The Reading Diva

Relax in Paradise Dori Maynard and Benjamin Israel. A stamp recognizing Maya Angelou  will be released later this year . This is awesome, considering it takes at least five years for someone to get a stamp after their passing (unless you're a president, and then it takes one year). The hometown of Maurice Sendak is pursing a museum honoring him and his work. Drew Barrymore is publishing a collection of autobiographical essays .   Flyy Girl and its sequels are closer to becoming movies, with the recent naming of a producer . Fresh off of the success of directing the Oscar-winning movie Boyhood, Richard Linklater is in take to direct the movie adaptation of Where'd You Go, Bernadette . Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abrahmson inked a book deal worth at least $1 million. An author provides some tips to other authors on how to deal with Amazon . Barnes and Noble will separate their college book business from the rest of the company. We alre...

Relax in Paradise Philip Levine  and Anne Moody . Thoughts and prayers go out to Oliver Stacks , who recently found out he has terminal cancer. Congratulations to Ta-Nehisi Coates for winning the George Polk Award . More copies of Night of the Gun are being printed following David Carr's passing. Five African-American romance writers talk diversity in a USA Today blog . Laura Ingalls Wilder got a Google Doodle for her birthday! Family Christian Stores has filed for bankruptcy . Author Peniel E. Joseph  has come up with a reading list for Black History Month . Zadie Smith's works have been popping up on the Internet this week with an essay about diary writing and an article about Key and Peele . Here is a review of a book that was previously featured on Mailbox Monday, In The Eye of the Struggle . The first new Dr. Seuss book in 25 years  will be released in July . In today's "Why we can't have nice things" post, Amber Rose has a boo...

Tomorrow is not only Valentine's Day, but it also marks the fifth blog birthday of this blog!!  Thanks for all of the love you have shown me and this blog for the last five years and here's to many more!! Relax in Paradise David Carr . Congratulations to all of the NAACP Image Award winners !  Scroll pass the TV, movie and music winners. And congratulations also go out to the Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Award winners and honorees ! More congrats go to Harold Holzer, who won the Lincoln Prize . Congrats also go out to nominees of the Folio Prize ! Oprah has made her selection for her book club....and it's Ruby by Cynthia Bond . Super Sad True Love Story is being developed for a possible TV show . Ava DuVernay is not only working on the Queen Sugar show, but is directing the pilot of a show based on James Patterson's first book . Showtime is developing a show based on You by Caroline Kepnes. Harper Lee's lawyer insists that the author is ...

More books came in the mail last week, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! I won The Art of Not Having it All on Goodreads.  The book was given to me from the publisher. Since Harper Books ran out of ARCs for This House is Not for Sale  when I asked for it several months ago, they were able to send to me a finished copy! Do any of these books interest you?  Hit me up in the comments section!  Thanks to the publishers for sending the books!

I knew him before he was a Newberry Award-winning author! Congratulations to all the ALA Youth Media Award winners, especially to Kwame Alexander, who won the Newberry Award for The Crossover!  And kudos to all of ALA Notable Book List honorees! Congratulations also go out to Nathaniel Mackey, who won the Bollingen Prize for Poetry . I know that the Image Awards in literature were given out last night, but since the news has been trickling in and the NAACP probably won't update their website until after tonight's live show, I'll recognize the winners next week. The big news in the literary world this week was the upcoming release of the To Kill A Mockingbird sequel .   But many are saying, in the words of a famous R&B singer , somethin' just ain't right .  But the publisher says that this new book is on the up and up . And does Harper Lee really need the money ? Or is she getting exploited ? Three E.B. White books , including Charlotte's Web a...