The Reading Diva

Author's note: I was on the committee for Black Ink the first three years of its existence and was on a panel during last year's virtual conference. I attended the in-person portion of the 6 th Black Ink Book Festival on January 14. The event was at Trident Technical College’s Complex for Eco nomic Development. This was the first in-person event for Black Ink since 2019 and the first time it was held outside the peninsula . This year’s theme was “Black to the Future”, which focused on Black futurism, science fiction and fantasy.   About 25 a uthors e xhibited at the event . Several of them were from the Charleston area and the stat e b ut there were also some from out of state . As in previous years, most of the authors were self-published but there were a few that were published by the major publishers (or will be published soon). There were also three independent publishers in attendance. Turning Page Books hop , t he only African American owned bookstore that has a p...

Relax in Paradise Rhoda Lerman  and William Grier. Congrats to the winners of the PEN Literary Awards ! Congrats also go out to the nominees of the Scotiabank-Giller Prize ! President Obama presented arts and humanities medals Thursday to several people in the arts . Stephen King, Jhumpa Lahari and Larry McMurthy were some of those who received awards. I am still experiencing sadness from missing the Decatur Book Festival.  Looks like last Friday's main event with Roxane Gay and Erica Jong was tense.  Recaps are here and here .  And one writer from Book Riot got to attend the festivities . The National Book Festival was also last weekend.   This video  has Walter Mosley being interviewed by Book View Now host Rich Fahle and Kwame Alexander. Two beloved children's books are celebrating anniversaries soon: Harold and the Purple Crayon and (one of my childhood favorites) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry . A fully illustrated version of the firs...

Relax in Paradise Tony Gleaton  and Soror Amelia Boynton Robinson . This year's Hugo Awards brought a whole lot of drama .  And here's a nice little reminder that women have always been in science-fiction . People who live in Harper Lee's hometown are concerned about the lawyer who has been handling her affairs . An African-American book club was removed from a Napa wine train tour .  The company apologized, but the damage has already been done. This article talks about the history of African-American romance novels. African-American editor and publisher Dawn Davis talks about her career in the publishing industry . Jonathan Alter is working on a biography of President Jimmy Carter . Model Beverly Johnson's memoir was released this week.  Here is an interview with Time . One book that has been getting press is the memoir Negroland.  Read about it here and here . Another book that has been getting press ( and a brand new movie deal ) ...

Relax in Paradise Julian Bond and  Russell Poole . Congrats to the nominees of the First Novel Prize  and the St. Francis College Literary Prize ! Sir Elton is not here for banning LGBT books . Other writers are not here for Jonathan Franzen's recent comments . Remember the story about Pat Conroy opening a gym?   A medical scare inspired him to live a healthier life , which eventually lead him to open the gym. Attica Locke talks about writing for books and for the small screen . Here is a new review of The Turner House . This fantasy book written by an African-American man (and with an African-American narrator) sounds interesting. R.L. Stine says  he doesn't like to read nonfiction books . One writer admitted that she hasn't read most of the classics .  I feel you, sister. A new children's book claims to get children to sleep in minutes and people say it works. Soccer star Cari Lloyd will be releasing a memoir . Ballerina Michaela D...

Today's Friday Reads is God Help The Child by Toni Morrison.  My book club is meeting for the first time in a while on Sunday and this is the book that was selected.  I'm more than half-way through and I'm still trying to figure out where this book's going.  It seems like several of the members have read it and enjoyed it. At least the place we're having the meeting has awesome food. Relax in Paradise Ann McGovern,   Brook Stephenson  and David Nobbs . A 100-year-old J. R. R. Tolkien book will be published . Another deceased author that will also have his work published is Truman Capote .  There will also be a book about his friendship with Harper Lee. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay TOGETHER  in one article, interviewing each other. Roxane is also working on a Young Adult novel that will be released in 2017. James McBride's next book will be about James Brown . Romance writer Beverly Jenkins talks about her frustration when she st...

Relax in Paradise Carol Brown Janeaway and Alan Cheuse . Congrats to the nominees of the African-American Literary Awards Show ! Publishers Weekly has suggestions on what you should read this fall . NPR was able to compile 100 great romance novels based on listeners' and readers' recommendations. A bookstore is giving refunds for those who didn't like Go Set A Watchman. A female author got a rude awaking when she tried to publish a book in her name and a male nom de plume .  Guess who got the most inquiries? Judy Blume came to the rescue of a man who accidentally gave away his wife's copy of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." Steve Hamilton left his publisher a few weeks before his new book came out, based on (what he felt was) lack of publicity for the new book.   Luckily he was able to find a new publisher . N.K. Jemisim was able to get a review for her new book in the New York Times ! Walter Mosley writes about how Louisiana...

