Black Issues Book Review articles from January 2003

Black Issues Book Review archives from January 2003

From the editor-in-chief.
January 1, 2003... This time, five years ago, Black Issues Book Review was a germ of an idea. My intuition told me that the tremendous growth in reading among African Americans and, thus, the explosion in book publishing to satisfy our literary appetites, was not...

Executive editor's view.
January 1, 2003... The New Year always brings with it mixed blessings: gratefulness to have lived through another year and optimism that the one ahead will be better than the last. Being an idealist (or at least I like to think so), I tend to approach each year...

Praise for Nikki. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I enjoyed your November-December issue, especially the piece on Nikki Giovanni. Her first book that I purchased was In My House and I was hooked. I am glad to hear that she has a new book coming out. I also enjoyed the article on Clara...

Clara Villarosa's Hue-Man. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... It is great that Clara Villarosa is passing on her skills to her staff and giving so much to Harlem in this time of change. --Harold Washington via email After reading the Spotlight article on Clara Villarosa, I can't wait to visit...

Writer wins award. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Thank you for the double vote of confidence for Skin Folk (January-February 2002), which just won the World Fantasy Award, too! --Nalo Hopkinson, author of Skin Folk via email

Poetic license. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I think Kwame Alexander's Poetic License article is right on! Some people think it's wrong to suggest that poetry is a craft. I think a lot of lyricists are poets and writers. The standards should be upheld or people will lose sight of poetry's...

Best of 2002. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... The "Best of 2002" list was well put together and included one of my Favorite fiction writers, Donna Hemans, author of River Woman. Thanks BIBR. Keep up the good work. --Wayne Henry via email

Book club picks. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... We covered a lot of the books in the "book club" recommendations section! Hats off to us for selecting some great picks! --Phyllis Rhodes via email

Gift guide. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I enjoyed "Holiday Gilt Guide for Book Lovers." As an avid reader, I was impressed with the reading journals listed in the article. --Adrienne via email

Readers rate reviews. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Echoes of a Distant Summer [November-December] requires more than some effort. It requires an editor who can whittle down the first 200 pages. I have heard of a sophomore slump for some writers, and this is definitely an example of it. Mr....

Omar ... the drama continues. (letters to the editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Mr. Tyree, I really enjoy your books. You visualize what is really going on in the books and they make a lot of sense. Despite what everybody else thinks, you are an inspiration to many young readers. Where I come from, many children grow up...

Deals. (Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry).
January 1, 2003... Villard/Strivers Row Editor Melody Guy recently signed Emmy-winning writer, director and current HBO executive Elaine Brown to a two-book deal for her debut novel, Lemon City, and a sequel. Strivers Row has tentatively scheduled Lemon City for...

Awards.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, founded in 1990 by writer Marita Golden, presented its first ever Hurston/Wright LEGACY Awards during a gala event recently in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was...

Prizes.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Stanford University announced the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, a new literary prize with a purse of $12,500 to be awarded biennially by the Stanford University Libraries in conjunction with the William Saroyan Foundation....

Events corner.(Calendar)
January 1, 2003... FYOS Seminar Series Literary Law for Authors January 18, 2003 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Philadelphia Airport Hilton www.fyos.com 2003 National Black Writers Conference February 21 and 22, 2003 Medgar Evers College Brooklyn, NY...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2003... In the November/ December 2002 issue of BIBR we reported that Van Whitfield was the host of BET's new show TurnStyle. The information provided to BIBR was inaccurate. Mr. Whitfield is actually the head writer on the show, which does not have a...

BIBR spotlight: Patrik Henry Bass.
January 1, 2003... Players in the black literary game know that all roads leading to Essence magazine's coveted book pages meet at a crossroads--Patrik Henry Bass. As the books editor at Essence, he has the overwhelming task of deciding what titles to feature...

Black Panthers: 1968.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones Greybull Press, October 2002, $50.00, ISBN 0-967-23669-X His name was George. And I can't, for the life of me, think of his last name. But I do remember seeing him occasionally in my classroom...

William Pope.L: the Friendliest Black Artist in America.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... edited by Mark H.C. Bessire MIT Press, September 2002, $24.95, ISBN 0-262-02533-7 He sat on the sidewalk, on an American flag, methodically eating the pages of The Wall Street Journal. He walked through Harlem "wearing" a long, white...

New York Masjid: the Mosques of New York City.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... text by Jerrilynn D. Dodds, photographs by Edwards Grazda Power House Books, June 2002, $35.00, ISBN 1-576-87135-5 A traveler to distant lands where Islam is the dominant religion will become accustomed to, even fond of, the daily calls to...

African Visions: the Diary of an African Photographer.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... African Visions is full of hallucinations, a book both animated and haunted by the failed promise of colonial fantasies. Photographer Mirella Ricciardi was born in Africa to expatriate parents: her mother, an heiress throwing off French high...

In Praise of Black Women, Volume 2: Heroines of the Slavery Era.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Simone Schwarz-Bart with Andre Schwarz-Bart The University of Wisconsin Press/Modus Vivendi Publications, December 2002, $49.95, ISBN 0-299-17260-0 "Anyone who has ever lived among women of African descent knows that it is inconceivable...

