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...

  Disclaimer: Received an advance copy from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley. Opinions are my own. Slight TWs: prolonged grief/guilt Summary: In the second book of The Boyfriend Project series, Taylor Powell is trying to get her personal training career off of the ground. But homegirl is broke. BROKE, BROKE. Jamar Dixon is a NFL player who is trying to get back on the field after a devastating injury. And he picks Taylor to help him with that goal...but he doesn't want anyone to know. They start posing at boyfriend/girlfriend, but what happens when that romance gets a little too real? Review: The Boyfriend Project was one of my favorite books of last year and didn't think Farrah could top that one. But I liked The Dating Playbook more and it's one of my favorites of this year (so far)! I found myself rooting for both Taylor and Jamar in their professional and personal endeavors! I love that despite the fact that Taylor was the trainer and Jamar was the cli...

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy from Avon/HarperCollins and Netgalley. Opinions are my own. Slight TWs: racism/microaggressions, chronic illness, mentions of passing of a loved one due to illness and tragedy, mentions of a mass murder Summary: Maya Jackson is working in New York City as a bridal designer, hoping to get a promotion as the top designer at the brand she works for. When her father suddenly falls ill, she heads back to her hometown of Charleston, SC to care for him. While back home, she gets an opportunity to work at a bridal shop, owned by veteran/widower/father Derek. He is trying to save the shop he inherited from his mother. Review: Book based in Charleston. Check. Book that the main character has the same name as you. Check. Awesome cover of a Black bride with St. Michael's Church and Rainbow Row in the background. And a cobblestone road! Check. Actual locations and streets that are in Charleston featured in the book. Check. And a great (and clean) roman...

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Edelweiss for the advance copy. Opinions are my own. Summary: Antonia "Toni" Bennette does not want to be a rock star. She's fine playing her guitar, doing shows in Philly's indie music scene and doing session work. What she wants is to be part-owner of a recording studio. But Toni gets an opportunity of a lifetime when she is recruited to be a temporary guitarist for up-and-coming band The Lillys. But it also reunites her with Sebastian, the manager of the band and her old friend who shared her dreams as a teen. Review: I really like this book! It touches on a lot of issues that many have dealt with, but not all deal with them in a Rock and Roll setting. Toni has modest dreams despite her tremendous talent. She is also dealing with the absence of her mother (who is also a guitarist and abandoned her to follow her own Rock and Roll dreams) and her aloof father. As a teen, she found comfort in her friendship with Seb (who had similar goals), ...

  I have some great news! This Thursday, April 8, I will be interviewing Dr. Jessie Smith to discuss the fourth edition of her book, Black Firsts: 500 Years of Trailblazing Achievement and Ground-Breaking Events. Smith is Dean Emeritus at Fisk University, where she was dean of the campus library for many years. This event is hosted by E. Shaver Booksellers out of Savannah. This is a great way to recognize National Library Week! This event is on Zoon and is free! Click here to register! Thanks to E. Shaver Bookseller and Rockelle Henderson of RockInked for this opportunity!

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...

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...

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. ...

Many people are awaiting Tuesday's release of Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman , which is the "sequel" for To Kill A Mockingbird.  PBS will be showing the American Masters episode chronicling Harper's life tonight and will include an update about the new book.   Here is a picture of Harper receiving a finished copy of the book.  And you can read the first chapter here . Relax in Paradise James Tate . Congrats to the Andrew Carnegie Award winners ! Congrats to  Chimamanda Ngzoi Adichie, who is expecting a little one ! Congrats to Lawrence Hill, who was honored with the Order of Canada . The huge news that is coming out of my home state is that the Confederate Flag is FINALLY off the Statehouse grounds. THANK GOD. This recent interview of Percival Everett (who is releasing a short story collection) and his thoughts on the Confederate Flag were…interesting. Speaking of the flag coming down, poet Nikky Finney wrote a passage to commemorate this day. ...

Relax in Paradise Vincent Bugliosi . Congratulations to the winners of the Nebula Awards! Congratulations also go out to Juan Felipe Herrera, who was named U.S. Poet Laureate ! I hope the person who stole the new 50 Shades of Crap Gray manuscript did the world a favor and threw it in the recycling bin. The new Robert Galbraith book has a cover and a release date. The Fault in Our Stars was the best-selling e-book of 2014. Authors,  just stay away from Goodreads reviews . Kim Kardashian impersonator Glee star Naya Rivera landed a memoir deal . A new book about Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina Brown says that Whitney was extorted over a possible lesbian affair and gives theories on what happened to Bobbi Kristina. A cover has been released for Sara Bareilles' book. I already had mixed feeling about making movies based off the Flyy Girl series (because the first one is the only one worthy of a movie), but I really can't see Sanaa Lathan as Tracey . ...

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...