Black Literature

Why do we fear an open and honest discussion on incest and the terrible consequences that it bears on our children? I am trying to tell the world that "I survived incest and lived to tell it." It's time that the prevalence of incest stop being a family secret. I want to tell children all over the world that incest is never okay! The best way to stop it is to have our children tell somebody who they can really trust. Let's start a dialogue right now, Please! I am the author of Cracked Glass, Part One: The Whole Damned Family, a semi-biography and creative narrative about what it means to have survived in a dysfunctional family that was all but wiped out as a result of adul…

The latest African American Literature Book Club newsletter is out - full of book reviews, author profiles, film reviews, interviews and more. Read it and share it.

Author: Steven C. Thedford Book Title: Eastside Story ISBN: 978-0975973080 Publication Date: March 27, 2022 Request: I am interested in a book review. Synopsis Egypt James is a beautiful African American girl, who has attended private school all her life. In addition, she becomes a debutante and needs her father to dance with her at the cotillion ball-The Father/Daughter Dance. But, her mother kicked him out of the house after she found out…

I'm Jillian Bradfield, a fairly new children's book author in Atlanta, GA. I recently published my first piece, a guided journal/ coloring activity book for preteen girls. The goal of the journal is to encourage young girls to express themselves by writing. I provide weekly writing prompts that cover topics such as , self esteem, communication between other young girls, sex, life choices, etc. This journal is the first of many more to come under the JilleyBean Books line of children's books. I would love for you all to review journal! This is a great gift for preteen to teenage girls. Link to purchase: http://amzn.to/writeongirl

I will be a vendor and panelist at the National Black Arts Festival's Blacklisted! Banned Book Fair and Conference February 24 - 25, 2024 from 12:00pm to 6:00pm at the Loudermilk Conference Center in Atlanta, GA. Admission is free, however registration is required. See you then! NBAF Blacklisted! Book Fair and Conference

CLAUD BROWN'S BOOK MAN CHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND.YOUNG BLACK YOUTH IN HARLEM IN THE 1940'S AND 1950'S/CLAUD BROWN LIFE AS A STREET WISE YOUTH SURVIVING THE STREETS OF HARLEM//CLAUD BROWN BECAME CONCERNED ABOUT BLACK YOUTH. VISITING PRISONS AND JUVENILE DETENTIONS, TRYING TO FIND OUT WHY THEY JOIN STREET GANGS..QUESTION I HAVE WONDERED,WHY IN THE INNER CITY BLACK MALES JOIN STREET GANGS,GENOCIDING THEIR OWN PEOPLE///

Javaka Steptoe read from his award winning children's book Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. I worked with the Queens Public Library on this event. It went really well. Seems like everyone brought a book a few purchased 3 or more. Javaka is a very warm Brother and talented artist. Both f his parent are artists. His father, John Steptoe is also in the site.

The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival is an annual, cultural arts & music festival that takes place over the course of 10 days in Tampa Bay, Florida. They host an Author Village which I checked out on Saturday and met a bunch of authors. I was only armed with an old cell phone, but I managed to shoot a couple of videos and a bunch of photos.

Hello. My name is LaKesa Cox and I am interested in a book review for my young adult/teen novel, Mulatto Girl Aggie, 13: Name on the Ledger. The ISBN13 number is 978-1-61296-853-7. The publication date: April 12, 2017. Synopsis: What happens when The Wizard of Oz meets 12 Years a Slave? You get Mulatto Girl Aggie, 13: Name on the Ledger. This story takes you into the life of a precocious, spoiled and bratty 12-year-old named Aggie Lucas. Aggie is your typical 7th grader who loves her cell phone, social media and designer sneakers. Eager to celebrate her 13th birthday, Aggie is disappointed when her parents break their promise to her by…

In March of 2021 The Washington Post published an article entitled "The Rosa Parks of D.C." about Miss Barbara E. Pope. The author, David A. Taylor describes her as follows: Mr. Taylor goes on to let us know that the only source of her stories is on microfilm at the Library of Congress. They were originally printed in Waverly Magazine between 1896 and 1900. And now they are available again in print here. Transcribed from the microfilm of the original printing as preserved at the Library of Congress. This edition includes useful descriptions of terms of the day that may be less familiar to the modern reader. The transcription is intended to be completely …

Barnes & Noble is offering 50% off two upcoming titles from bestselling two bestselling authors A Christmas Prayer (Grand Central Publishing, October 28, 2014) by Kimberla Lawson Roby and INSTINCT Daily Readings: 100 Insights That Will Uncover, Sharpen and Activate Your Instinct (FaithWords, October 7, 2014) by Bishop T.D. Jakes

