young Black girl who's been sexually and physically abused - that's not the whole story, so go read it if you haven't. It's one of the best serious books I've read and one of the hardest to take in. I've read it twice and didn't think I could read it again, but I do want to see the movie. It's amazing that Sapphire could write this particular story, make it nearly impossible not to read and finish and yet it is such a terrible tale in some ways.
[Warning - I'm totally in a change the subject without warning mood.]
The latest Easy Rawlins mystery, Blonde Faith, will be out in October. And I have a galley copy. I'm going to find a place to review it, I hope, but am very excited that Easy is back.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Reviews, more Blair
Here's a couple of recent reviews:
The Girl with the Golden Shoes, by Colin Channer (WaPost review by Tina McElroy Ansa)
Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only, by Patrick Mcgilligan (Miami Herald review [originally in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] by Eugene Kane)
Casanegra is getting good press, again. Another article, in the LATimes, mentions that Tananarive Due did the first draft of the novel.
I bought the novel a little over a week ago - and knowing that Tananarive Due did the draft was what put me over the edge. I really love her fiction, so I felt like it was a book I would enjoy. And I really did. It was fun, a little racy at times, and I kept being distracted by wondering which of the three authors wrote which sections. Though I have my theories about which parts Blair had a particular hand in.
I also learned in the LATimes article about just how much work Blair is doing. It will probably make me tune in to even more television... oh well.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Author updates, etc.
Marie-Elena John was nice enough to send a couple of updates about her novel, Unburnable. Her novel is nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award in the Debut Fiction category. Go to the Hurston-Wright site to see all the nominees. There's a cool endorsement of the novel from Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun) posted at the Caribbean Beat blog.
And Marie-Elena John has been smart enough to post an interview she did in San Francisco on youtube.
In the category of good reading and eye candy:
Here's an update from Tananarive Due that was forwarded to the bbb.
"**I couldn't be more excited about the positive feedback on CASANEGRA, the new erotic mystery novel I co-authored with my husband, Steven Barnes, and actor Blair Underwood. If you have read CASANEGRA and enjoyed it, please don't keep it a secret: Please tell your friends, and post reviews on Amazon.com and/or Barnesandnoble.com. Those reviews make a big difference to potential readers.
**CASANEGRA has been getting amazing attention. In addition to July's Essence Book Club, you may have seen the story with Blair's photo leading the Life section of USA TODAY last Thursday, 6/28. (If you missed it, here's the URL: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-06-27-underwood_N.htm
**Monday, Blair Steve and I were interviewed on NPR's "News & Notes," with host Farai Chideya. In case you missed it, you can listen to the interview here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11658408
There is also a nice photo of the three of us at the radio station, as well as a book excerpt.
Now, the television blitz begins.
**Monday, July 9, Blair will appear on EXTRA. Local listings vary.
**Sunday, July 15, Blair will appear on the Weekend TODAY show on NBC.
**Monday, July 16, Blair will appear on REGIS & KELLY on NBC.
**Also, Blair is appearing solo at Hue-Man Books in NEW YORK (Harlem), Monday, July 16. If you live nearby, please contact the store for details.
**All three of us will be doing at least one appearance in LOS ANGELES this summer, but the date has not been set. I will update you when I have more information, since joint appearances are rare.
**I will be making a solo appearance in DALLAS in late August, and Steve and I will make a joint appearance in OAKLAND on Sunday, October 28th. I will post more details about those appearances soon. "
I will definitely be setting the DVR for the Blair-watch. I haven't read any reviews of Casanegra yet - so if you have thoughts on it or a link to share, do send it along.
HarperCollins has a readers advisory panel and I signed up for it just over a week ago. My first comp book came in Saturday's mail and I'm already reading it. I think it's a smart way for them to drive some attention to their authors and it definitely put a book in front of me that I might not have seen otherwise. I started reading it last night. The book: Hunger, by Erica Simone Turnipseed. I like it thus far. It helps that there's a woman with a big curly, 'fro on the cover (a different one that the one on HarperCollins' site - so there must have been a switcheroo) and that the protagonist is an academic interested in Haiti and has lovers from Africa and the Caribbean. It really hit a lot of my interest areas, but I wouldn't have gotten that by walking by it at Barnes and Noble.
And Marie-Elena John has been smart enough to post an interview she did in San Francisco on youtube.
In the category of good reading and eye candy:
Here's an update from Tananarive Due that was forwarded to the bbb.
"**I couldn't be more excited about the positive feedback on CASANEGRA, the new erotic mystery novel I co-authored with my husband, Steven Barnes, and actor Blair Underwood. If you have read CASANEGRA and enjoyed it, please don't keep it a secret: Please tell your friends, and post reviews on Amazon.com and/or Barnesandnoble.com. Those reviews make a big difference to potential readers.
