The National Black Writer's Conference

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

You may call this shameless self-promotion, but I prefer to think of it as sharing good news. Tomorrow is the first day of the 11th annual National Black Writer's Conference, and if you live in the New York City area, you should come check it out. And not just because I'll be reading at 12:00pm on Saturday with Jacqueline Luckett and Teju Cole. This year's conference theme is: The Impact of Migration, Popular Culture and the Natural Environment in the Literature of Black Writers. The line-up of speakers, panelists and special events is phenomenal and most events are free and open to the public. The conference runs from Thursday, March 29 - Sunday April 1.

I hope to see some of you there.

Peace!

Diversity Reigns at the National Book Awards

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I'm a little late in posting this, but still I have to use this space to honor and celebrate the winners of the 2011 National Book Awards. The winners are:

FICTION: Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones (Bloomsbury USA)

NONFICTION: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
(W. W. Norton & Company)

POETRY: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split 
(TriQuarterly, an imprint of Northwestern University Press)

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE: Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again
(Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

It was such a joy to see this list of winners as, they finally seem representative of America's diversity. Jesmyn Ward and Nikky Finney are Black women. Thannhha Lai is an Asian woman. Stephen Greenblatt is obviously a man. I don't believe that award winners should be selected based on their race or gender, but it seems to me that the best books in the United States would be written by a variety of people who reflect the true scope of  the 'American experience.' 

And for the first time in a long time, I'm truly excited to read every single one of the award-winning books. They will top my TBR list for 2012. 

What about you Meltingpot readers? Have any of you already read the works of the winning authors? What did you think? Any suggestions on what book I should read first? I'm listening.

And in the meantime, you can listen (and watch) Ms. Nikky Finney's acceptance speech for her book of poetry, Head Off & Split. The actor John Lithgow said it was the "best acceptance speech for anything" he's ever heard in his life.

Peace!

Hair Story 2.0: Add Your Voice to the Black Hair Revolution

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

You know there's nothing I like more than a good hair story. When I sat down to write my master's thesis in graduate school, almost 15 years ago, I was so excited to delve into the history and drama behind the relationship Black people had with their hair. Clearly my excitement was shared by many others, including my co-author Ayana Byrd and the thousands of people who have read our book and begged us for more information.

Well, it's been ten years since Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America debuted and even we think it's time for an update. Think of everything that's happened in the world of Black hair in the last decade. Willow Smith and her whipped hair. Don Imus and his nappy naughtiness, the entire world of online Black hair bloggers. Hello afrobella! And let's not forget the Sesame Street muppet who loves her hair.

We've written a proposal, we've done the research, we've planned the party even, but there's one little problem. Our publisher, St. Martin's Press hasn't quite gotten the message that there's a public waiting for Hair Story 2.0. Without going too much into publishing babble, the truth is, since the book came out so long ago, all of the publicists and editors originally attached to Hair Story no longer work with the company. So our little book that could is kind of an orphan over there. But just like that little red-headed orphan who charmed her very own Daddy Warbucks, we know we can prove to the head honchos at St. Martin's that this book needs an update (and a digital version too!). Because after all, the sun will come out....

And that's where you come in, dear readers. If you take a gander to the right of this post and scroll down a bit, I've added a facebook like button where you can 'like' our Hair Story 2.0 page. We're trying to get 10,000 likes by the end of November to show St. Martin's just how many folks are interested in the project. So, all you have to do is tap that little button and ask your friends to tap it too. And check out the page on the regular for updates on the campaign to get St. Martin's attention and for regular news bits, stories and fun facts about the world of Black hair. Here's the link for the page.

Thanks people, I appreciate it so very much.

Peace and Hair Grease!

On My Way to Virginia

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Thanks so much for all of your congrats and well wishes. I feel so loved :)

I don't have much time to write today because I'm on my way to one of the best book festivals on the East Coast, The Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. Besides the fact that it is going to be 80 degrees today in Charlottesville, I'm just thrilled to have been invited to participate for the second time. Charlottesville has such an amazing community of truly eager readers, I feel like a rock star when I'm there. If anyone lives in the area, please come out and say hi. You won't be disappointed.

