Book News You Can Use 3/20/15

I found out earlier this week that Toni Morrison was coming to DC the end of April.  The more I thought about it, the more I felt that I could pull the trip off.  I could take off from my full-time job and my part-time job would be closing early that week (finals would be over by then).  I had looked at flights and hotel rooms.  I have even started to ask friends to come along.  All to find out yesterday that the event sold out.  The other two dates of her tour are in Philly and in NYC (which is sold out, but has a waiting list).  My friend Valinda is going to check to see if we can still get in to the DC event since she knows the owner of the bookstore who is hosting. Pray for a miracle.

Saturday, I got a chance to meet motivational speaker Valerie Burton at this year's Charleston Black Expo.  Her speech was great and she was very nice.

Congratulations to all of the Pen Literary Award nominees!

I know this is comparing apples to oranges. But the LA Times Festival of Books looks awesome.  The South Carolina Book Festival...sigh.

And no one told me about Storyweek in Chicago. And that the Virginia Festival of the Book is this weekend.

A new biography on Michelle Obama is coming out in a few weeks. I hope it's better than the one that came out before President Obama was elected.

Tina Campbell of Mary Mary is writing a book. No word if it has tips on how to shoot up your husband's car.

Larry Platt, co-writer of Stuart Scott's memoir, hoped that Stuart would have lived to see the book published.

We know that the story of Robert Durst is hot in the streets.  But did you know Susan Berman (one of his alleged victims) was an author?  I also recently found out that Morris Black (the eccentric Texas victim) once lived in Charleston.

What if Harper Lee had finished that true crime project she was working on?

Here are some interviews of Mat Johnson, Zane and Nikki Giovanni.

Read this insightful essay on African-American children's authors and self-publishing.

Just finished Girl on the Train (like I did)? Here are some recommendations.

The trailer for Paper Towns was released this week.

A Guantanamo detainee has a New York Times best-seller, but can't even get a copy of his own book.

This essay about E. Lynn Harris is everything.

Photocopying in the library: cool. Photocopying a cat in the library: not cool.