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The Ultimate Top 10 Books Lists, Great New Books, Black Classic Press Celebrates 40 Years, and More!
Please join us as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Black Classic Press hosted by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. We will be celebrating a full weekend, May 18–20. O...
Susan Taylor Baker King’s Memoir
An Excerpt from Susan Taylor Baker King’s Memoir:Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd US Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers Reminiscences ...
Complete List of 1,453 Titles Sold in 2006
Complete List of 1,453 Titles Sold in 2006 In 2006 AALBC.com sold 1,453 different titles via the Amazon.com affiliate program. Th...
All Because You Matter
All Because You Matter Tami Charles A lyrical, heart-lifting love letter to black and brown children everywhere: reminding them how much they matter, that they have alway...
30+ Must Read Books - Something for Everyone
Our January 2016 eNewsletter was sponsored by author Russell A. Mabane. Learn how you may sponsor an AALBC.com eNewsletter. Bestselling Books for November/De...
Great Books, Events, Films & More - October 2015 eNewsletter
AALBC.com’s Best Selling Books — July/August 2015 We just published our ten best selling fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books for the period July 1 through ...
378 Excellent Books, 77 Important Events
Top 100+ Recommended Children’s Books Children book authors, industry professionals, and avid readers contributed their favorite children’s books to this list. W...
List of Contributors to Step into a World
The Following is the List of Contributors to This Amazing Volume Toyin Adewale is a native of Emure-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Born in 1969, she has absolutel...
Why Did The City Sun [1984–1996] Matter?
Editors’s Note: Check out Dawkins’ book about The City Sun’s publisher Andrew W. Cooper A decade ago in fall 1996, The City Sun set, ye...
AALBC.com eNewsletter - August 1st 2012 - #193
Subscribe to this eNewsletter Read our eNewsletter Archives Read Our eNewsletter on Your Kindle Help AALBC.com support our literary legacy. If you find somethi...
Good Books, Films, Events & Articles – May 2014 eNewsletter
You may receive this eNewsletter directly in your email-box by subscribing or download a PDF version. It may also be read on your Kindle ebook reader. Enjoy our previou...
Excellent Books, Authors, Events and More
You may receive this eNewsletter directly in your email-box by subscribing. It may also be read on your Kindle ebook reader, or any device by downloading a PDF versi...
Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace
Chapter 1 The Valley of Light Teaches us the lesson of stillness, through the imposition of a state of solitude and silence which forces us to take a look at ours...
Our 10 Most Popular Discussions (and Why Discussion Forums Matter)
Our discussion forums have been running for more than 17 years. According to Google's Analytics, these are the 10 most popular conversations over that last 6 months. ...
Highlighting Books Needed for Survival
Our August 23rd Newsletter is Sponsored by Knopf Expanding Awards Section Our lists of award winning books have greatly increased in the last couple of weeks. We...
50 Best Places to Meet Other Book Lovers Online
Editor’s Note: This article was updated in April 2017 to show sites that are no longer active or have completely shut down (they are striked out) due, in part...
Thumper’s Picks
It’s been a while but I’m back with a whole new set of books that I have fallen in love with, passed around, and will sing the praises of at the drop of a h...
An Interview with John A. Williams
John A. Williams (right) and Dennis A. Williams Originally published in FORKROADS, A Journal of Ethnic-American Literature, Winter 1995 For me, at first, he was...
Good Books, Films, Events & Articles – June 23, 2014 eNewsletter
You may receive this eNewsletter directly in your email-box by subscribing. It may also be read on your Kindle ebook reader, or any device by downloading a PDF version....
She is Global, an Artist, a Movement—Malaika Adero is “Global I Aam”
Kalisha Buckanon, John McGregor, Deborah Cowell, and Troy Johnson, president of he African American Literature Book Club (Photo Credit Marcia E. Wilson 2016) An...
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Way I see it can’t nobody tell me nothing I don’t already know. At least not when it comes to my kids. They all grown, but in a whole lotta ways they still ...
Tavis Smiley: The State of the Black Union Interview
Born in Gulfport, Mississippi on September 13, 1964, Tavis Smiley was raised by his mother and step-father in a modest mobile home in ...
Book Reviewing, African-American Style
This article appeared in the September 16, 2002 edition of The Nation On April 14 [2002], my review of Maya Angelou’s A Song Flung Up to Heaven appeared in the ...
Reflections on Black Book Reviews
For more than a decade I, through AALBC.com, have published hundred's of reviews of books written by or about Black people. Over the years this has sometimes been taken...
Ishmael Reed – July 1-7, 1983, in Emeryville, California
REGINALD MARTIN: Camus wrote in "Neither Victims nor Executioners" that the only really committed artist is he who, without refusing to take part in the...
