AALBC.coms BESTSELLING MARCH AND APRIL 2007

Mari Evans

Over the course of her career Evans has been Distinguished Writer and Assistant Professor, African American and Resource Center, Cornell University, she has taught at Indiana University, the State University of New York at Albany, the University of Miami at Coral Gables and at Spelman College, Atlanta. She is the author of numerous articles, children’s books, plays, musicals and books of poetry.
 

ZZ Packer

ZZ Packer’s stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, and have been read on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Packer is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. A graduate of Yale, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the Writing Seminar at Johns Hopkins University, she has been a Wallace Stegner-Truman Capote fellow at Stanford University, where she is currently a Jones Lecturer.  Her novel Drinking Coffee Elsewhere has received rave reviews
 

Mark Anthony

In addition to being the President & Publisher of Q-Boro Books. Mark Anthony is also a gifted author with a writing style that keeps readers turning the pages. He has written an Essence Magazine best seller, Paper Chasers, Dogism, Lady’s Night, and The Take Down.  He is also the co-author of the Streets of New York series. With each story that he tells, readers always ask the question, ’Is this a true story? Did this really happen?’ Mark takes that as a compliment and a testament to his creative ability.
 

Teri Woods

Teri Woods is a native of Philadelphia. She has worked as a legal secretary/paralegal for eight years in a Philadelphia Center City law firm practicing in defense litigation for a national insurance company. She began writing True to the Game in 1993. She copyrighted her work in 1994 and began to submit her work to publishers. After being turned down, the book sat dormant in a closet for two years. By 1997, she was determined to do something for herself. In 1998, she began selling hand made books on the street and out the trunk of her car. With the success of the hand made books, she started her own publishing and production company, Meow Meow Productions, and has successfully launched her first novel, True to the Game, making it available for bookstores across the country.
 

Brenda Jackson

Brenda is a die-hard romantic who married her childhood sweetheart 30 years ago and still proudly wears the "going steady" ring he gave her when she was 15. Because she began believing very early in the power of love and romance, she can’t help but write stories with happy endings. She is an award-winning bestselling author of more than 10 romance novels and looks forward to increasing that number. She and her husband live in the city where they were born, Jacksonville, Fla., and have two sons in college. She has a B.S. in business administration and presently works in management for a major insurance company.
 

S. F. Powell

A native Washingtonian (with roots in Knoxville, TN), S. F. Powell grew up in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She started writing ’poetic commentaries’ and other similar projects in her teens.

Motivated by the grand impact derived from the everyday life experience, S. F. Powell penned Like Sweet Buttermilk. Ms. Powell lives in Upper Marlboro, MD with her husband and three children.
 

Broken Utterances: A Selected Anthology of 19th Century Black Women’s Social Thought  - Book Review by Kam Williams

Given that prevailing attitude of the previous generation, it should come as no surprise that African-American culture might have devolved into the miasma of misogyny reflected in the explosion of thugs and gangstas in evidence today. However, this sorry state of affairs doesn’t reflect the fact that there are now and have always been many intelligent African-American females inclined to weigh-in on the issues of the day without compromising their dignity.

I have digressed by way of introduction only in order to emphasize the significance of Broken Utterances: A Selected Anthology of 19th Century Black Women’s Social Thought. For this groundbreaking book, edited and illustrated by Michelle Diane Wright, lays the groundwork for an appreciation of a score of visionary sisters who were ready to lead their people over a hundred years ago.
 

Crisis of the Black Intellectual by W.D. Wright

With the publishing of The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual back in 1967, Harold Cruse issued a clarion call to the emerging black intelligentsia to remember and remain faithful its cultural roots. Now, 40 years later, Crisis of the Black Intellectual reassesses the state of the African-American egghead and makes the case that an equally-urgent appeal to a collective consciousness-raising is in order.

Taking no prisoners in the process, W.D. Wright initiates a sharp-tongued discourse in order to shake Ivory Tower blacks out of what he refers to as their ’comfort groove.’ The author, Professor Emeritus at Southern Connecticut University, repeatedly resorts to cogent, if incendiary reasoning to indict bourgie brothers and sisters out of their middle-class malaise, so that they again empathize with the predicament of less-fortunate yet to get their piece of the pie.
 