Debut author Angela Shanté teamed up with illustrator Alison Hawkins and created The Noisy Classroom to help soothe childhood anxiety associated with school and change. The book is about an African American girl entering third grade. When she finds out she is going to be in the raucous and disorderly classroom with Ms. Johnson, she wants to run away. Summer flies by and the little girl perseveres, soon finding herself cautiously entering the nontraditional classroom on the first day of school. Her worries slowly fade as she discovers “The Noisy Classroom” is not what it appears to be from the outside. The children play ball to learn math, write stories from a…

Wreath For Emit Till. Author Said Emit Till's Murder Has Been.Apart Of Her Life. She Wrote Poems About Lynching For Children...

Name: Nereus McNair Author Name (Pseudonym): Nuke Mayne Title: Bulletproof Faith: My Brother's Keeper ISBN13: 978-1515081050 Publication Date: May 2017 Synopsis: Is there really a God? Does everything happen for a reason? Or is it all just chaos? These are the questions on Von's mind as he struggles to find his way in a world where the odds seem to be stacked against him. After trying to make it on his own, overwhelming adversity causes him to turn back to the Man Above. Then God shows him that He has love for all His children, even those lost in the street life. Bulletproof Faith is the story of one man's spiritual journey, one family'…

La Casa Azul Bookstore is a bookstore just a few block from my home. The bookstore is less than a year old and is triving. The store owner says she has hosted 200 hundred events in just under a year. This video is pretty interesting as several authors give us their take on the state of independent Black owned book stores. A couple of then recommended their favorite stores perhaps some of you all can visit them.

…whenever someone prefaces a statement with, “This might sound racist…” you know to brace yourself for a racist statement. But I look at a LOT or books over the course of my day. Naturally, one notices trends and patterns, real and imagined, as one examines large numbers of books over time. One trend I've noticed, for example, is a surge in interest in Children's books. This is a great trend because there has been so much discussion on the lack of diversity in children's literature, that it actually crowded out discussion about the great literature that exists. Another trend I noticed is that corporate publishing seems to be veering even further way from publ…

51st NAACP Image Awards - Call for Literary Submission

From Dwight Fryer Many of you have asked for a new book; however, "such as I have, givest I thee!" My new short story, "The Green-eyed Blues" comes out on November 3 in a fiction anthology, Memphis Noir. Join us at this event to meet my co-authors and hear us share our stories: Tues., Nov. 3, 6:00pm Crosstown Arts’ story booth438 N Cleveland StMemphis, TN 38104 Sponsored by The Booksellers at Laurelwood

The primary format is an Uber/Taxi Driver who shares different stories that have been shared with him. Synopsis: In this adventure Clarence the Cabbie recounts the tale of __________. It’s about __________. The characters featured are ____________. The intended moral of the story is _____________. Basically it’s flash fiction which will be illustrated.

Hello, I hope everyone is doing Okay. I wanted to take this moment to throw a question out that I've been curious about. What do you think about the power of the black writer today? Is it more powerful or less powerful? If less powerful why do you think that is? And, what would you say was an era where the black writer was the most powerful? I know I asked more than one question, you can just answer one of them if you want. I'm not demanding answers, these are just thoughts I'm curious about.

As I migrate, and update, content from the old version of AALBC.com to the new version I have the pleasure of re-discovering some really accomplished people and ogrnaizations in publishing. As corny as it might sound, that is one of the reasons I sacrifice to run AALBC.com The folks running Good 2 Go Publishing, are just one example a business accomplishing a lot. They are making films, publishing books, and are also a long term sponsor of AALBC.com. Companies like Good 2 Go, should be well known. But hey, that what AALBC.com is for

“What It Would Take to Disrupt the Publishing Industry,” is an article by by Brooke Warner in Publishers Weekly (Oct 08, 2021). The article highlights several recommendations to improve the industry. I agree with the spirit of the article. One weakness of the article is that is fails to explain who the main culprits and how because of their might and greed, have been holding the industry back despite advances in technology that promised to democratize the industry. Of course when America has a cold Black America is on a respirator with Covid -- in other words all of this hurts Black books, and their readers, the most. Brooke's main po…

Carole Boston Weatherford has teamed up with many brilliant illustrators including, Frank Morrison, Eric Velasquez, Ekua Holmes, R. Gregory Christie, Floyd Cooper, and more, to create some terrific books for children. Often you don't see these books -- even the in major bookstores, which historically made these books effectively nonexistent were it not for the web. Some of these titles win children's book awards and gain some level of success and prominence, but still readers seem to be under the impress that there aren't very many Black book being produced. The issue s really one of awareness rather than supply. #readingblack