**CASANEGRA has been getting amazing attention. In addition to July's Essence Book Club, you may have seen the story with Blair's photo leading the Life section of USA TODAY last Thursday, 6/28. (If you missed it, here's the URL: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-06-27-underwood_N.htm
**Monday, Blair Steve and I were interviewed on NPR's "News & Notes," with host Farai Chideya. In case you missed it, you can listen to the interview here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11658408
There is also a nice photo of the three of us at the radio station, as well as a book excerpt.
Now, the television blitz begins.
**Monday, July 9, Blair will appear on EXTRA. Local listings vary.
**Sunday, July 15, Blair will appear on the Weekend TODAY show on NBC.
**Monday, July 16, Blair will appear on REGIS & KELLY on NBC.
**Also, Blair is appearing solo at Hue-Man Books in NEW YORK (Harlem), Monday, July 16. If you live nearby, please contact the store for details.
**All three of us will be doing at least one appearance in LOS ANGELES this summer, but the date has not been set. I will update you when I have more information, since joint appearances are rare.
**I will be making a solo appearance in DALLAS in late August, and Steve and I will make a joint appearance in OAKLAND on Sunday, October 28th. I will post more details about those appearances soon. "
I will definitely be setting the DVR for the Blair-watch. I haven't read any reviews of Casanegra yet - so if you have thoughts on it or a link to share, do send it along.
HarperCollins has a readers advisory panel and I signed up for it just over a week ago. My first comp book came in Saturday's mail and I'm already reading it. I think it's a smart way for them to drive some attention to their authors and it definitely put a book in front of me that I might not have seen otherwise. I started reading it last night. The book: Hunger, by Erica Simone Turnipseed. I like it thus far. It helps that there's a woman with a big curly, 'fro on the cover (a different one that the one on HarperCollins' site - so there must have been a switcheroo) and that the protagonist is an academic interested in Haiti and has lovers from Africa and the Caribbean. It really hit a lot of my interest areas, but I wouldn't have gotten that by walking by it at Barnes and Noble.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Sunday round-up
I am sneaking in some early morning reading before my crew wakes up... woo hoo!
There's a new biography of Condoleezza Rice out by Marcus Mabry and I read an earlier review of it this week that made me not want to read it. The review
today in the NYTimes makes me feel that I need to read it. The book, Twice As Good, is published by Rodale. (The image at left is from the review url and was provided by the Rice family via The Associated Press. Shown are Condoleezza Rice and her mother, Angelena).
I think, as Jonathan Freedland writes in is review, that she is "enigmatic." ANd I know I have conflicted feelings about her because she sits in the Republican camp. If she did not, I would already be a Condi-follower. She would easily be one of our community's most talked about and revered heroines. We'd hold her before all of our children and say, "See, this is who you can aspire to be."
On some of my less partisan days, I think I'm being unfair and short-sighted in not thinking of her as a Black hero. My internal debate around this troubles me - I feel like I'm only proud of Black accomplishments if they're in line with my politics and that feeds into the idea that our community must be a monolith. We are not a monolith and shouldn't have to fit into one mold of beliefs.
(Okay - putting soapbox away.)
An author's career trajectory
I'd be interested to see a list of who is considered a literary writer among African American authors. Anyone want to kick off the list...?
Other quick links
Speaking of Randall Kenan, the LATimes reviews his collection of essays, The Fire This Time. The review is written by Erin Aubrey Kaplan.
USAToday had a story on the new novel by Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes last week. The novel, Casanegra, is "a new series featuring gigolo-turned-actor-turned-L.A. tough guy ." All three are listed on the cover as authors of the book. In the article, it's reported that Tananarive wrote the first draft, though. Hopefully the celebrity connection will mean big sales for them. But it is kind of odd to market it as by three people.
Stephen L. Carter's new novel, New England White, is out. Here are a couple of reviews: Miami Herald and in the LATimes (reviewed by Paula L. Woods).
There's a new biography of Condoleezza Rice out by Marcus Mabry and I read an earlier review of it this week that made me not want to read it. The review
today in the NYTimes makes me feel that I need to read it. The book, Twice As Good, is published by Rodale. (The image at left is from the review url and was provided by the Rice family via The Associated Press. Shown are Condoleezza Rice and her mother, Angelena).I think, as Jonathan Freedland writes in is review, that she is "enigmatic." ANd I know I have conflicted feelings about her because she sits in the Republican camp. If she did not, I would already be a Condi-follower. She would easily be one of our community's most talked about and revered heroines. We'd hold her before all of our children and say, "See, this is who you can aspire to be."