Author, Elaine Meryl Brown was selected as one of ’25 Influential African-American Women in Business for 2007’

Elaine Meryl Brown was selected as one of ’25 Influential African-American Women in Business for 2007’ by The Network Journal. It’s a prestigious honor and award for the HBO Vice President and author of the best-selling novels, Playing by the Rules and Lemon City. Elaine oversees the production of video marketing in Creative Service at HBO. A Daytime Emmy Award winning Writer for the ABC-TV show, FYI with Hal Linden, Elaine has also worked at Showtime, NBC, and written a show, ’Happy New Year, America’ for CBS. She was also awarded the prestigious African-American Heritage Award last month by the New York City Comptroller, the Honorable William Johnson. And if you were listening to the Wendy Williams Experience last Friday, you caught Elaine on the air, live chatting with the Diva herself. In fact, Playing by the Rules was a ’Wendy Williams Book Club’ Pick for February.
 

Why Take the Lull by the Horns!: Closing the Leadership Gap is important all all business leaders and employees by Lee E. Meadows, PhD.

"I wrote it with the idea of motivating managers to look, first, at the talent within their organization for tomorrow’s leaders. I know of too many situations of employees being held back in what they can contribute due to the lack of recognition by their managers. I want the average reader to know that they are talented and that individually and collectively, they can help organizations maintain a strong competitive edge. It’s time to unleash the talent in the cubicle and focus on building the competitive strength of an organization. The ’lull’ is unrealized potential lying dormant. We take it by the horns to in order to make a difference."
 

Likeness of Being: A Poetic Look at Friends and Strangers by Nathan M. Richardson - Reviewed By Jamie Walker

In Likeness of Being: A Poetic Look at Friends and Strangers, poet Nathan M. Richardson offers readers an invitation to his soulful, Southern roots. Full of verbal word play and heavy signifyin’, Likeness of Being is not only imbued with several, contemplative poems that heighten the reader’s consciousness, but also skillfully laced with inspiring images from the poet’s past. Richardson reveres such things as the importance of family, tradition, and community, as well as the immaculate wonder of nature, spirituality, and God in his deft poetry. Even the sweet smell of magnolia trees are illuminated in Richardson’s ’jazzy’ collection.
 

In-Dependence from Bondage: Claude McKay and Michael Manley: Defying the Ideological Clash and Policy Gaps in African Diaspora Relations  by Lloyd D. McCarthy - Reviewed by Kam Williams

Does it make sense to attempt to reconcile the lyrical lines of a celebrated poet with the political ideology of a head of state? Should such seeming apples and oranges even be discussed in the same context? As ridiculous as the idea might sound at first blush, Lloyd McCarthy has managed to pull off just such an unusual feat in In-Dependence from Bondage.

The book compares and contrasts the worldviews of a couple of late, great Jamaican thinkers..
 

Perfect Stranger

Poor (0 stars) - Until she quit her job, Rowena Price (Halle Berry) was an investigative journalist at the New York Courier. But she left the daily newspaper to preserve her integrity right after her boss (Richard Portnow) decided to kill a shocking story she was about to break about Senator Sachs (Gordon MacDonald), a ’family values’ Republican she’d caught in a compromising position with a male intern.

Also read the "The Perfect Stranger Interview https://aalbc.com/reviews/perfect_strangerInterview.htm
 

Are We Done Yet? - Film Review by Kam Williams

Fair (1.5 stars) - Are We There Yet? (2005) was less a road comedy than a shameless, ninety-minute car commercial. Fortunately, the sequel doesn’t revolve around an automobile. In fact, nothing about this movie resembles the first, except for the presence of the same four principals in the cast. ..Stale and predictable, Are We Done Yet? is likely to be found hilarious only by tykes being exposed to plumber butt sight gags, fart jokes, anthropomorphic animal fare and construction site slapstick for the very first time. Otherwise, yeah, we’re done. 