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a redistricting case that may have repercussions for people of color who vote. South Carolina Republican lawmakers moved over 140,000 residents from the 1st Congressional District into the 6th Congressional District. The NAACP argues the Legislature moved over 30,000 of those residents because they were Black, violating the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Folks need to grasp the idea that the Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote doesn’t apply to us. We are fighting the same battle to vote as my father, his father, and his father. Jesse Helms said, “Anyone can vote if they are qualified.”…

Hi all, We hope you & your loved ones are holding up as best possible. On behalf of Lee & Low and our creators, we'd love AALBC to consider reviewing our forthcoming Spring 2024 titles: MILES OF STYLE: EUNICE W. JOHNSON & THE EBONY FASHION SHOW by Lisa D. Brathwaite & illustrated by Lynn Gaines Nonfiction Picture Book Hardcover 9781620143124 On-sale February 6, 2024 Winner of Lee & Low's New Voices award, Miles of Style celebrates Eunice W. Johnson, a visionary who used her influence to showcase the strength and beauty of the Black community. …

Voices Beyond Bondage: An Anthology of Verse by African Americans of the 19th Century by Erika DeSimone (Author, Editor), Fidel Louis (Author, Editor) Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: NewSouth Books (October 1, 2013) Slaves in chains, toiling on master's plantation. Beatings, bloodied whips. This is what many of us envision when we think of 19th century African Americans; source materials penned by those who suffered in bondage validate this picture. Yet slavery was not the only identity of 19th century African Americans. Whether they were freeborn, self-liberated, or born in the years after the Emancipation, African Americans had a rich cultural heritage al…

The #readingblack Movement encourages readers, of all colors, to read books by Black writers and to buy those books from Black-owned bookstores and websites. If you are interested in helping to promote the movement by using the hashtag and encouraging others to join, please reply to this message and I'll invite you to the newly created platform http://readingblack.com (which is a club on this site). There we will share information and strategies to raise the profile of #readingblack and to help booksellers meet the needs of reader, authors, and publishers. To be added to the #readingblack club you must have an account. Once you've let me that you…

Diane Cooper was sentenced to 40 Years for crime she didn't commit. Learn about this tragic, but ultimately redemptive and uplifting story in the book which tells her story Dark Justice. I shot this video on this weekend and was already familiar with the book, I thought it was a work of fiction. I did not know it was a true story until I was shooting the video. Basically I about two feet away from The authors whose real name is Pamela, and she say the story if about her. I almost dropped my camera. She was sentenced to 40 years! This was for a crime one might consider a relatively minor offense and with no prior arrests a 40 years sentence (effectiv…

Triumphant ISBN: 978-0-578-13900-5-90000 By Keoni Kenai Keoni Kenai resides in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also the author of Labeled. Keoni is an avid reader and a physical fitness "nut" the way he puts it. His passion is reading, writing, and spending time with family and friends. Triumphant On Getting Better at This Thing Called Being Human Synopsis Craig Jamison and Armari Arnold have been in a relationship for over 5 years. It is a love considered to be taboo by the world’s standards and one that goes far beyond God’s permanence of what a true relationship should be between a man and a woman. Yet, the world and people are ever evolving toward newfoun…

Here on AALBC.com, I maintain a list of bookstores in America and a few that are abroad -- stores that I've visited in Nigeria, Jamaica, and other places. The Source of Knowledge Bookstore in Newark is a store that I have not yet viewed but from what I can they are definitely worth a visit -- I plan to check it out.

Forthcoming new novel by award-winning author Clarence Major seeks reviews -- contact info@manicdpress.com -- here's some info: “Clarence Major’s fiction has amazed me for years. And now The Lurking Place. This novel captures the late sixties in subtle ways that we seldom read. Major assumes the character of this narrator completely and fully, giving himself at once the narrative distance and fictive detachment required to render this story with building tension and expectancy. A wonderful addition to an already substantial oeuvre.” —Percival Everett, author of The Trees What happens when the drive to succeed professionally collides with ambition…

Akashic Books "Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World" That is Akashic Books slogan and they are serious. Akashic has published a number of Black authors including authors I consider part of the AALBC.com's family including Elizabeth Nunez, Bernice McFadden, Persia Walker and even the irrascible, incorrible Kola Boof. The have published books Thumper LOVED including Jesus Boy and many others. Recently, the publisher of Akashic, Johnny Temple interviewed me. This is a very unusual thing for a publisher to do. I think it is a great idea (not just because they interviewed me). But they are returning the support I've provided them over the years -- an…

