This is the first bestsellers list to
feature a mother and son combination in the top 10 (Guy Johnson and Maya
Angelou). Incidentally, Guy Johnson has two books in the top 10.
Every man that I know who has read Guy's novels thoroughly enjoyed them.
Karrine Steffans' "kiss-and-tel-all" tale
continues to be a strong seller and is the single bestselling book on
AALBC.com of all time. Karrine's 2nd book
The Vixen Diaries comes out in September.
Fiction
#1 -
Addicted by
Zane
#2 - Around the Way Girls by Angel
Hunter, LA Jill Hunt, Dwayne S. Joseph
#3 - Echoes of a Distant Summer by Guy
Johnson
#4 - Getting Buck Wild: Sex Chronicles
2, Vol. 2 by Zane (Editor)
#5 - Title: Standing at the Scratch Line
by Guy Johnson
Nonfiction
#1 -
Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest
Your Destiny by Hill Harper
#2 - Africana: The Encyclopedia of the
African and African American Experience
#3 - Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and
Prayer by Maya Angelou
#4 - Confessions of a Video Vixen by
Karrine Steffans
#5 - Cooking With Grease: Stirring the
Pots in American Politics by Donna L.
Brazile
Rampersadis the author of Ralph
Ellison: A Biography. Jabari Asim of the The
Washington Post says; "As Arnold Rampersad astutely observes in
this fascinating, revelatory biography, Ellison's writings took
careful note of his fellow blacks' creation of "certain bulwarks
against chaos, including religion, folklore, stable families,
and a canny knowledge of Jim Crow."
Rampersad has written for The New York Times Book Review, The
New Republic, and The Washington Post, and is an elected member
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American
Philosophical Society. He lives in Stanford, California.
Blades was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. And ever
since childhood, she has been creating stories. After graduating
from York University in Toronto, Ontario, in 1994, Nicole moved
to New York and launched her journalism career at Essence
magazine. She went on to co-found online women's magazine SheNetworks, and later became an editor at ESPN.com. Her debut
novel, Earth's Waters, was published this spring.
Currently a Contributing Writer for ESPN the Magazine, her work
has also appeared in Heart & Soul, Time Out New York and
American Legacy. Nicole is working on her second novel.
Noire, Queen of Urban Erotica�,
is an author from the streets of New York whose hip-hop
erotic stories pulsate with urban flavor. She is the #1 Essence
bestselling author of G-Spot, Candy Licker, Baby Brother, and
Thug-A-Licious.
"I was more than impressed with G-Spot
because it is one of the first "hip hop" novels that is written
well, makes a semblance of sense, and walks down the path that
Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines carved out" .�Thumper,
AALBC.com
Nathanial Portis
http://aalbc.com/authors/nathanial_portis.htmReceiving great reviews, Nathanial Portis
feature Novel, Things In Between, was released in February of
2005 and will be re-released in July of 2007. His much awaited,
second novel, Married To a Married Man was released April 2007
and is receiving rave reviews. Nathanial Portis is quickly
becoming the talk of the literary industry and has been featured
and interviewed on some of the hottest on line reading groups
including: Black men in America, Romance Readers, Rawsistaz
Reviewers; just to name a few.
Frankie Lennon is author of The
Mee St. Chronicles: Straight Up Stories of a Black Woman's Life;
an extraordinarily candid memoir of Frankie Lennon's battle
to claim her own life and sexual identity. Beginning with vivid
stories of growing up in segregated Knoxville, Tennessee of the
1950's, we are propelled into her struggle to find freedom from
the many prisons and conflicts that bind her. From Jim Crow
segregation, to her hidden same sex attraction, to her eventual
battle with alcoholism, we witness her turbulent life journey
through page-turning stories that speak truth, no matter what,
to everyone. An �out� Lesbian of color, she currently
teaches English composition and literature, and socio-cultural
issues for Sociology at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles
at and at Los Angeles Trade Technical Community College. Several
professors at both colleges have adopted her first book as a
part of their required course work.