That being said, this year I'm going to sneak away from the literary festivities for a hot second because I want to visit Thomas Jefferson's Monticello which is in the area. Now, while I am mildly interested in seeing Jefferson's architectural wonder, I'm more interested in hearing about the slaves kept at Monticello, as well as the mysterious Sally Hemmings. Has anybody visited Monticello before? Any tips for what I must see? I'm listening.

I hope everyone else has a fabu weekend.

Peace!

On the Horizon in the World of Books

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Yesterday I spent the entire day at Book Expo America. Book Expo is the largest trade event for the publishing industry in the United States.

BookExpo is the event where bookstore owners -- from Amazon to your local indie book shop -- and librarians come to find out what the hot new titles are going to be for the following year. The press is also there as well as book bloggers and film and TV folks who might be interested in turning a good book into a movie or TV series.

So, I went to BookExpo to try to spread the word about my new novel, Substitute Me. I wore my new sneakers and and hit the floor at 10am and didn't stop moving until the show was over at 5:00pm. My goal was to hand out my 150 flyers to as many bookstore owners and librarians as possible. I still had 10 flyers left when I came home, but I'm happy with my efforts.

Of course I didn't spend the whole day thinking about Substitute Me. I was also interested to see what new books would be coming out. Most publishers only showcase their big titles like Terry McMillan's highly anticipated sequel to Waiting to Exhale called, Getting to Happy. Or the next Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. (My older son can't wait for that.)

To be honest, I was disappointed by the lack of titles I saw with multicultural characters or authors of color being highlighted. At least in the children's section I was thrilled to visit the Barefoot Books booth. If you haven't heard of this wonderful publisher of books with a multicultural, environmental and an all-around positive perspective on childhood, I encourage you to check them out. And they have a wonderful selection of Spanish titles too.

I also almost peed my pants when I saw a new book by one of my favorite childhood authors, Katherine Patterson. I loooovvveed Bridge to Terabithia, but honestly I thought Patterson had died in the '90s. But no. She's 77 years old, has just been named the new Ambassador of Children's Literature and has penned a new story called, The Day of the Pelican and it's about a family who has to flee from Kosovo after the war breaks out. Way to keep it fresh. To read more about Patterson, check out her website.

I did find one book I'm anxious to read called, My Masai Life: From Suburbia to Savannah. As you can imagine, it's about a young White woman's escape from what she describes as her meaningless existence in America to live with a poor Masai community in rural Kenya. I'll let you know how it goes.

So that sums up my whirlwind experience at BEA 2010. What books are you looking forward to reading in the upcoming months?

Peace!

Even Latina Authors Get the Blues

I spend a lot of time thinking about books. I think about writing books, reading books and promoting books. I like talking to other authors about their writing process and I think about how I can get both of my books, Hair Story:Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America and Kinky Gazpacho into the hands of Oprah Winfrey and the Obama family. What I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about is the plight of Latina authors and the books they write.

What, with Junot Diaz running around winning every award known to man, I kind of figured Latino/a authors were hot right now. But then I read this heart wrenching blog post by Latina author, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. (If the link doesn't take you directly to the post, go to her diary and read the post from Tuesday, April 6). In it, Rodriguez rips the curtain off the presumed success of Latina authors, herself included, and rages against a racist culture that doesn't know what to do with Latino/a authors who don't want to write stereotypes of the Latin lifestyle. She rants:

"Then there is the issue of non-Latinos and my work. Because I do not write of Latinos as pitiable in any way, or from the dominant perspective of us (as do Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, etc.) I am spurned in literary circles. If I wrote of Latinos as struggling, poor, miserable (like this post, for instance) I would have had a much easier time being noticed by, say, The New York Times, where the only valid story of Latinos must be one of tragedy and sorrow, barrios and gangbangers."