AALBC.com eNewsletter – December 31st 2012 – Issue #197
AALBC.com eNewsletter – December 31st 2012 – Issue #197 I hope you enjoy AALBC.com's last eNewsletter for 2012. Please take a moment to complete our short Website an...
It’s All About Love: Romance Readers Speak Out
Many Americans hold preconceived notions about romance fiction without having read one of these books. Their knowledge of the genre involves perceptions about Har...
Rejoice and Shout (2011) - Production Notes
About Rejoice and ShoutThe Information below provided coutesy of Magnolia Pictures [2011] The Music, The Footage and The Message The Power of God The Roots of Gospe...
A Report From The Field
360� A Revolution of Black Poets -- A Report From The Field "360� was a two day gathering of poets in Baltimore, Maryland on September 11 & 12, 1998. Event...
Through the Storm (Urban Books)
Through the Storm (Urban Books) Vanessa Miller Isaac Walker had once been a heavy handed drug lord, who was proud of the fact that nobody dared to mess with him. But af...
We, As a People, Will Get to the Promised Land!
Dr. King’s last sermon was delivered April 3, 1968, at the Church of God in Christ Headquarters, Memphis, Tennessee Your browser does not support the ...
Wolf Hustle
Introduction The hustle has always been with me. Once I discovered the stock market I became infected with the delirious joy that comes from a successful speculative t...
Are Bookstores Relevant?
I recently conducted an on-line survey asking just one question: Are Bookstores Relevant? Over 300 hundred people answered the question. An overwhelming majority,...
Kola Boof: Words with the Author of the Best Black Book of 2006
Egyptian/Sudanese-American writer Kola Boof is the author of seven books published in eight countries. Her autobiography, Diary of a Lost Girl (Door of Kush, ...
AALBC.com May 2013 eNewsletter Book Highlights
AALBC.com Best-selling Books - March to April 2013 This version of AALBC.com's eNewsletter, which focuses on book related content is designed for Amazon Kind...
Advertising Online
Advertising Online: Is this the Wave of the Future for Selling Black Books? by Leah Mullen Denise Turney got her start selling books over the internet a few...
Grandpa! Tell Us a Story Drinking from Ancient Wells the Story of the Game Black People Play/Trilogy Book One: The Game’s Soul
If you dig deep enough into your self, You will come face to face with Black History: And if you dig deep enough into Black Histo...
Colin Channer on Caribbean Literature, the Black Readers, Love, Urban Fiction, and the Art of Writing
With the stunning 1998 publication of Waiting In Vain, Colin Channer introduced the sensuality and spirituality of reggae as a literary form on American shores, mixing...
A Profile of the Late Hugh Holton
Hugh Holton, passed May 18, 2001 at age 54, just eight days after his eighth novel, The Devil’s Shadow Books Behind the Badge This is a profile of t...
An UPTOWN Continuing Literary Tradition (Harlem 1986 - 1996)
’ An UPTOWN Continuing Literary Tradition (Harlem 1986 - 1996) by ’Marie Brown (presented at the Second Symposium/Performance Monday Dece...
Chapters 1 and 2
Chapters 1 and 2 Chapter 1College Is Not for Everyone So your kid says he or she wants to go to college. “All my friends are going!” he/she exclai...
Julianne Malveaux: “Are We Better Off” as a Result of Obama’s Presidency?
Dr. Julianne Malveaux has long been recognized for her progressive and insightful observations. She is a labor economist, noted author and colorful commentator. Her con...
Colin Channer On His Novel, Satisfy My Soul
What is SATISFY MY SOUL saying about the American experience? That the destruction of African gods has shaped the destiny of this country because African-Americ...
The Black Bard Of North Carolina: George Moses Horton And His Poetry
The Black Bard Of North Carolina: George Moses Horton And His Poetry George Moses Horton For his humanistic religious verse, his poignant and deeply personal antislavery ...
Black Panther Founder, Bobby Seale
Seizing the Time with the Black Panther Founder Robert George Seale was born on October 22, 1936 in Dallas, Texas where, from the age of six, he was raised...
Treasure Blue
Treasure Blue Treasure Blue is an Essence Magazine best selling author. A former fire inspector with the New York City Fire Department, he is also winner of the Black ...
My Brown Baby
Chapter 1 My Escort into Motherhood I WAS A YOUNG REPORTER WHEN I MET HER—full of energy, I had a flat stomach, still 120 pounds soaking wet, still eating pop...
Reverend Al Sharpton The “Murder in Black and White Interview”
Alfred Charles Sharpton, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, NY on October 3, 1954 to Ada and Alfred, Sr., a descendant of slaves owned by the ancestors ...
