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African American Literature Book Club - The #1 Site for "Readers of Black Literature" |
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AALBC.com eNewsletter - March 2nd, 2004 |
Celebrating Our Literary Legacy! |
AALBC.com BEST-SELLER LISTS - FEBRUARY 2004
http://books.aalbc.com/bestsellers.htm
Fiction
#1 - A Hustler's Wife by
Turner, Nikki
#2 - Caught Up!: Dare to Explore a World Most have Only Heard about! by
Winston Chapman
#3 - Chocolate Flava: The
Eroticanoir.com
Anthology -
Zane
(Editor)
#4 -
Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do
by
Pearl Cleage
#5 - Bad Girlz: A Novel by Shannon Holmes
Nonfiction
#1 -
African American Heritage Hymnal: 575 Hymns, Spirituals, and Gospel Songs by
Delores Carpenter, Nolan Williams (Editor)
#2 - Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from His Native Land by
Randall Robinson
#3 - Everything but the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture
- Greg
Tate (Editor)
#4 - America behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans by
Henry
Louis Gates, Jr.
#5 - Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys by
Dr.
Jawanza Kunjufu
View the complete List at http://books.aalbc.com/bestsellers.htm
RECENT AALBC.COM BOOK & MOVIE REVIEWS
http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/book_reviews.htm
If you looking for a good book, or maybe one to avoid, check out AALBC.com's book reviews.
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http://reviews.aalbc.com/awomansworth.htm A Woman's Worth is an awesome novel! I loved it! LOVED IT! A Woman’s Worth is the type of book that, as I was reading it, if the phone rang, or if I had to use the bathroom, I got ticked off. The novel moves like it stole something and is packed with emotion, suspense, and humanity wrapped inside a compelling story of redemption and respect. A Woman's Worth is so smooth, cool, and creamy; I could have sucked it through a straw. —Reviewed by Thumper
The Black Dancing Body: A geography from coon to cool, celebrates the perceived strength of bodies forged by the hard work of our ancestors. The ethnic characteristics of “so called” Black bodies are lauded as the paragons of physical beauty today. Gottschild’s work in examining this subject is reminiscent of the writings of Joel Augustus Rogers (1883-1966) author of From Superman to Man. She has done a commendable job on a subject very difficult to define. This book will be appreciated far beyond the dance community. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested the deconstruction of racial mythology and physical stereotypes. —Reviewed by Rondall Brasher
Dive is the debut novel by Lisa Teasley. Dive, a novel that revolves around an interracial couple, is an examination of human nature and all of the emotions that come with it. Through the two main characters, Teasley reached into the often feared, rarely tread recess of the heart, expressing it with an intricate prose that shines and shimmers in moonlight. If I could give Dive a standing ovation, I would in a heartbeat. It is, without a doubt, one of the best books of the year. —Reviewed by Thumper
Memoir: Delaware County Prison by Reginald L. Hall is a non-fiction account of the eight months Hall, an openly gay man, spent in prison for credit card fraud. Sound interesting enough, right? *eyebrow raised* It’s not. I will try to keep this review short since there is a good possibility that this review could be longer than the book. Memoir is problematic to say the least. It is loose, not long enough and completely dull. If Mother Nature had not already taken the hair on the top of my head; after reading Memoir, I would have pulled every strand out. Instead, when I reached up there, all I felt was air, skin and memories. Good thing the Memoir only took me a minute or two to read. —Reviewed by Thumper
"...this sequel works: a warm sense of heart, and this return visit to Calvin's Barbershop...What doesn't fit into the bigger picture, however, is Queen Latifah's cameo role as Gina, an ex-flame of Calvin's and a sharp-tongued stylist at the beauty shop next door. While there is an undeniably amusing argument scene between Gina and Eddie, Sullivan and writer Don D. Scott can't quite disguise that Latifah's fairly fleeting presence serves no purpose other than to set up what in sitcom land is called a planted spinoff" —Reviewed by Michael Dequina
It's too bad Stokes didn't just make a non-narrative film about the street dancing culture; I'm sure even traditionally documentary-leery young audiences wouldn't have minded, particularly considering the self-important, melodramatic tedium they have to endure to get to the too-few worthwhile bits that are served. —Reviewed by Michael Dequina
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The
Black Dancing Body: A Geography from Coon to Cool by
Dive
by
Memoir:
Delaware County Prison by Reginald L. Hall
Barbershop
2: Back in Business (PG-13)
You
Got Served (PG-13)
AUTHORS YOU SHOULD KNOW