On some of my less partisan days, I think I'm being unfair and short-sighted in not thinking of her as a Black hero. My internal debate around this troubles me - I feel like I'm only proud of Black accomplishments if they're in line with my politics and that feeds into the idea that our community must be a monolith. We are not a monolith and shouldn't have to fit into one mold of beliefs.
(Okay - putting soapbox away.)
An author's career trajectory
Martha Southgate's essay in the NYT Book Review, "Writers Like Me," discusses the challenges of being a literary writer who is African American and writing about African American subjects. She writes about not seeing other writers like her in her writing, book, life circles.
"At the parties and conferences I attend, and in the book reviews I read, I rarely encounter other African-American “literary” writers, particularly in my age bracket. There just don’t seem to be that many of us out there, and that’s something I’ve come to wonder about a great deal."She writes about how the industry sees or does not see Black literary writers. What I found most interesting and fresh, though, was that she talks about the challenge of African American writers who, due to cultural pressure or economic challenges, don't get to the writing until later in life or at all.
She quotes Edward P. Jones and Randall Kenan on those issues."It’s just plain harder to decide to be a writer if you don’t have a financial cushion or a long cultural tradition of people going out on that bohemian limb."
I'd be interested to see a list of who is considered a literary writer among African American authors. Anyone want to kick off the list...?
Other quick links
Speaking of Randall Kenan, the LATimes reviews his collection of essays, The Fire This Time. The review is written by Erin Aubrey Kaplan.
USAToday had a story on the new novel by Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes last week. The novel, Casanegra, is "a new series featuring gigolo-turned-actor-turned-L.A. tough guy ." All three are listed on the cover as authors of the book. In the article, it's reported that Tananarive wrote the first draft, though. Hopefully the celebrity connection will mean big sales for them. But it is kind of odd to market it as by three people.
Stephen L. Carter's new novel, New England White, is out. Here are a couple of reviews: Miami Herald and in the LATimes (reviewed by Paula L. Woods).
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Returning to the world and some reviews
Well, I've been gone too long again. But this blog is not forgotten - well by me anyway. Hopefully not by readers either.
The good news is that I've been writing more lately. Working on a book proposal and a play and I've been to a workship this month. So I feel like I'm moving forward.
I saw today that there's a new biography - though somewhat imagined - about Harriet Tubman. This one, Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life, by Beverly Lowry, is reviewed in the NYTimes today. I think it's interesting that there have been a few Tubman biographies in the last decade. I really enjoyed the one by Catherine Clinton. Unfortunately, since I've read one and am not doing research on Tubman, it makes this new one less attractive. I wonder how publishers cope with that and how Lowry was able to secure a contract for this work.
[Warning - I notice that I'm beginning to be like my mother in this way - I change subjects mid-conversation to totally different things. In my head there's a series of twists and turns that got me there - but of course the listener/reader, does not follow. I could have written a transition instead of the above, but I don't have it in my head today.]
Terry McMillan has a wonderful essay in the Washington Post that is a memoir of a summer of change for her (and pain and sadness and color). This line:
This is when I began to dye.
Seems so perfect to me - read it, you'll see. The essay is called "Excitement in Bed." Tantalizing, isn't it?
There's even an email address for her at the end - which I thought was bold. I'm sure she'll be flooded with messages.
Also in the Post today, a feature on Michael Baisden's radio show, Love, Lust and Lies. I've listened to it a few times and found it oddly adult for the middle of the afternoon - but maybe I'm just a prude. I do like it when he talks about issues and the fact that he calls his audience family really works. And, to be honest, I live a life that's pretty separate from some of the main centers of traditional African American life. In other words, I don't hear "us" talking in most of my encounters during the week, so it's kind of a window for me. Sad, but true.
And, on that topic, I am making a better effort to find children's books featuring characters of African descent. I had been rather lackadaisical about that, though our childrens' library at home is robust. So we came home with a stack of books today. Thank the universe that our local library puts a good sampling on display, as with the two little ones, my rounds in the children's section consists of grabbing what I can while being pulled into our reading castle.
I am looking for the Gullah stories that were published and are, I think, connected to the defunct children's series, Gullah, Gullah Island. Surprisingly, only one is in our catalog here. I think the books are out of print, so I'll likely be buying used copies at Amazon. But I'd love to find them at a Black retailer, so I'll check Cush City too. If you have a recommendation for sources, let me know.
The good news is that I've been writing more lately. Working on a book proposal and a play and I've been to a workship this month. So I feel like I'm moving forward.