"A wise
son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of
his mother." (Proverbs 10:1)
What a joy to hear the words "'Daddy!'" each day when I arrive
home from work. What a blessed privilege to know that my
Heavenly Father entrusts me to raise three healthy sons in the
midst of this dying world! What an honor to be a "'role model'"
to young sons that will soon transition into young men. It is
my behavior, lifestyle, mannerisms, and habits that they will
emulate. It is my responsibility to train them in this present
time in order that they clearly understand their God-ordained
roles as husbands and fathers in the very near future. What a
joy, what a responsibility, what an honor!!
June is Black Music Month. It is
also Audio Book Month. There is a wealth of read-along books on
cassette or CD that introduce children to the richness of the
African-American musical heritage.
"I have a couple of memories of Sha. In
high school, I remember having to drop off a note for my teacher
to one of their co-workers that taught the Special Ed group.
What I�ll always remember is that the teacher was reading to the
class from a Dr. Seuss book. This was a class full of teenagers
with varying ages. The group included Sha. This stuck out to me
because I knew Sha's potential. But, the system had given up on
him. A kid that could memorize the supreme alphabet and
mathematics was being taught nursery rhymes as preparation to go
out into society. It's no wonder that he turned to a life of
crime."
Imagine for a
moment that you can not attend book tours, book fairs, BookExpo
America (BEA), or the American Library Association (ALA)
conference. Then sit back and see your finished written
manuscript. You have neither a typewriter nor a computer.
Going to OfficeMax, Staples, or Office Depot to buy the supplies
you need is out of the question. All you have is your finished
manuscript, large manila envelopes, stamps, and years of
research on the publishing industry in your locker. Now
envision all of the rejection letters in your hand because you
don�t have the tools to meet the submission guidelines of
publishing houses. What you do possess is a great attitude and
the will to succeed. You get up from your desk and begin your
day by mentoring young men, telling them to follow their dreams
and to �never say die; be optimistic.�
Kevin Weeks' book The Street Life Series
is the winner of 2007 New York Book Festival, Fiction
- Wildcard category (to be announced Sat. June 2, 2007 in NYC).
Mandisa Hundley may well go down in history as
the most talked about American Idol participant who did not
become the season's winning entrant. From her first audition for
Atlanta radio station WSTR where she was one of six finalists
who were invited to come in and sing live on the air, to the
night that she was eliminated as one of the top nine finalists,
Mandisa journey into the American Idol world was a life changing
experience for the Born-Again Christian woman. To say it was a
faith walk for her and her supporters is a gross understatement.
Her new book, IDOLeyes: My New Perspective on Faith, Fat &
Fame succinctly tells the story.
In 2005, Mr. David delivered an Emmy-winning
performance as the narrator of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise
and Fall of Jack Johnson. His distinctive, commanding sound can
currently be found anywhere in the country in the Navy's new
�Accelerate Your Life� recruitment campaign.
Here, he talks about his latest role as Sergeant
Kilgore in Delta Farce, a comedy about three drinking buddies
(Larry the Cable Guy, DJ Qualls and Bill Engvall) who are
mistakenly herded onto a National Guard plane headed for Iraq
only to end up in Mexico and believing that they've actually
landed in the Middle East.
Charles Quinton Murphy, Jr. was born in
Bushwick, Brooklyn on July 12, 1959, but raised in Roosevelt on
Long Island by his mother, Lillian, and stepfather, Vernon,
after the stabbing death of his dad, Charles, Sr. While his
brother Eddie was breaking into show business, Charlie was
serving his country in the U.S. Navy.
...he really came into his own relatively
recently, as a regular on Chappelle's Show, where he contributed
both as a writer and by appearing in memorable skits playing
himself and such characters as Buc Nasty and Donald Rumsfeld.
Here, he talks about his work in Norbit, which he co-wrote with
Eddie while serving as the voice of Floyd the Dog.
Laila Ali was born in Miami Beach on December
30th, 1977 to
Muhammad Ali and his third
wife, Veronica Porche. The most famous of The Greatest's nine
children, Laila's the only one to follow in his footsteps into
the boxing ring, On her way to the top, the statuesque, 5�10�,
175 lb. cruiserweight whupped Jackie Frazier, daughter of Joe,
in the first Pay-Per-View fight featuring females in the main
event.
