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...

In the last blog post, I mentioned that I help start a book festival in Charleston called Black Ink . Now the festival is in its fifth year and it's going virtual! Black Ink 2021 will be starting tomorrow (January 14) and ends on Saturday (January 16). This year's headlining author is Kwame Mbalia , New York Times best-selling author of the Tristin Strong series. They will also have another New York Times best-selling author, Kiley Reid , who wrote Such A Fun Age. This year's theme is "Amplify Black Voices".  Most of this year's panels are focused to help Black independent authors, including tips on publishing and how to promote their works. I am honored to be a panelist for this year's event.  I will be participating in the " Cultivating and Maintaining Author-Reader Relationships" panel Friday at 3 p.m.  Also, Valinda will be on a panel called "Looking Beyond Amazon". Her panel will also be Friday, but at noon. Charleston County Publi...

After more than five years, I decided to make a comeback. The world has changed a lot since 2015. Including mines. 1. After 12 years at the same employer, I decided to take a leap of faith and return to public libraries. As of March 13 (I know I started when the world went to Hell), I am an Adult Services Librarian at one the suburbs of Charleston . There have been bumps in the road (including working from home for two months, not meeting patrons until June and loosing a coworker in October), but it's been a great experience. 2. I also work part-time at Turning Page Bookshop , the only Black-owned bookstore in South Carolina. My friends Valinda and Arrylee opened their store in Goose Creek almost two years ago. I help sell books at events (when there were events), write promotional materials and press releases, help with social media and suggest books to be ordered.  They listen to me...most of the time. LOL. 3. I did a lot of traveling in the Southeast (before the pandemic) with b...

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...

As some of you who have followed my Twitter feed know, I was trying very hard to get to the Decatur Book Festival this weekend. Not only because the awesomeness that is Roxane Gay is going to be there , but there will be a lot of authors I haven't seen in person.  But the universe was trying to tell me otherwise.  Got a medical bill that was almost $200.  Hotels were hard to come by (especially with DragonCon  and Atlanta Black Pride Weekend going on and being Labor Day weekend).  And then the unthinkable happened: the car I've had for almost 15 years broke down. Just decided to stop in the middle of the street.  So instead of going to the book festival, I will probably be at a car dealership to buy a new car.  And why did I just find out on Tuesday that Roxane was in Savannah last night ? *tears* Relax in Paradise Oliver Sacks , Dr. Wayne Dyer , Wes Craven and Noah Davis . Unless her unfinished works are in a closet, there are no other works ...

South Carolina Book Festival in 2012 News came out of Columbia yesterday that the  South Carolina Book Festival is no more .  Instead, the state Humanities Council decided that it would be best to do author events across the state.  To be honest with you, I have not been to the state book festival since 2012 when they brought Kimberla Lawson Roby, Zane and Eric Jerome Dickey.  I was in Chicago last year and the other two years they didn't bring people that interested me enough to roll out of bed and drive almost two hours to Columbia.  There were a lot of things I think they did wrong, which lead to the book festival being the thing of the past. Inviting the same people OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I can see them inviting Dorothea Benton Frank every year because she comes out with a new book every year.  But inviting Pat Conroy (and some others) just for the hell of it got old. NOT ENOUGH DIVERSITY.  There were some years (like this one) you can count...

Congrats to Tracey K. Smith, who was named director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing ! Ida B. Wells was honored with a Google Doodle  yesterday. Is there a third Harper Lee novel out there ?   A fourth ? A Charleston native spoke about his feelings after reading Go Set A Watchman and how it relates to his family and life.  And Jabari Asim has been rethinking his thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird. Another book that received a lot of hype this week was Ta-Neishi Coates' new book, Between the World and Me.  Based on his Facebook post, Dr. Cornell West wasn't a fan (and Michael Eric Dyson told him to get over it).  And this guy from the New York Times missed the damn point. Booksellers and authors are demanding the federal government investigate Amazon over anti-trust violations. Publishers Weekly is already talking about fall releases.   And The Million has also dropped their list of books to look forward for the rest of the year. ...

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...

Relax in Paradise Peter Gay and William Zinsser . Congratulations to the winners of the African Poetry Prize and the PEN Awards ! New stories about Attica Locke are here , here and here . Rachel Howzell Hall talks about the lack of color in the mystery genre . Toni Morrison responds to The New Progressive Agenda , which was announced this week. Here is an excerpt of Judy Blume's new book . The Big Little Lies series will be on HBO ! Are we surprised that the Obama Presidential Library will be in Chicago ? If this book about Hilary Clinton had so many errors , why was it printed in the first place? I don't know who this Tyler Oakley fellow who is writing a book , but I do know who Luvvie is and she's writing a book too! #internetstars If you are in the Columbia area this weekend, check out the South Carolina Book Festival .  Most likely, I'm skipping it again this year.  If you look at the author list , you will know why. What do you get if yo...

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...

Congratulations to the winners of the Anisfield-Wolf Awards ! BuzzFeed is launching an emerging writers fellowship . Will you be in the DC area soon? Sign up to take part in the Maya Angelou stamp dedication . Speaking of Maya, Tavis Smiley is developing a Broadway play based on his new book that discusses his friendship with the legendary poet. Here's a review of Stuart Scott's memoir . Here we go again: Amazon and Harper Collins are negotiating a new contract .  And it may get ugly. Waiting for Empire to come back?  Here are some book recommendations from the New York Public Library and Book Riot . Wish I would have been able to attend the Terry McMillian/Bernice McFadden talk in NYC and the Bocas Literary Festival in Trinidad and Tobago. Paul Beatty has gotten a lot of press for his new book The Sellout.  Here is an article from The Root . Speaking of The Sellout, this essay compares the book to Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly . T...

Can we please make this into a movie? Please Hollywood? Relax in Paradise Ellen Conford  and Martyn Goff . Congratulations to Akhil Sharma for winning the Folio Prize ! Congratulations also go out to Kwame Alexander for winning the Hopkins Poetry Award !  Did you catch him on PBS Newshour yesterday? The nominees for the Man Booker Prize were announced this week. The hills are alive...with a new Julie Andrews memoir ! A posthumous Nelson Mandela memoir will be released. Also releasing a memoir is Elvis Costello . Ethan Hawke is will be releasing his first book in over ten years . A new Dr. Seuss museum will be opening in Massachusetts. A grant is helping to digitalized works of African-American poetry . Here is an article about poet and Columbia native Terrace Hayes. If you have not read The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, you need to.   Let this article convince you even more. New Toni Morrison essay ! Hear this interview  w...

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...