The categories for our Bestsellers Lists include Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's Books, and Poetry. Unfortunately we did not sell enough poetry to fill the category for this period. Historically, poetry books have sold strongly on this site. Certainly one of the reasons poetry book sales are down is, despite 1000's of pages of content related to poetry, there is simply a lot less engagement on the site connected to poetry. I have not published a poetry book reviews in sometime, the poetry forum is not active, and while poets never really took ads out on AALBC.com, ad sales to poets is probably at an all-time low. This is too bad, because 2016 may be…

Thanks @Mel Hopkins for the heads up on Stacey Abrams accomplishment as a romance novelist, whose pen name is Selena Montgomery:

BookDeal gives me various choices to sell my used books on their foundation. You can utilize their exchange program, and here is the way where it works. You discover your book's ISBN, see the total BookDeal will pay for the book, and equilibrium an outline about your course getting's condition. In the event that you don't consider ISBN, look at our article, How to Sell Books by ISBN. See more at: https://www.bookdeal.com/blog/top-7-best-website-to-sell-books/

BOOKS ABOUT TUSKEGEE PILOTS SINCE THE REDTAILS MOVIE IS AT THEATRES..GENERAL B.O. DAVIS. .IN DAYS OF SEGREGATION .HE WAS PIONEERING OFFICER ,LEADER OF TUSKEGEE PIOTS.FIRST BLACK TO BECOME GENERAL IN AIR FORCE..TUSKEGEE PILOTS WERE THE AIRMEN,BOMBADIERS ,NAVIGATORS DURING WORLD WAR 2.99TH FIGHTER SQUADRON,332ND FIGHTER GROUPS OF THE U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS..THEY DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES DURING COMBAT MISSIONS...1944-1946.READ BLUE SKIES BLACK WINGS SAMUEL L. BROADNAX.MEN WHO CHANGED A NATION BY CHARLES FRANCIS..GENERAL B.O. DAVIS BY GENERAL B.O. DAVIS........READ ABOUT THE ALL BLACK INFANTRY..... CHAPPIE JAMES....

As I slowly plow through AALBC.com's upgrade I'm constantly discover just how much I don't know about Black literature and it is fascinating. Most of us know Richard Wright for his bestselling novel, Native Son. I did not know Native Son was turned into a film back in 1951 (the film is on YouTube). I also did not know how many novels Wright had published, when I created his page many years ago, I found a few, today during the update I found 19 different titles Wright that has published including not only novels but nonfiction and poetry. It is also hard to appreciate today, just how prominent and influential Wright was in his day, given the complete lack of attenti…

Hello AALBC community, I got so tired of everyone praising these homewreckers. I wrote a suspenseful tale about it about a Senator, a con, and his women. #PrivateBetrayal I would love to send a free PDF to a member here for a honest review. My first Amazon review was amazing and unexpected: "S.R. Chase delivered! An excellent writer who produced a main character that I think so many can relate to. Private Betrayal is an entertaining interpretation and perspective to marriage, cheating, mistresses/sidechicks etc. I know several characters in the book in real life. Private betrayal did not disappoint. I read through it so fast because I was immersed i…

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT, WORLDWIDE! I'M STILL EXCITED AS I WAS ON 6.4.03! 0) #HICKSON: CEO of GHETTOHEAT® & GHETTOHEAT® TV! GHETTOHEAT® PRODUCTIONS: GHETTOHEAT®, CONVICT’S CANDY, HARDER, AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, LONDON REIGN, SONZ OF DARKNESS, TANTRUM, THICKNESS, LOVE DON’T LOVE NOBODY, GHOST TOWN HUSTLERS, TOUGH, SOME SEXY, ULTRAFABNABULOUS, SKATE ON!, & GHETTOHEAT®: THE HOTNESS IN THE STREETS!!!™ MAGAZINE! GHETTOHEAT® | P.O. BOX 2746 | NEW YORK, NY 10027 | HTTP://GHETTOHEAT.COM | HICKSON@GHETTOHEAT.COM GHETTOHEAT®: THE HOTNESS IN THE STREETS!!!™ GHETTOHEAT® BOOKS~> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords…