A Novelist’s Staying Power: Interview with Gloria Mallette
I first met Gloria Mallette in 2000 at an author event at Zawadi Gifts in Brooklyn. Gloria was giving a reading for her new book, Shades of Jade....
Blue Nile Press Presents: Raisins in Milk by David Covin
In 1977, when Toni Morrison was an editor for Random House, she read an early version of Raisins in Milk. In a letter she wrote the author, she said “… I loved so mu...
Prophet Shelby Explains Why Black Messiah Obama Won’t Win
Photo Credit: Hoover Institution Shelby Steele is a controversial public intellectual who often finds himself at the center of controve...
Keshia Knight Pulliam - The "Madea Goes to Jail" Interview
Cosby Kid Chats about Successful Comeback Born in Newark, New Jersey on April 9, 1979, Keshia Knight Pulliam entered showbiz at an early age...
Ellen DeGeneres - Interview
DeGeneres (L) with NY State Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Born in Metairie, Louisiana on January 26, 1958, Ellen Lee DeGeneres attended the Univ...
5 Things Writers Must Do To Survive Online
Today, despite all the technology and social media at our disposal, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the average writer to earn a living through their writing. ...
Omarosa - The "Life After" Interview
A Tete-a-Tete with the Top Reality-TV Villain of All Time Omaroseonee Manigault-Stallworth was on February 15, 1974 born in Youngstown, O...
Thumper
Thumper Thumper Unveiled? Not Quite Yet by Leah Mullen For as long as I’ve been writing about the publishing industry, interviewing authors, editors, publicity...
Operation Sisterhood
1 So it really was a dark and stormy night, and it figured, thought Bo. Of course it was a dark and stormy night. Of course it was. Okay, so it wasn’t actuall...
The “Politics: Another Perspective” Interview
Wilmer J. Leon, III is a political scientist whose primary areas of expertise are Black Politics American Government, and Public Policy. Dr. Leon has a B.S. degree in...
The Davenports (Chapter One)
Chapter 1 Olivia Olivia Elise Davenport pulled a bolt of vibrant yellow silk from the display and held it to her dark complexion. She was drawn to the bright fabric...
Gloria Naylor Discusses Her Novel The Men of Brewster Place on Barnesandnoble.com
Moderator: Welcome, Gloria Naylor! Thank you for taking the time to join us online this evening. How are you doing tonight? Gloria Naylor: I am doing fine. Niki fr...
Dr. Condoleezza Rice - The “Ordinary, Extraordinary People” Interview
Dr. Condoleezza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama on November 14, 1954, the only child to bless the loving union of John and Angelena Rice. In spite of the cons...
Cornel West
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 2, 1953, Princeton Professor Cornel Ronald West is one of America's most gifted and provocative publ...
Of One Blood
Chapter One The recitations were over for the day. It was the first week in November and it had rained about every day the entire week; now freezing temperature added ...
Alain Locke: An Introduction
ALAIN LOCKE: AN INTRODUCTION(Part 1) Alain Locke established his intellectual brilliance by a lifetime of study and teaching. This include...
Texas Battle - The "Dragonball Evolution" Interview
Born in Houston on August 9, 1980, Texas Battle earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology at the University of Texas before making his w...
The 2016 Black Pack Party: A Wonderful Celebration!
The 10th Black Pack Party, like all the others, was a wonderful celebration. Hosted during Book Expo America each year, the Black Party Party is an annual celebration...
Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop
A CONFESSION There is no music more powerful than hip-hop. No other music so purely demands an instant affirmative on such a global scale. When the beat drops, people...
Provenance: A Novel
Prologue Park Place, Virginia - Fall 1909 “Hank, run!” was the last thing he heard Junior say. Deputies struggled to hold and handcuff his two brothers ...
Former Editor-in-Chief of Essence Magazine Opens Akwaaba D.C. Inn for Black Writers
Washington, D.C.: Hundreds of book lovers (in addition to a host of best-selling authors, literary activists, and media personnel) joined Monique Greenwood, aut...
John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism
I was looking forward to reading Keith Gilyard’s biography, John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism. John Oliver Killens is one of my favorite autho...
The Blair Bamboozle: A Fiction Writer’s Encounter With Jayson Blair
Burning Down My Masters’ House: My Life at the New York Times Click to order via A...
Jimmy Carter - The “White House Diary” Interview
Jimmy Carter - The "White House Diary" Interview photo © Sara Saunders Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, received...
Uncle Yah Yah Parts I & II 21st Century Man of Wisdom
Author Al Dickens gives us his unique brand of wisdom told as by Uncle Yah Yah, a storyteller and wise sage spewing amusing anecdotes, in the form of two books — ...
