AALBC Bestsellers, Oprah's Picks, Kirkus Prize, NAACP Image Awards, and More! - 1/14/2020

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From the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God comes Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick, a collection of remarkable stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s “lost” Harlem stories. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer’s voice and her contributions to America’s literary traditions.

AALBC Bestselling Books

In September 2019, we stopped selling books as an am*zon affiliate. This is the first reporting period that AALBC bestsellers list includes only books that we have sold directly. Since dropping am*zon our sales have increased overall, but the number of books on our bestsellers list is lower because a only a single copy of most titles was sold. Previously our bestseller list also included eBooks and books that were used or out of print. Today our bestsellers list reflects new, physical books, sold at retail prices. Check out all of our best selling books for November/December 2020.

Black Writers Almost Sweep the 2019 Kirkus Prize Winning $50K Each!

The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 86 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. There are 5 finalists in each category, Black writers made up more than half the finalists and won every category! This is quite an accomplishment. When the award started in 2014 there was only one Black finalist and no winners. Discover all the award winners of African descent since the award's inception.

Oprah’s Book Club Selections Since 1996

Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 launched in June of 2012 and is a joint venture between, Oprah Winfrey, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, and O: The Oprah Magazine. The club is a re-launch of the original Book Club which ran from 1996 until 2011. We share information on all the authors, of African descent, who have been selected for Oprah’s Book Clubs since 1996.

All 40 NAACP Image Award Nominated Books for 2020

In 2020, the NAACP celebrates the 51st anniversary of Image Awards. There are 5 titles nominated in eight literature categories; Biography/Autobiography, Children, Debut Author, Fiction, Instructional, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Youth/Teens. The Image Awards is perhaps the highest profile event for Black books in the country, were also sponsors of AALBC in 2019, and are one of the most important platforms for celebrating Black books that we have. Be sure to cast your vote for the 2020 winning books!

Keith Kareem Williams Guarantees He'll Hook You in 2 Chapters!

Keith Kareem Williams is the author of 21 books. We are sharing two chapters of his genre bending novel, Death in the City, with your on AALBC! Let us know what you think in the comments section on the page. When he hooks you, please be sure to order this books from the place you discovered him AALBC.com.

AALBC Book Reviews

Speaking of Summer: A Novel by Kalisha Buckhanon Mental illness in fiction provides a lens and a relatively safe space by which readers can examine its complexity and impact on the lives of the individual, families and friends. We have seen these stories in classics such as Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, …, J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and Susan Kaysen’s Girl Interrupted. Kalisha Buckhanon, in her most recent novel, Speaking of Summer examines mental illness in a fast-paced suspense mystery that explores the strange disappearance of Summer, the protagonist’s twin sister. Buckhanon expands the narratives depicting mental illness in fiction and creates a story which centers on a young Black woman’s emotional pain as she attempts to deal with the loss of a person who has been her confidante, friend, and ally for years. More ►

Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Diaz Jaquira Diaz, in her memoir Ordinary Girls, crafts a story that illustrates the intersection of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and poverty on the lives of ordinary girls growing up in Puerto Rico and Miami. “Ordinary girls” are the troublemakers: party girls, wild girls, queer girls, and girls who dribble balls on the basketball court. They represent all shades of black and brown in cities such as Miami and San Juan. Diaz is one of the “ordinary girls.” The reader witnesses Diaz’s desperate search for love: self-love, the love of her mother and father, and the love of boys and girls as she journeys from childhood and into adolescence and adulthood. More ►

Evil Never Sleeps: Tales of Light and Darkness If the short story is a lost art, then you wouldn’t know it from reading Robert Fleming’s latest collection of story stories, Evil Never Sleeps: Tales of Light and Darkness. Fleming’s swift descriptive sentences sketch the rich details of setting, circumstance, and actions like the rapid brushstrokes of an impressionist artist bringing to life disparate time periods, landscapes, jazz clubs, the familiar faces of Hollywood starlets, American military occupations, mysterious extraterrestrial encounters, and racial antagonisms with the clarity, honesty, and unsettling irony of which only great hindsight can give license. Taken together, the 16 short stories weave a complex and thoroughly engaging tapestry of post-World War 2 American life from competing standpoints of race, gender, class, and profession. More ►

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson …Red at the Bone is a sensitively told story of two families whose lives become interconnected through the unexpected birth of Melody. Using autobiography, history and her reflections on identity, loss, and death, Woodson weaves a story that reflects the characters’ search for love and their need for connectedness and healing. Melody comes from a strong Black family whose lives span several generations. Her family’s collective memory and cultural history are rooted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Atlanta Georgia, Chicago, Illinois and early 20th century Brooklyn. Iris, Melody’s mother, becomes pregnant at 16. The family of Aubrey, Melody’s father, is not as rooted. Aubrey, the son of a White mother and Black father, meets his father, a jazz musician, but does not really comes to know him. He and his mother never stay in one place for too long. Like his father, Aubrey and his mother continuously move, staying along the coastline and close to the water. More ►

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks by Alice Faye Duncan Gwendolyn Brooks was a very influential African American poet who became the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize award (Poetry). In the children’s book A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks author Alice Faye Duncan depicts all of Brooks loses and triumphs that she endured throughout her life. It is at times a very sad depiction, but overall very inspiring. Everything that Brooks experienced as a child, made her into a successful writer as an adult. Through all of her experiences, she became a stronger and smarter individual. More ►

Join the Conversation in our Discussion Forums

AALBC has continuously operated a discussion forum for over 20 years. We are one of a few remaining platforms where you can share ideas about anything while maintaining your privacy and without fear of being being manipulated by some pernicious algorithm. Some recent topics included; ▪ The Importance of the “Literary Chitlin' Circuit;” ▪ Barack Obama Didn’t Do a Darn Thing For Black People; and ▪ Debtors Prison is Back in America Join in the conversation or start your own.

Dear Reader, Independent bookstores thrive with your patronage and support. When you find something of value on AALBC please be sure to share the information with others. If discover a book in this newsletter or on our site, that piques your interest, purchase it from us or another indie bookseller. Also please consider supporting this newsletter by volunteering to pay for your subscription. If you have already paid for an annual subscription, thank you on behalf of AALBC and the writers whose work you are helping to celebrate. Peace and Love, Troy Johnson Founder & Webmaster, AALBC.com

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