I saw today that there's a new biography - though somewhat imagined - about Harriet Tubman. This one, Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life, by Beverly Lowry, is reviewed in the NYTimes today. I think it's interesting that there have been a few Tubman biographies in the last decade. I really enjoyed the one by Catherine Clinton. Unfortunately, since I've read one and am not doing research on Tubman, it makes this new one less attractive. I wonder how publishers cope with that and how Lowry was able to secure a contract for this work.
[Warning - I notice that I'm beginning to be like my mother in this way - I change subjects mid-conversation to totally different things. In my head there's a series of twists and turns that got me there - but of course the listener/reader, does not follow. I could have written a transition instead of the above, but I don't have it in my head today.]
Terry McMillan has a wonderful essay in the Washington Post that is a memoir of a summer of change for her (and pain and sadness and color). This line:
This is when I began to dye.
Seems so perfect to me - read it, you'll see. The essay is called "Excitement in Bed." Tantalizing, isn't it?
There's even an email address for her at the end - which I thought was bold. I'm sure she'll be flooded with messages.
Also in the Post today, a feature on Michael Baisden's radio show, Love, Lust and Lies. I've listened to it a few times and found it oddly adult for the middle of the afternoon - but maybe I'm just a prude. I do like it when he talks about issues and the fact that he calls his audience family really works. And, to be honest, I live a life that's pretty separate from some of the main centers of traditional African American life. In other words, I don't hear "us" talking in most of my encounters during the week, so it's kind of a window for me. Sad, but true.
And, on that topic, I am making a better effort to find children's books featuring characters of African descent. I had been rather lackadaisical about that, though our childrens' library at home is robust. So we came home with a stack of books today. Thank the universe that our local library puts a good sampling on display, as with the two little ones, my rounds in the children's section consists of grabbing what I can while being pulled into our reading castle.
I am looking for the Gullah stories that were published and are, I think, connected to the defunct children's series, Gullah, Gullah Island. Surprisingly, only one is in our catalog here. I think the books are out of print, so I'll likely be buying used copies at Amazon. But I'd love to find them at a Black retailer, so I'll check Cush City too. If you have a recommendation for sources, let me know.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
A writer on writing and images of us
Mat Johnson posted a really interesting quote from Terry McMillan about writing.
Here's part of it:
Good to know she isn't trying too hard.
In other, non-book, but very interesting and disheartening news. The New York Times story last week about infant mortality rates rising again in some states among African American women had me angry, sad and amazed. And I almost didn't read it because of that first picture. I just felt like the picture fed into those old, though likely still held, stereotypes about Black women and their children. And it really hit me how much those images impact how I try to control the way my own children look - i.e., the t-shirt and diaper, no pants look.
Anyway, I have been deeper in my bubble than usual the past few years and it just amazed me that we're still talking about access to prenatal care. It's one thing if mothers choose not to go to the doctor, but having some program available to them should have been solved years ago. And in some cases it seems like it was, but our government has decided to take away the solution.
This feels like somebody's book project - a look at pregnancy, birth and infant health today among poor women and minority women. Or a book that, through women's stories, shows the disparities among mothers and babies - things that we should be able to level out.
Instead of so much coverage of the "mommy wars" and the "opt-out" revolution and "balance," what if more of us opted in to making the same basic health care and support systems available to all pregnant women and mothers, regardless of marital status, geography, race or wealth?
Okay- I'm done ranting for now.
Here's part of it:
“I just think there are some people who try too hard. They just think every sentence has to be perfect. I’m the sort of writer who thinks your first draft is your most honest."
Good to know she isn't trying too hard.
In other, non-book, but very interesting and disheartening news. The New York Times story last week about infant mortality rates rising again in some states among African American women had me angry, sad and amazed. And I almost didn't read it because of that first picture. I just felt like the picture fed into those old, though likely still held, stereotypes about Black women and their children. And it really hit me how much those images impact how I try to control the way my own children look - i.e., the t-shirt and diaper, no pants look.
Anyway, I have been deeper in my bubble than usual the past few years and it just amazed me that we're still talking about access to prenatal care. It's one thing if mothers choose not to go to the doctor, but having some program available to them should have been solved years ago. And in some cases it seems like it was, but our government has decided to take away the solution.
This feels like somebody's book project - a look at pregnancy, birth and infant health today among poor women and minority women. Or a book that, through women's stories, shows the disparities among mothers and babies - things that we should be able to level out.
Instead of so much coverage of the "mommy wars" and the "opt-out" revolution and "balance," what if more of us opted in to making the same basic health care and support systems available to all pregnant women and mothers, regardless of marital status, geography, race or wealth?