Ouch! This sounds so familiar. If you can, read the rest of the post and see if you learn something. I did. Now I know that it's not just Black authors struggling, even Latina authors get the blues. Perhaps Valdes-Rodriguez should start a website like my friend Carleen Brice who created the website White Readers Meet Black Authors when her frustration at Seg-Book-Gation became too great.

My goodness, I'll be so happy when all books will not only be created equally, but read equally.

Peace.
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And Speaking of Books. THE WINNER OF KATHLEEN GRISSOM'S, THE KITCHEN HOUSE IS ... Pernicious Panda!!!!
Pernicious, send us an email at myamericanmeltingpot@gmail.com with your name and address and we'll send you your book right away. Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered.

Book News!

For anyone who has been reading the Meltingpot for a little bit of time, it will come as no surprise to know that I love books. I love reading them, writing them and buying them. I love the way books smell. I love the way they feel in my hands and I love the person who invented the library, a place where I can go and gorge myself on books and not have to pay a dime.

Knowing that, you can probably just imagine how thrilled I feel to be able to call myself an author. To know that I have written two books that have made their way out into the world is truly a dream come true. Really, since I was eight years old I imagined myself a great writer, penning books on my antique Remington typewriter in a little cottage somewhere surrounded by nature, sipping hot cocoa and listening to opera. Well, of course, real life can never really live up to our childhood fantasies because things like tiny publishing budgets, income taxes, and a sudden inability to process sugar can throw a monkey wrench in to your best-laid plans. Being an author in the real-world and being one in your rich fantasy life are two very different things.

As a real-world author you have to balance your need to be creative with your need to sell your manuscript. And you have to swallow your ego sometimes to keep the peace with your publisher. These are small concessions, but sometimes they can take the fun out of seeing your book hit the market.

But guess what? I am not complaining. In fact, I am thrilled with the first bit of buzz put out by my publisher, Atria Books, about my new novel, Substitute Me. In Atria's new summer catalog (Substitute Me comes out in August 2010), my book is described as:

" A smart, funny, and surprising novel that shows what can happen when a woman who wants it all -- a perfect marriage, child, and career -- finds a nanny good enough to make her perfect dreams come apart at the seams."

All this time I didn't know what to say when people asked what my novel is about. I think Atria summed it up pretty well. In fact, it sounds so good, I think I might buy a copy! In case you want to too, you can already pre-order it here.
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And in other book news: I think I'll continue to write about the book Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez for awhile. The story just won't leave me and it seems to be making a lot of waves around the blogosphere. For anyone who missed it, here's a link to Perkins-Valdez's recent interview on NPR's Tell Me More.

Peace!

Update on the Obama Effect in Publishing

Okay, so I started the conversation here on the Meltingpot and then I was so intrigued, I decided to follow up.

Check out my article posted today on The Root.com about the Obama effect in publishing.

And then if you are so inclined to read more about Black people in the publishing industry, check out Write Black.com. It's a blog written by a snarky reporter named Anika who has a penchant for romance novels, but don't let that fool you. She covers every angle of the publishing world and is always topical.

Happy Monday.

Peace!

Taking the Black out of Kinky

Here's an update from my publisher. There's a new cover in the works for the paperback edition of Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain. You can see the current cover above. Would you be surprised to know that the new cover has no Black woman on it? Just a lovely photograph of the Spanish countryside.

What do you think that's about?

I don't have the same publisher as Kim Mclarin, but the same thing happened to her recent novel, Jump at the Sun. The hardcover featured a Black woman reaching for the sun, the paperback is just a photograph of sunflowers. Apparently when sales and marketing discovered that "mainstream" American women (that's code for White people) were loving Ms. Mclarin's book, they deemed it necessary to change the cover.

Do you think that's what happening to my book? My editor denies it. In the grand scheme of things I guess it's a good thing to believe that a wider audience is loving Kinky Gazpacho, but it still feels like a slap in the face to say the Black woman on the cover has to go. Am I still an undesirable?

Thanks for listening.

Peace.