Also check out the interviews with the film’s stars Ice Cube http://aalbc.com/reviews/ice_cube.htm and Nia Long http://aalbc.com/reviews/nia_long.htm
 

I Think I Love My Wife - Film Review by Kam Williams

Poor (0 stars) - This Americanized adaptation [Chloe in the Afternoon (1972)], was directed by and stars Chris Rock, who also overhauled the script into a barely-recognizable, formulaic sitcom and forgot about the palpable tension created in the original by the protagonist’s predicament. This transparent tale takes his cues from its spoiler of a title, so everybody knows from the beginning which of the ladies in this love triangle will ultimately be the loser.

Worse is the fact that the picture isn’t funny. It essentially consists of a series of vaguely-familiar skits ostensibly lifted from a variety of other cinematic adventures. For instance, there’s the bit where Viagra triggers a painful case of priapism, ala Scary Movie 4 (2006) and a host of other teensploits. Then, there’s the ubiquitous drug store scene where a guy’s plan to purchase condoms secretly is turned into a source of embarrassment by an insensitive clerk. This ripoff even has the nerve to recreate the seduction scenario from The Graduate (1967), complete with the famous silhouette of the raised leg featured in that classic’s poster.
 

Pride Film - Review by Kam Williams

Fair (1 star) - When Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) arrived in Philadelphia in the summer of 1971, it was with high hopes of landing a teaching position. Instead, the only employment the recent college grad could find was a dead-end job closing down a rundown recreation center located in a disadvantaged area of North Philly known as Nicetown.

But after discovering that the gymnasium had a swimming pool, instead of preparing the dilapidated facility for the wrecking ball, Jim decided to try to renovate it. For, he knew that if he carried out his original assignment, the neighborhood kids would be losing their only local outlet for constructive, supervised exercise.

Also read interviews the films principals Kimberly Elise https://aalbc.com/reviews/kimberly_elise.htm and Terrence Howard https://aalbc.com/reviews/the_pride_interview.htm
 

Rock the Bells Film - Review by Kam Williams

Very good (3 stars) - Shot just four months before the late ODB would OD on cocaine that November, most of the film is devoted to the day-long rap festival’s frantic promoter, a whirling dervish who attends to virtually aspect of the show with the help of a skeleton crew. Besides the Clan, eight other acts were scheduled to appear, including Redman, who emerges from his limo issuing an urgent mandate for marijuana, ordering, ’Find some herb! Now! And I ain’t kidding!’

As amusing as that might be, some of the lesser-known performers still steal the show, like this pudgy, college-bred white rapper who boasts about the size of his manhood on stage before proceeding to take his pants off to wave it at the less than appreciative females in attendance. This rhyming exhibitionist turns out to be a rather good sport despite being pelted with garbage incessantly during his entire performance. At one point, he drapes himself with an American flag, hoping that the audience might end the barrage out of respect for Old Glory, but to no avail.
 

Born in New York City on September 4, 1953, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs was the fifth of nine children hailing from a family with West Indian heritage. He began auditioning for acting gigs while still attending the High School of Art and Design, and after graduation, he supported himself by taking a series of menial jobs, honing his skills at Al Fann’s Theatrical School and with the Negro Ensemble Company.

Later heading to Hollywood, Lawrence appeared in a handful of feature films, Death Wish, Claudine, The Gambler, and Cooley High, before landing the role of a lifetime in 1975 as Freddie ’Boom-Boom’ Washington on a new TV series called Welcome Back, Kotter. Though fated to be associated with that lovable character forever, he has, nonetheless, gone on to enjoy an enduring career, evidenced by a resume’ which boasts over 50 big screen and television credits, plus work as a director, as a scriptwriter, as a composer, and as a producer.

Here, he talks about his latest movie, Sublime, recently released on DVD, a thought-provoking, sci-fi thriller, where he plays a man with suspicious motivations who goes by the name of Mandingo.
 

Dr. Rani Whitfield  ’Tha Hip-Hop Doc’ Interview

Kam Williams: You’re known as ’Tha Hip-Hop Doc.’ How’d you get such a colorful nickname?