 Hortense
J. Spillershttp://authors.aalbc.com/hortensespillers.htm "Literary critic Hortense Spillers, who presently [2004] teaches in the English Department at Cornell University, has, over the past twenty years, enormously enriched African diasporic literary and cultural criticism. Spillers' present work at the intersection of psychoanalysis and Black feminist criticism is, like all her writing, inflected with a generous spirit and mordant wit." —http://www.blackculturalstudies.org |
 Dieudonné
Mayihttp://authors.aalbc.com/mayi.htm Author of The Selling of Joseph: A Healing Message from History The main message of Mayi's The Selling of Joseph is recognition of the undeniable fact that continental Africans played a key role in selling their fellow Africans to slavery. The book pleads for forgiveness from an African perspective. The biblical story of the selling of Joseph to slavery by his own brothers was used to look at black slavery in the Americas, a similar historical injustice which occurred in the modern era of human history. I am trying to extract from this tragedy something that has not been addressed much before: a healing message of hope for forgiveness. Not only the message urges sincere admission of wrongdoing and forgiveness on the part of the transgressors, but it also calls for the due recognition of the accomplishments of black slaves and their descendants in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Finally, I am introducing a concept of moral reparations as a first step to achieve everlasting healing for historical injustices, like black slavery, which oppose groups of people—not merely one group and a government. |
AALBC.com RECOMMENDS
Black
Americans In Publishing, Inc.
http://www.baip.org/
Black Americans In Publishing, Inc., formerly known as BWIP, was founded in 1979 by a group of distinguished women, and is proud to continue building this vital organization and seeing it move continually, onward and upward.
Black Americans In Publishing, Inc. is a non-profit volunteer organization which supports the advancement of black professionals and aspirants in all areas of the publishing industry, through career networking, mentorship and education outreach. These goals are realized through regular meetings, special programs and publications dedicated to support, enable and encourage our membership.
CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARDS - 2004
http://books.aalbc.com/2004_csk_winners.htm
Announced by the American Library Association - January 12, 2004
Read
about all the award winning books including:
Author Award Winner:
The First Part Last
by
Angela Johnson's
Bobby is a typical urban New York City teenager -- impulsive, eager, restless. For his sixteenth birthday he cuts school with his two best buddies, grabs a couple of slices at his favorite pizza joint, catches a flick at a nearby multiplex, and gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever: He's going to be a father. Suddenly things like school and house parties and fun times with friends are replaced by visits to Nia's pediatrician and countless social workers who all say that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption. Then tragedy strikes Nia, and Bobby finds himself in the role of single, teenage father. Because his child -- their child -- is all that remains of his lost love.
With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson tells the story of a young man's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it. The result is a gripping portrayal of a single teenage parenthood from the point of view of a young on the threshold of becoming a man.
AFRICAN AMERICAN BOOKS TO BE RELEASED MARCH 2004
http://books.aalbc.com
From the
universally acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory and Krik? Krak!, a
brilliant, deeply moving work of fiction that explores the world of a
"dew breaker" — a torturer — a man whose brutal crimes in the country of
his birth lie hidden beneath his new American reality. We meet him late in his life. He is a quiet man, a husband and father, a
hardworking barber, a kindly landlord to the men who live in a basement
apartment in his home. He is a fixture in his Brooklyn neighborhood,
recognizable by the terrifying scar on his face. As the book unfolds, moving
seamlessly between Haiti in the 1960s and New York City today, we enter the
lives of those around him: his devoted wife and rebellious daughter; his
sometimes unsuspecting, sometimes apprehensive neighbors, tenants, and clients.
And we meet some of his victims. In the book's powerful denouement, we return to the Haiti of the dew
breaker's past, to his last, desperate act of violence, and to his first
encounter with the woman who will offer him a form of redemption — albeit
imperfect — that will change him forever. The Dew Breaker is a book of interconnected lives — a book of love, remorse,
and hope; of rebellions both personal and political; of the compromises we often
make in order to move beyond the most intimate brushes with history.
