Original Release Date: February 6, 2007
Label: Platform Entertainment Group/NAE Records
Copyright: 2007 Platform Ent/NAE Records

Abiola Abrams

Author of DARE

You may know as host of BETJ's The Best Shorts, is an artist to watch. Actually, scratch that. She's an artist who you should continue to watch because homegirl has been doing her thing as a filmmaker and writer for quite some time. She just dropped her first book, DARE, a hip-hop inspired retelling of Faust with a feminist twist. Shorter description: a damn good book.

Herb Boyd

Author of Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin

Boyd is an awarding winning author and journalist who has published sixteen books and countless articles for national magazines and newspapers. Brotherman—The Odyssey of Black Men in America—An Anthology (One World/Ballantine, 1995), co-edited with Robert Allen of the Black Scholar journal, won the American Book Award for nonfiction. In 1999, Boyd won three first place awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists for his articles published in the Amsterdam News.

Breena Clarke

Author of Stand the Storm and the Oprah Book Club® Selection River, Cross My Heart.

Clarke grew up in Washington, D.C., and was educated at Webster College and Howard University. Her writings have appeared in the anthologies Contemporary Plays by Women of Color and Street Lights: Illuminating Tales of the Urban Black Experience. She currently administers the Editorial Diversity Program at Time Inc. in New York City. She lives in New Jersey.  

Renee Daniel Flagler (Renee will MC this event)

Author of In Her Mind

Renee Daniel Flagler is the President and CEO of Aspicomm Media, an author and an award winning freelance writer who has served in marketing, promotions and events for more than a decade. Under the divisions of Aspicomm Media, Flagler has been able to marry the things she enjoys the most; marketing, events and writing, into one fulfilling personal career.   She is also the founder of Self-Publishing Symposium and the Diva's of Literature Tour.

Felicia Pride

Author of The Message

Pride also the coauthor of the young adult anthology Hallway Diaries (Harlequin/Kimani Tru, September 2007) and the author of Everybody Hates First Girlfriends (Simon & Schuster, September 2007), a chapter book in the literary series based on the award-winning television show Everybody Hates Chris. Felicia has been an invited speaker at various events and panels and serves on the board for the Literary Freedom Project. She has a M.A. in writing and publishing from Emerson College and is based in Maryland.

David Rivera Jr.

Author of Playing in the Dark

His first book, Harlem's Dragon, has been met with great enthusiasm by other writers – most notably by Zane, as well as literary critics. In a recent interview, David admitted that the sex scenes depicted in his writings are taken from some of his personal experiences and enhanced for the entertainment of his readers. He enjoys the erotic writing of Anne Rice and hopes to master a full spectrum of writing genres just as she has. As a man of color, David has taken on the task of showing African American men in a more positive light in his writing.