Authors You Should Know, New Books, and the Top 50 Black-Owned Websites – August 23, 2022

[Troy]

The Fame Game: An Insider’s Playbook for Earning Your 15 Minutes: Legendary Hollywood entertainment manager and publicist Ramon Hervey II shares insightful tales of his remarkable career in The Fame Game. Having worked with everyone from Little Richard, Bette Midler, and the Bee Gees, to Aaliyah, Rick James, and Vanessa Williams —this juicy and addictive retrospective also traces the origins of fame and how social media is changing the rules. Available now!

AALBC Book Reviews

The Juju Girl by Nikki Marsh Awarded by the 2022 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Self Published ebook in fiction by an African American author, Nikki Marsh’s The Juju Girl has everything an outstanding YA book should possess. Gabbie, a 15-yer-old girl, comes into her own after she is forced to flee from her small town along the Mississippi River by the powerful Great Storm of 1893, On the brink of womanhood, she arrives in New Orleans and is thrust into the class-conscious Creole Society, finding herself a stranger in a strange culture. Read the Full Review ▶

Authors Your Should Know

“Black women, contrary to anything else you may have heard or may think, are at the center of their world.” — Nellie Y. McKay

Dr. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, professor of English, creative writing and African literature at Penn State Altoona, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award from Saginaw Valley State University.   Wesley, “one of the most prolific African poets of the twenty-first century,” immigrated to the United States with her family during the 14-year Liberian civil war, a war that has helped shape her writing as a Diaspora African woman writer in the United States. For more than two decades, Wesley’s poetry has given voice to the voiceless, the hundreds of thousands of Liberian war dead through its exploration of themes on the plight of the refugee of war, the new African Diaspora mother/wife and African femininity, motherhood, home, displacement, and the survivor as a witness. Learn More ▶

Jasmine Guillory is a New York Times bestselling author. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Time, and she is a frequent book contributor on The Today Show. She lives in Oakland, California.   Her latest novel, By the Book, earned a ton of honors including; Harper’s Bazaar Best Romantic Books of 2022, USA Today’s Bestseller, Apple’s Best Book of 2022, The Root’s Books We Can’t Wait to Read, and other accolades. Learn More ▶

Nellie Y. McKay (May 12, 1930 – January 22, 2006) was a pivotal figure in contemporary American letters. The author of several books, McKay is best known for coediting the canon-making Norton Anthology of African American Literature with Henry Louis Gates Jr., which helped secure a place for the scholarly study of Black writing that had been ignored by white academia.   However, there is more to McKay's life and legacy than her literary scholarship. After her passing, new details about McKay’s life emerged, surprising everyone who knew her. Why did McKay choose to hide so many details of her past? Biographer and scholar, Shanna Greene Benjamin examined McKay's path through the professoriate to learn about the strategies, sacrifices, and successes of contemporary Black women in the American academy. Read more in Nellie Y. McKay’s 2021 biography, Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay ▶

The Top 50 Black-Owned Websites

Our mission includes uplifting and supporting websites created for, and by, Black people. As the World Wide Web becomes increasingly controlled by a handful of extremely powerful corporations, content created by Black people which showcases Black culture is increasingly marginalized. All of us, regardless of background, enjoy a less rich experience on the web as a result. Check our Top 50 ▶

The Following is Sponsored by Tiny Reparations Books

A Black Texan family gathers to say goodbye to their matriarch, and as they do, long-held secrets begin to bubble to the surface. From a fresh new voice in Black fiction comes a heartfelt family saga about what we inherit and the power of forgiveness. Tackling themes of race, class, and legacy, Perish is the story of every family that has struggled to understand the invisible forces that shape generations. “Readers will discover their own strength and ability to move past intergenerational trauma—and embrace their roots along the way.” —BUST magazine • Buy Now ▶

Dear Reader,   Here I’m rockin’ my “Black Authors Matter” (available at Cush City) at the National Book Club Conference. The conference was a lovely event and a great opportunity to meet authors in the company of other book lovers. I applaud Curtis Bunn (check his video) for running this event for 20 years!   Your support is crucial to helping us improve AALBC..com. Your paid subscriptions, book purchases, suggestions, engagement on the site, social sharing, advertisements, and feedback help support AALBC’s mission of celebrating Black culture through books.   Peace and Love, Troy Johnson Founder & Webmaster, AALBC.com

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