Unforgettable, deeply resonant, The Dew Breaker proves once more that in Edwidge
Danticat we have a major American writer.
The
Dew Breaker by
Edwidge Danticat (Pub. Date: March 9, 2004)
http://authors.aalbc.com/edwidge.htm
Click to check out all the African American books scheduled for publication
during March 2004 or visit
http://books.aalbc.com
EVENTS
http://www.aalbc.com/events/
The
Annual Romance Slam Jam conference will be held in New York City 22-25
April 2004. It is an occasion to learn and to exchange information and ideas
about the romance genre as well as general fiction writing and reading, to
meet favorite authors, make new friends and have fun.
The centerpiece of the conference is the Emma Awards, named after Mrs. Emma
Rodgers who-along with
Francis Ray and Ashira Toshiwe conceived of a conference of romance readers
and writers and convened the first one in her Dallas
store in 1995. This year's Emma Awards will continue the honored
tradition of the Emmas. The judging panel consists of loyal romance readers from
all over the country who are working under the direction of Monica Harris,
chairperson of the panel. Ms. Harris set the standard for African American
romance novels when, as editor, she created the line of Arabesque romances for
Kensington Publishing Corp that are now published by BET Books.. We are
confident that the judging will be conducted with the utmost discretion and a
set of high standards under Ms. Harris's direction.
This year, there will be 34 workshops on the art of fiction writing, self
publishing, how to organize and run a book club, relationships between fans and
authors, contract negotiations, career planning, and so on. Meet agents and
editors and discuss your work with them with the view to getting an agent and
interesting an editor in your book. There will be a workshop on making your
first
sale to an agent or editor.
Visit http://romanceslamjam.com/program.htm for more information.
Seventh
Annual National Black Writers Conference: A Tribute and Symposium on
John Oliver Killens: The Culture and Politics of Black Literature from
Thursday, March 25 through Saturday, March 27, 2004. The keynote address will be
given by award winning journalist, Gil Noble, on Thursday evening at the
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Conference panels, roundtables, readings, workshops and other activities begin on Friday, March 26th at Medgar Evers College, located at 1650 Bedford Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Central Brooklyn. Workshops cover poetry, fiction, book proposal writing, popular fiction writing, and writing book reviews. Panel and roundtable discussions continue on Saturday, culminating in a closing testimonial and homage to the life, work, and ongoing influence of John Oliver Killens from his colleagues, associates, and students. Invited participants representing today's most gifted and prolific Black and Latino literati, writers, poets, scholars, actors, and word artists include such notables as: John A. Williams, Quincy Troupe, Marita Golden, Paule Marshall, Woodie King, Jr., Manthia Diawara, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Louis Reyes Rivera, Arthur Flowers, Nellie Rosario, Kenji Jasper, George Edward Tait, Elombe Brath, Sam Yette, Brenda Wilkinson, Bernard Bell, Obery Hendricks, Valerie Wilson Wesley, and Elizabeth Nunez.
Visit http://www.mec.cuny.edu/nbwc for more information.
RESOURCES FOR AUTHORS TO PROMOTE THEIR WORK ONLINE AND OFF
http://writers.aalbc.com/promotions.htm
There are several excellent organizations which provide a
host of services to help you promote your books and authors. In fact,
you'll find many savvy individuals and businesses take advantage of the services
several of these organizations.
THE COFFEE WILL MAKE YOU BLACK ON-LINE READING
GROUP
http://thumperscorner.com/Reading_List.htm
February 2004 Selection
The
Coffee Will Make You Black reading group is currently reading The
Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
Our chat session is scheduled for Sunday, March 14th, 2004 at 6:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time . If you have already read The Darkest Child, and would like to participate in our on-line chat session; please join us in our chat room http://www.thumperscorner.com/chat/
Visit http://thumperscorner.com/Reading_List.htm to view the rest of The Coffee Will Make You Black on-line reading group's reading list for 2004
CONTESTS
http://fun.aalbc.com/contest.htm
AALBC.com March 2004 Contest has been posted.
Subscribe to this eNewsletter
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Peace,
Troy Johnson,
Founder AALBC.com
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