She hoped to have a showdown with George
Foreman's undefeated daughter Freeda who retired suddenly after
taking a pounding from another pugilist in the first loss of her
career. Laila currently reigns as the women's world title
holder, having compiled an impressive 24-0 record, including 21
knockouts.
Not one scene of this disgusting shocksploit is
either entertaining or funny, proof being its failure to elicit
even one laugh out of anyone at the screening which this critic
attended. Another negative is the picture's profusion of
prominent placement ads for Pepsi, Nike, Apple and Pop Rocks,
and equally-distracting cameos by David Hasselhoff, Erik
Estrada, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Alan Ruck (Cameron of Ferris Bueller),
John Ratzenberger and Emmanuelle �Webster� Lewis who has my
permission to return to obscurity after embarrassing himself by
calling a woman a ho before slapping her on the butt.
Like a lot of famous rappers, he comes from a
middle-class background, having been raised by a single-mom who
was the chairman of the English Department at Chicago State
University. However, in contrast to most of the more macho
gangstas in the industry who never show themselves as vulnerable
in their music, Kanye revitalized the genre by �allowing the
listening world to see inside the mind of hip-hop through a much
more honest and sympathetic lens.�
This is the contention of Jake Brown, author of
Kanye West in the Studio: Beats Down! Money Up! The book is
the literary equivalent of a fanzine, being basically comprised
of uncritical assessments of Kanye's career plus plenty of
publicity photos and informal snapshots of its celebrated
subject.
In the wake of Don Imus� dismissal for his racist
comments about the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team, it appears
that some good has been coming out of the ugly incident. For
many responsible leaders have pointed out that the sanctions
shouldn�t stop there and that the time has arrived for the black
community to purge itself of certain self-destructive elements
of African-American culture, beginning with gangsta� rap lyrics.
A critical aspect of reversing the mindset involves instilling a
positive sense of self in the very young. With that goal in
mind, Jwajiku Korantema has written a timely book entitled
I'm African and Proud. Ms. Korantema, ironically, happens to
be a graduate of Rutgers herself which makes this contribution
to children's literature all the more significant.
African-Americans comprise about a quarter of the
domestic movie-going audience, which translates to over $2
billion at the box office alone. For this reason, one would
think that blacks would exert considerable influence over the
images of them fashioned by Hollywood. But according to Esther
Iverem, despite the significant inroads made since Spike Lee's
arrival on the scene in 1986, the film industry has a long way
to go in terms of presenting authentic African-American
characters.
Iverem, a former staff
member at the Washington Post and Newsday, is an iconoclastic
film reviewer who writes from a point-of-view that is both black
and female. We Gotta Have It is a collection of her
insightful reviews, evocative essays and groundbreaking
interviews with everyone from Spike to actors Vin Diesel and
Danny Glover to author Alice Walker to director Julie Dash.
Supreme Discomfort: The Divided
Soul of Clarence Thomas is an unauthorized biography which
seeks to set the record straight about some of the nagging
questions about a man whose name alone tends to raise the blood
pressure of the average African-American. Like a black version
of Woodward and Bernstein, co-authors Kevin Merida and Michael
A. Fletcher, both reporters for the Washington Post, left no
stone unturned in search of the truth about this enigmatic
political figure.
In the wake of Don Imus being fired
for his insensitive comments about black women, there have been
renewed complaints in certain African-American circles about
gangsta rap for its similar demeaning depictions of females.
Therefore, you probably couldn�t ask for a more timely release
of a book than Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young
Black Women by T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting.
#1 selling book by or about an African American on Amazon.com
"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending
that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's
questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an
exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I
wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated
life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at
measuring up to the values I myself have set."
�Sidney Poitier
Born in Miami 1927 and raised in the Bahamas, Poitier began
acting after the war, and soon made his debut in Hollywood with
No Way Out. He became the first black actor to win an
Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1968 he was knighted by H.M.