Okay- I'm done ranting for now.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Narrowing our options
Like most of you (I presume) I've been watching the book review campaign over at the National Book Critics Circle blog. And I'm sad that I can't be in Atlanta for the protest tomorrow.
I have been thinking about the demise of newspapers in general and how I'm part of the problem. There was a time I wouldn't miss a Sunday paper. But I haven't bought a Sunday paper regularly in years. If it isn't online, I don't read it. So the book section in my own city's paper (if it's still published as a section - really just two pages) is a non-issue for me.
I usually get reviews from the bigger newspapers - LATimes, Washington Post and the NYTimes. Occasionally I read online reviews, but more often I find a recommendation for an author on a web site or blog and follow through on that.
Over the years, particularly in the past two cities I've lived in, I've sometimes enjoyed the book section, but on most weekends, the editor is not including reviews of books that I'm looking for. Or the review is done in a round-up, which isn't very helpful at all.
So I take my chances with blogs, the library and the book jacket.
If you are not able to make it to the protest tomorrow, spend some time thinking about all the places where you read reviews. If it's important to you - online, in print or broadcast, I'd suggest you let that outlet/individual know, before they take away the reviews.
And if you have some thoughts on this, let me know. I'd be interested in publishing a few here.
Here are few links about the controversy.
http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/
NYTimes article today
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/ (lots of posts on the book review issues)
I have been thinking about the demise of newspapers in general and how I'm part of the problem. There was a time I wouldn't miss a Sunday paper. But I haven't bought a Sunday paper regularly in years. If it isn't online, I don't read it. So the book section in my own city's paper (if it's still published as a section - really just two pages) is a non-issue for me.
I usually get reviews from the bigger newspapers - LATimes, Washington Post and the NYTimes. Occasionally I read online reviews, but more often I find a recommendation for an author on a web site or blog and follow through on that.
Over the years, particularly in the past two cities I've lived in, I've sometimes enjoyed the book section, but on most weekends, the editor is not including reviews of books that I'm looking for. Or the review is done in a round-up, which isn't very helpful at all.
So I take my chances with blogs, the library and the book jacket.
If you are not able to make it to the protest tomorrow, spend some time thinking about all the places where you read reviews. If it's important to you - online, in print or broadcast, I'd suggest you let that outlet/individual know, before they take away the reviews.
And if you have some thoughts on this, let me know. I'd be interested in publishing a few here.
Here are few links about the controversy.
http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/
NYTimes article today
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/ (lots of posts on the book review issues)
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Racial cleansing and other notable notes
Although we talk about ethnic cleansing these days, Americans are usually referring to things happening elsewhere in the world. Most people don't know about the racial cleansings that happened in the U.S.
A new book, Buried in the Bitter Waters, by Elliot Jaspin, covers 12 of those racial cleansings. The WashPost reviewer didn't give it a good review, but I'm still interested in the book. Particularly to see if it mentions the racial cleansing in Ocoee, Florida, which I've written about for the stage. Here's a link to the newspaper series that eventually led to the book.
I'm glad that the reviewer mentioned an earlier book Sundown Towns, which I hadn't heard of.
Mockingbird tops Brit List
Apparently British librarians are high on Harper Lee. They've ranked To Kill a Mockingbird as the number one book that adults must read before dying. Here's an interesting story about the endurance of that novel as assigned school reading. I think it's interesting that the novel is one of the key images of the U.S. in the British imagination, even though it's quite dated.
I remember a classmate, a Black classmate, who was offended by the racial slurs in the novel. I defended it, saying that that's just realism and fit the times. I am glad that we are also reading books by Black authors in schools now - or I assume students are. It'll be a few years before I have to deal with those reading lists again.
A new book, Buried in the Bitter Waters, by Elliot Jaspin, covers 12 of those racial cleansings. The WashPost reviewer didn't give it a good review, but I'm still interested in the book. Particularly to see if it mentions the racial cleansing in Ocoee, Florida, which I've written about for the stage. Here's a link to the newspaper series that eventually led to the book.
I'm glad that the reviewer mentioned an earlier book Sundown Towns, which I hadn't heard of.
Mockingbird tops Brit List
Apparently British librarians are high on Harper Lee. They've ranked To Kill a Mockingbird as the number one book that adults must read before dying. Here's an interesting story about the endurance of that novel as assigned school reading. I think it's interesting that the novel is one of the key images of the U.S. in the British imagination, even though it's quite dated.
I remember a classmate, a Black classmate, who was offended by the racial slurs in the novel. I defended it, saying that that's just realism and fit the times. I am glad that we are also reading books by Black authors in schools now - or I assume students are. It'll be a few years before I have to deal with those reading lists again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)