Book News out of Charleston this week: A woman wrote a letter to the local paper's editor complaining about a book her daughter (who will be a freshman at one of the local high schools) had to read for English class.  Her complaint was that it was too vulgar and that the book should be off the summer reading list (even though the child could have read another book off the list).  To make a long story short, she got her way and the school pulled the book almost three weeks before school starts.  One, if her daughter doesn't know some of that stuff that's mentioned in the book, she will by the time she graduates.  And if I was a kid or a parent of a kid who read that book and it was pulled from the reading list, I would be ticked.  Just because one parent has a problem with it doesn't mean that other parents feel the same way.  Here are reactions from the local library's YA department and the author of the book .   There is a campaign to raise money ...

Congrats to Jacqueline Woodson for being named Young People's Poet Laureate ! Congrats also go out to Ali Smith for winning the Baileys Women Prize ! Flannery O'Connor was recently honored with her own USPS stamp . Be on the lookout for a signed copy of To Kill A Mockingbird that is missing from Blue Bicycle Bookstore. Maybe the book will show up in the auction where Harper Lee's letters are being sold . Judy Blume gave some advice to the people of the Internet. Why is there another 50 Shades of Crap Gray book coming out? Showrunner Shonda Rhimes will be releasing her memoir in November . Also working on their memoirs are Gabourey Sidibe and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell . Speaking of possible memoirs, publishing insiders are wondering how much a Bruce Caitlyn Jenner memoir would be worth . Wendell Pierce's book about Katrina and New Orleans' recovery now has a cover . Pharrell's book for children also has a cover (with lots of happy...

The New York Times came out with their summer reading recommendations last weekend. And it was an epic fail. THERE WERE NO BOOKS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE OF COLOR ON THE LIST. SERIOUSLY?!   Of course, the Internet universe ripped the publication apart about the lack of authors of color on their list.  Read this one from Roxane Gay . And this one from Gawker .  There have been a ton of diverse summer reads lists created since then (including The Root and The Grio , which I will address those lists in another post), but BuzzFeed's list was one of the best. And the Los Angeles Times also did a good job.  And with BEA and BookCon this week I know there will be a lot of think pieces on the lack of diversity in publishing coming in the next few days. Relax in Paradise Hugh Ambrose  and Tanith Lee . James Patterson's domination in the literary world continues with his new imprint for kids . Mat Johnson's new book was released this week and  it ...

Congratulations to all of the Triangle Award and Edgar Award winners!  Congrats also go to Marion Coutts for winning the Wellcome Book Prize ! The Broadway musical Fun Home, which is based off an autobiography ( that caused much controversy at one of the local colleges two years ago ), was nominated for 12 Tony Awards. More than 90 authors are protesting PEN American Center giving a free speech award to Charlie Hebdo .  But Salman Rushdie feels that the authors should get over it . Publishers Weekly has come out with their Summer Reads book list for 2015!  So has Huffington Post . Angela Fournoy's The Turner House was reviewed in the New York Times ! And Roxane Gay reviewed God Help the Child for The Guardian. Speaking of Toni Morrison, if you were like me and missed her speak during her short book tour this week, here is video of her event in New York City on Monday . And this chick got to meet Toni .  I'm jealous. Here are some new stories abo...

I'm starting off today's post with a picture of Eric Jerome Dickey and myself at the 2011 South Carolina Book Festival.  I know you are wondering why I have this picture up.  One, his latest book One Night came out this week.  And two, I will be seeing him again tomorrow at the Sandhills Books-A-Million in Columbia!  So we will most likely take a new picture together that won't have Eric's locs. And I'll be carrying a few more pounds.  Learn more about One Night here , here and here . Relax in Paradise William Price Fox  and Frederic Morton . Congratulations to the winners of the Pulitzer Prize (shout-out to the hometown paper, The Post and Courier ) and the L.A. Times Book Prize ! Pulitzer Prize Poetry Winner Gregory Pardolo is getting use to his sudden fame .  And I didn't know his brother was in City High ! Another author who released a book this week was Attica Locke.  She talks about Pleasantville here (with Rachel Ho...