Queen Elizabeth II and is the recipient of four honorary
doctorate degrees, the last from New York University. He has
starred in over forty films, directed nine, and written four. He
has received three Golden Globe Awards; an American Film
Institute Lifetime Achievement Award; the Kennedy Center
Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime
Achievement Award, among many other awards and honors. In April
1997 Poitier was named the Ambassador to Japan from the Bahamas.
Sir Poitier is currently president and CEO of Verdon Cedric
Productions. He is married, has six daughters, four
grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
A link to almost 200 photos
from the African American Book Sellers Conference, and the
African American Pavilion at at Book Expo America (BEA) 2007.
Held at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York, NY March 31 through
June 3rd 2007.
From acclaimed author Kenji Jasper comes an edgy, gripping
new novel that asks if family life turns a hustler soft-or just
hardens his heart.
He Killed For Hate.
Life on the darker streets of D.C. can turn a clean kid grimy.
Snow was one of those good kids-until a gang killed his next
door neighbor and he decided to settle the score. But doing what
he thought was right only plunged him deeper in a deadly game.
Now he's a killer for hire, a grown man who's willing-and
able-to do anything necessary to survive. But even a
cold-blooded hit man has a heart.
Now He May Die For Love.
When Snow falls in love and becomes a father, he's more willing
than ever to do what it takes to support his woman and his baby
girl. But what that means for a hit man and what it means for a
family man are two very different things. When the clash between
his home life and his street life threatens to explode, Snow
decides to make one last score to put his family on easy street,
and get out of the game. But as much as he wants to break out,
there's someone just as dangerous, and just as determined to
keep Snow right where he is.
Eddie Levert, lead singer of the classic soul
group the O'Jays, and his son, platinum recording artist Gerald
Levert, realize that African American fathers and sons have
gotten a bad rap for far too long, and they want to help set the
record straight.
In I Got Your Back, which will tie into
an album of the same name, Eddie and Gerald put their hearts and
souls on the line and talk about their failures, concerns,
fears, and triumphs as father and son. With a powerful message
of reconciliation for broken families, Eddie and Gerald explore
the themes of fatherhood, male bonding and male-female
relationships.
Follow the link above to see photos and videos
from the book launch Party in Harlem, New York.
A reprint of Sonia Sanchez's award-winning
collection, which contains some of her seminal work. Winner of
the American Book Award.
This book is another expression of the
continuing creativity of Sonia Sanchez. Some pieces are
plaintive and poignant, others are tough and militant, but all
are significant, brilliant and original. Here again is another
example of Black speech, a vernacular familiar to all who know
and love this author's previous work. -Margaret
Walker
Ever wonder if the man in your life who's been incarcerated,
turned to another with an alternative lifestyle for comfort?
Meet Candy Sweets, a teenaged, pre-op transsexual who gets
arrested and sent to federal prison, exactly one week before
�her� scheduled sex-change operation. Still having male organs,
Candy is housed with strong, masculine, handsome male inmates
who haven�t touched a woman in years. Candy soon finds herself
being caught in several love affairs with men having families,
girlfriends and wives at home�waiting for them to be released.
Yet, Candy doesn�t kiss and tell, she understands the code of
silence: what happens in prison stays in prison.
Convict's Candy deals with sexual identity, prostitution and
homosexuality within the prison system, the interactions and
relationships between the inmates and officers, infidelity and
most importantly, explains how the HIV/AIDS virus spreads
rampantly within the prison. It also reveals how the dangerous
and deadly disease is transmitted within society, when infected
inmates are released to go home.
Reginald Major provides a vivid eyewitness
account of the conditions leading to the formation of the Black
Panther Party. Major knew these conditions first
hand�unemployment, poor housing, police brutality and a Black
community held in bondage by white business leaders and
politicians. He also knew the young Black men and women of the
Panthers who, armed with guns, challenged those conditions.
Writing from this vantage point, Major captured events as the
Panther challenge set the example for Black resistance across
the country. A Panther Is A Black Cat records the birth,
growth and early years of the Panthers, and offers a valuable
context for understanding the Black Power Movement as a national
phenomenon.
�
Authors Become Video Stars!