Dr. Rani Whitfield: The name was given to me by the kids at the local high school I work with here in Baton Rouge. While riding in my car to sporting events, I would play alternatives to their sometimes ’hard on the ears’ music, and they began to really enjoy my music. It became a challenge as I would play old school hip-hop that was clean, but creative like Run DMC’s ’King of Rock’ or the Sugar Hill Gang’s ’Rapper’s Delight’. Sometimes they enjoyed it, sometimes they didn’t, but it would bring about discussion, dialogue, and a rapport.
 

African American Pavilion @ BookExpo America
John Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City, May 31 - June 3, 2007.

BookExpo America, one of the largest book trade exhibits in the world, host the African American Pavilion.  Clara Villarosa and Emma Rodgers, Co- Directors of the African American Program for Bookselling Professionals will set the pace with their pre-opening day Thursday luncheon/reception and full day of workshops and panel discussions for all book industry professionals.

The African American Pavilion Reception and Awards program sponsored by Amber Communications Group, Inc. will celebrate the achievements of African American publishing professionals (June 2nd, 3-5pm).

AALBC.com, Harlemworld Magazine & MosaicBooks.com join forces to host the 2007 Black Pack Party, in Harlem, on Thursday May 31st 2007.  On  Friday June 1st 2007 Join AALBC.com, Relentless Aaron, Violator Records, G-Unit & St. Martin’s Press as we host one of the biggest celebrations the publishing world has ever seen.

Visit AALBC.com as we compile and update a list of events.

Advertise in the African American Pavilion at Book Expo America 2007 Exhibitors Journal.  This collectors item will be distributed during the 4 day trade show a full page listing is only $250 and a business card listing is $25.  Please hurry, the submission deadline is May 4th: https://aalbc.com/events/exhibitors_journal_2007.htm
 

On Saturday, May 5, 2007, African Voices, the premier Black literary arts magazine, will present a musical and poetic tribute to Nobel prize-winning author and humanitarian Toni Morrison. Ms. Morrison will be the recipient of the organization’s Ellie Charles Artists Awards for her contributions to the literary community. Actor Avery Brooks will serve as the Master of Ceremonies for a poetic and musical tribute to Ms. Morrison. The program is a benefit for African Voices, a non-profit literary magazine that sponsors readings, the Reel Sisters Film Festival and other cultural events. The reception begins at 5:30 pm and awards ceremony starts at 6:30 pm at Columbia University, Lerner Hall (116th St. & Broadway). Tickets are $150. For tickets and group sales info call 212 865-2982.
 

PMA University Panel: Success Strategies for the African American Book Market
May 29 to 31, 2007 in New York City
http://www.pma-online.org/pmau2007/1.cfm

Strategies for selling to the African American community are different. Understanding these differences translates into incremental sales or missed opportunities. The panelists in this session share strategies and techniques that have enabled them to successfully sell and market to African American readers. African American genres targeted include contemporary, history, celebrity bio, self-help, and Christian.

Organizer & speaker: Natalie Stokes ’ Black Classic Press.
Speakers: Pam Perry ’ Ministry Marketing Solutions, Inc.; Troy Johnson ’ African American Literature Book Club. - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 2:00’3:30 PM
 

Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography

This stirring graphic-novel-style biography weaves together black history with the personal story of the charismatic leader Malcolm X, whose confrontational approach to white racism was in marked contrast to Martin Luther King’s policy of nonviolence. Helfer’s text draws heavily on The Autobiography (1965), which Malcolm X wrote with Alex Haley, and DuBurke’s realistic art, in black and white, with an average of six frames per page, visualizes the political struggle as well as the inner anger and turmoil. ’Excerpt American Library Association

We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006

"The work of African-American filmmakers continues to outpace critiques and commentary by African-American film critics. Esther Iverem closes this gap b providing the reader with reviews and commentary on a genre that, over the last twenty years, has moved from the margins to the mainstream of American cinema"  ’Warrington Hudlin, President of the Black Filmmaker Foundation