Kenji Jasper
Kenji Jasper “My name is Kenji Nathaniel Jasper and I am author. But I know that in this day and age ‘authors’ come a dime a dozen. It is no longer an event w...
Charles R. Smith Jr.
Charles R. Smith Jr. Charles R. Smith Jr. is an award-winning author, photographer, and poet with over thirty books to his credit. His awards include a Coretta Scott King...
The Payback
Chapter One In the handful of minutes before our store opened, the sales day was pregnant with potential cash. Soon my boss Richard would open our front door, that pla...
W. Paul Coates Literarian Award Acceptance Speech from the 2024 National Book Awards
Watch a Video of Walter Mosleys’s Introduction and Paul Coates Acceptance Speech. Paul Coates Acceptance Speech: Let me begin with a bunch of thank yous and...
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”
One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet—not a Negro poet,” meaning, I believe, “I want to write l...
Russell Simmons - The "Success through Stillness" Interview - March 2014
Rap Mogul Reaps Benefits from Meditation Regimen Photo Credit David Shankbone Master entrepreneur and visionary Russell Simmons has influenced virtually all...
Raisins in Milk
Raisins in Milk David Covin Listen to an Interview of David Covin Interviewed by Capital Public Radio, August 2, 2018 Your browser does not support the audio e...
Drone Child Chapters 1 and 2
CHAPTER ONE: THE DEATHS OF PAPA AND MAMA BOULE-BOULE People called me “The Fix-It Boy.” I repaired broken radios and TVs around our village of Zange. Ou...
Drone Child Chapters 1 and 2
CHAPTER ONE: THE DEATHS OF PAPA AND MAMA BOULE-BOULE People called me “The Fix-It Boy.” I repaired broken radios and TVs around our village of Zange. Ou...
In Defense of Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd is a very courageous woman. I am not referring to her work as a global ambassador for YouthAids, or her efforts to end poverty and sexual violence in un...
Black Folk Could Fly
Some of our literary greats fly under the radar. The unexpected death of the late great author Randall Kenan in 2020 at age 57 brought him well-deserved attention and sen...
African Influence on Easter (Ancient & Modern)
Many African American will be celebrating the religious holiday of Easter this weekend. It is interesting that many of us only think about the buying of new clothes assoc...
Open Letter to Chris Brown
Open Letter to Chris Brown by Kevin Powell March 23rd, 2011 Dear Chris: I really did not want to write this open letter, and would have preferred to speak to ...
The “Black Nativity” Interview
Kam Williams: Hi Kasi, thanks for the interview. Kasi Lemmons: No problem. KW: What a powerful film! I don’t remember ever seeing a musical that had ...
Kevin and His Dad
’What could be better for a young boy than to spend a whole day with his father! With mom away on a Saturday, that’s exactly what Kevi...
Dr. Ben Carson - The Gifted Hands Interview
Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr. had a childhood dream of becoming a physician. Growing up in a single parent home with dire poverty, poor grades, a horribl...
50 Years after Brown: The State of Black Equality in America
"The state of black equality in America 50 years after Brown reflects the historical recalcitrance of racial resistance in America that started from the ...
KimaniTRU
Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan Fast Life by Cassandra Carter LAUNCH: February 2007 Linda Gi...
In West Mills
Part One In October of ’41, Azalea Centre’s man told her that he was sick and tired of West Mills and of the love affair she was having with moon-shine. Az...
Kim Taylor
African American History Matters A master quilter looks back to the past and weaves ancestral history into textile art designs. The ancient West African tradi...
On-line Chat Featuring author Mat Johnson
The Coffee Will Make You Black On-line Reading Group’s Chat Transcript The Coffee Will Make You Black Reading Group’s On-line Chat Transcript...
Tavis Smiley The “Death of a King” Interview
Tavis on Repositioning Dr. King as a Revolutionary Photo credit WideVision Photography Tavis Smiley is the host and managing editor of Tavis Smiley on PBS, ...
Beyond Glory
Warning! I’ve been cleaning up my library again-meaning I’m about to review an old book. I have two walls full of bookshelves, whose ...
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World
“Inspiration allows 30 exceptional people to tell their unique stories. Each of these women takes us on her life journey, describing the people, the teachings an...
21st Century Slavery - My Reaction
Generally when I get spam, whether it come from friends, family or a stranger, I usually just delete it. I get a lot of email. Most of it is spam.The other day I got a ...
Robert Fleming
Robert Fleming Interested in psychology and sociology, I came to writing as a fluke in the early 1970s when a friend, Willard Jenkins, allowed me to sub for him as ...
Alice Walker The “PBS American Masters” Interview
Alice Walker has been defined as one of the key international writers of the 20th Century. She made history as the first African-American woman to win a Pulitz...