� Allah Is Not Obliged by Ahmandou Kourouma
� Biography captures complexity of Ralph Ellison
� Condi: Her fathers daughter
� Michelle Obama Comes Under Attack?
� Here is a Conservative Black Man to be Proud Of
...and Many More
Elizabeth Nunez, author of six novels, including
her latest
Prospero's Daughter, describes the 2006 festival:
"I am no novice. I've been to more than my
share of literary festivals and I directed a national one for
sixteen years. I can say without hesitation that this festival
was one of the best I have ever attended. If you missed it, you
missed a major event..."
"...I loved everything about this festival. Mostly, I loved that
its focus never veered from the celebration of books. Mostly, I
loved that there were no stars, no divas, no dons. Everyone
shared the stage and the limelight. The much celebrated writer
Jamaica Kincaid read alongside Akilah A. Jardine, a young
Antiguan novelist, who is only sixteen and was fourteen when she
wrote her first novel. Emerging writers, among them the very
talented Black British writer Courttia Newland and the Antiguan
writers Yvonne Weekes and Marie-Elena John, read on the same
panels with established writers, including Nalo Hopkinson,
Christopher John Farley, Marita Golden, Tananarive Due..."
Julie Gibson, author of
Daughters of the Diaspora Get Ready, was the lucky
winner of a free trip to this year's festival. Her name
was drawn at the AALBC.com booth during Book Expo America.
QBR Hosts
the 9th Harlem Book Fair July 20 - 22, 2007
http://qbr.com
The 9th annual Harlem Book Fair will be
held on Saturday, July 21, from 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on West
135th Street from 5th to 7th Avenues. Publishers, writers,
literacy vendors will exhibit and author panel discuss-ions will
be televised by C-Span's Book TV. Opening the book fair's
festivities will be the Wheatley Book Award ceremony on Friday,
July 20, from 7pm to 10pm, at the Schomburg Center for Research
in Black Culture. The Harlem Book Fair is free and open to the
public. Please email to
rsvp@qbr.com to reserve seating for the Wheatley Award
program.
The Urban Book Expo (U.B.E.) will
debut on August 17, 2007 at the Illinois Institute of
Technology's (IIT) Herman Hall located at 3241 S. Dearborn. This
exciting weekend event will feature dozens of aspiring authors
in a venue to expose their works of self-help, children's
stories, urban fiction, mystery, science fiction, biographies
and poetry.
The 2007 New York Book
Festival will take place on Sat. June 23 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
near the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park. The event is free
and open to the public and includes author readings, live music,
children's storytelling, clowns performing children's
face-painting and twisting balloon animals, book signings,
vendor demonstrations and food, all in the graceful confines of
the world's greatest park!
Then imagine this or one of over 150 different actors describing you and
your book on your own web site. A 30 second video with a script
that you write is only $299!
OK, so your site does not get many visitors. Why not place the
video on AALBC.com homepage for increased exposure. The actor will
say something like "Welcome to AALBC.com the largest web site dedicated
to book by and about Black people... Here your will discover great read
like YOUR BOOK by YOU NAME. We can even have the actor hold your
book! Visitors can click the actor and be set to your AALBC.com
profile page (if you don't have one we will build one for your for
free). You pay $299 for the video and $30, for every 1,000 times
the video is viewed.
AALBC.com INFORMATION AND HOUSEKEEPING
Feedback
Let me know what you like or dislike about our newsletter and web site.
All feedback is read and appreciated. Simply email me, the
AALBC.com founder and webmaster, at
troy@aalbc.com
Newsletter Archives
If you have trouble viewing this
newsletter or would like to read it online; our Most Recent eNewsletter
may always be read at:
http://aalbc.com/current.htm.
You may also read our eNewsletters, from the last 6
years, at
http://aalbc.com/enewslet.htm
Our newsletter mailing list is not shared, sold or
bartered with 3rd parties.
Do you want more than 500,000 books lovers to see
your book next month?
Only AALBC.com has to the volume of traffic to display your banner
before such a highly targeted audience � those interested in African
American authors and books.
Download AALBC.com Marketing Kit
(adobe .pdf file)
Please accept my apology for not emailing a May 2007
Newsletter.