ASSATA, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY IS ABOUT IS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN ASSATA.BLACK ACITIVIST ,BECAME POLITICAL PRISONER.BECAME COLLEGE ACTIVIST, BLACK PANTHER, BLACK LIBERATION MEMBER.WAS ARRESTED,THEN ESCAPED../SHE REMINDS PEOPLE ABOUT THE ARREST OF BLACK POLITICAL PRISONERS,AND THE FBI ASSAULT ON BLACK PANTHERS AND OTHERS.SHE TALKS ABOUT THE DECLINE OF THE BLACK PANTHERS../LOT OF BLACK FEMALES NOT TALKED ABOUT IN BLACK HITORY CONVERSATION/ON THE NEWS, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT NOT CHARGING MURDER ZIMMERMAN WITH MURDERING TRAYVON MARTIN,..TRAYVON MARTIN WALKING DOWN SIDE WALK, STREET, ERIC GARNER CHOKED TO DEATH …

The 29th Annual African American Children's Book Fair will be held virtually on Saturday, February 6, 2021, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. Hosted by the African American Children’s Book Project (AACBP), the book fair is one of the oldest and largest single-day events for children's books in the country. Register Here. Here is a preview of some of the books to be sold this year and a video from last year.

BOOK CALLED PLAN B BY CHESTER HIMES. ABOUT IN HARLEM, A BLACK COMMUNITY LEADER TRIES TO STIR UP RACIAL TENSION TO FORCE RACE RELATIONS.///ONCE INTERVIEWED, CHESTER HIMES SAID,WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT GIVE THOUGHT OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN WITH A BLACK PEOPLE UPRISING IN AMERICA.///I DISAGREE/ I AGREE WITH MALCOLM X/DIVIDE AND CONQUER///FROM A WHITE THOUGHT/BLACK PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DIVIDED BY SKIN COLOR,DARK SKIN VERSUS LIGHT SKIN/BLACK MAN VERSUS BLACK WOMAN//OLD VERSUS YOUNG////CONFINED IN POVERTY BLACK VIOLENCE//RELIGION////BLACK PEOPLE READING THE BIBLE/NOT AGREEING WHAT IT SAYS....//FINANCE//BLA…

Jada. Smith. Will. Smith. Wife. .Book. Talks. About. Her. Life. ...,On,YouTube She. Says. Will. Smith. Is. Sexually. Involved. With. ,,Rapper. P diddy Puffy. Combs.........Someone. On. YouTube. Says,,She. Believes. Tupac Shakur. Is. Inside. The. Smith. House.........On YouTube. People. Saying. Lot. Of. Strange. Things. Go,On. In the. Smith. House.. .The. Divorce. That. Might. Or. Might ,Not. Happen.. The. Smith. Children. ....Lot. Of. Creepiest. With,,Will. And. Jada. Smith........

Here I'm with Kai EL’Zabar who is the Executive Editor of The Chicago Defender during the Black Pack Party in Chicago this past Wednesday (read the full article and the Defender's website).

Gathering and sharing available quality information on the contributions of Africans to the world

A tale of self-determination in a world that refuses to listen. Bowie doesn’t intend to kill hurt his mother—he just wants to collect his social security check from her. But when she throws around words like hallucinating and tells him he’s “hearing things,” his fear is triggered, and he takes action. This event, coupled with a history of reported psychotic episodes, a gambling addiction, his sexual preference for other men, and a shimmer that whispers vile things to him, sets Bowie on a collision course with mental health professionals, the police, and the prison system. In sharp, unapologetic prose, David Jackson Ambrose explores the intersectio…

My Bondage,My. Freedom. By. Frederick. Douglass. Talks. About. His,Transformation. From Slavery. To. Freedom....

THE MIS-EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO by, the father of Black History Month, Carter G. Woodson. The edition AALBC sells is the ONLY one published in partnership with the organization Woodson founded, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Mis-Education is the #3 all-time bestselling book on AALBC. The copies I sell also sport the AALBC Bestseller Seal.

From a librarian's page "I’m starting my first book order of the year, and am looking to add more books with diverse characters. I’m having trouble finding many without major trauma or big problems-I’d like to have some diverse books that show the main character doing ordinary things-maybe some friend drama they have to work through or something. Anyone else have this issue? Any suggestions of good books you’ve found? My school has a high population of Karen/Burmese and African American families, if that helps." I have the same problem - there are plenty of picture books from that long time favorite Corduroy to last year's Jubari Jumps. But fewer books for middle eleme…

From debut Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Mapepa comes the saga of the four Taha sisters, and the indomitable matriarch who carried her daughters—and her community—through times of drought and violence in their Harare neighborhood. From the red soil of her garden in Southgate 1, a crowded suburb of Harare, Nyeredzi watches the world. She knows not to venture beyond the grasses that fence them off from the bush, where the city’s violent criminals and young lovers claim the night. But on this red soil, she is sovereign. It is here where she learns how to kill snakes, how to fight off a man, and how to take what she is due. It is here where Nyeredzi and her three older siste…