Unchained Memories: Readings From the Slave Narratives.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... foreword by Henry Louis Gate Jr., introduction by Spencer Crew and Cynthia Goodman Bulfinch Press/AOL Time Warner Book Group, February 2003, $24.95, ISBN 0-821-22842-0 "Lawdy, honey, yo' caint know whut a time I had. All cold n' hungry....

Jubilee: the Emergence of African-American Culture.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Howard Dodson with a foreword by Wynton Marsalis; essays by Amiri Baraka, Gail Lumet Buckley, John Hope Franklin, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed, and Gayraud Wilmore National Geographic Books, February 2003, $35.00, ISBN...

One Shot Harris: the Photographs of Charles "Teenie" Harris.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Stanley Crouch Harry N. Abrams, Inc., October 2002, $35.00, ISBN 0-810-93272-5 Ten years after the Pittsburgh Courier rolled off the presses in 1910, it was among the most preeminent newspapers to cover black urban life. The Courier was...

The Media: Shaping the Image of a People.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Bill Overton Pro Star Publishing, March 2002 $45.00, ISBN 1-577-85038-6 The ongoing investigation into how the arts and media have shaped the public perception and the self-image of African Americans is it worthy one. It is one of the...

Separate, But Equal: the Mississippi Photographs of Henry Clay Anderson.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... with essays by Shawn Wilson, Clifton L Taulbert and Mary Panzer Public Affairs, October 2002, $35.00, ISBN 1-586-48092-8 If you're old enough to remember the Deep South during segragation, then the photographs in Separate, But Equal will...

Sisters reunite through their love of books. (books N clubs).
January 1, 2003... Tiffany Colvin and Cashana Seales have a bond that's as solid as a rock. Estranged for more than ten years, the two sisters were kindred spirits, who grew closer to one another, ironically, because of their mutual love of books, which led each...

How to get your literary freak on. (Erotic fiction).(Bibliography)
January 1, 2003... In September 1992, Miriam Decosta Willis, Reginald Martin and Roseann Bell broke new ground with a huge, rich anthology of black erotica entitled Erotique Noire. It was the first comprehensive, contemporary look at black sexuality since the...

Acting Out.(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... by Benilde Little The Free Press, January 2003 $23.00, ISBN 0-684-85480-5 "The Box." In terms of womanhood, the words conjure up something, well, unflatteringly female. Yet for Benilde Little, an author who writes about women in all their...

GUMBO: an Anthology of African American Writing.(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... edited by E. Lynn Harris and Marita Golden Harlem Moon, December 2002 $17.95, ISBN 0-767-91041-9 GUMBO: An Anthology of African American Writings all-star roster boasts more names than your little black book and rivals the Yellow Pages in...

The Ecstatic.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Victor La Valle Crown, November 2002 $22.95, ISBN 0-609-61014-7 Terse, tight-lipped and fevered Victor LaValle's The Ecstatic is an auspicious first novel that ranges with obsessive-compulsive precision over the same pulpy patch of...

Six Easy Pieces.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Walter Mosley Atria Books, January 2003 $24.00, ISBN 0-743-44252-0 Easy Rawlins returns in a collection of short stories tinged with the gritty reality of Los Angeles in the 1960s. Walter Mosley's Six Easy Pieces follows the unofficial...

Sapphire's Grave.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Hilda Gurley-Highgate Doubleday, January 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-385-50323-7 Hilda Gurley-Highgate's Sapphire's Grave is a striking debut novel. This intergenerational saga of African-American women is remarkable for its narrative approach....

A Man Most Worthy.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Marcus Major Dutton, January 2003 $23.95, ISBN-0-525-94685-3 In a familiar story line, A Man Most Worthy, by Marcus Major, features a protagonist who is lucky in business but unlucky in love. Set amid the posh `burbs of northern New...

Loving Donovan.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Bernice L. McFadden Dutton, Janaury 2003 $23.95, ISBN 0-525-94706-X Loving Donovan will probably be advertised as a love story, but that description is deceptive. It's about learning to fall in love and sustaining that love. But for...

Taken for Granted.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Earl Sewell BET/Sepia, November 2002 $13.00, ISBN 1-583-14357-2 What do you do when you wake up one morning and realize that the person you are married to isn't the person you once knew? In Earl Sewell's novel Taken for Granted, readers...

Rising.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Darnella Ford St. Martin's Griffin, January 2003 $12.95, ISBN 0-312-30306-8 Darnella Ford's debut novel, Rising, is the story of Symone, a forthright, somewhat sardonic survivor of the worst kind of trauma--rape and incest. We follow...

Jade.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Marcia King-Gamble BET Books--Sepia, November 2002 $15.00, ISBN 1-583-14297-5 Debuting on the 20th anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial, which was marked last November, Jade delivers a sensitive account of black soldiers' experiences...

A Taste of Reality.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Kimberla Lawson Roby William Morrow/Harper Collins, January 2003 $23.95, ISBN 0-060-50565-6 After being rejected by dozens of agents and publishers, novelist Kimberla Lawson Roby self-published her first book, Behind Closed Doors, in...

The Chocolate Ship.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Marissa Monteilh Avon Books, January 2003 $13.95, ISBN 0-060-01148-3 In her sophomore novel, The Chocolate Ship, Marissa Monteilh (pronounced MonTay), an author and former broadcast journalist, delivers the entertaining story of Mia...

Selah's Bed.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Jenoyne Adams The Free Press, January 2003 $23.00, ISBN 0-684-87352-2 Jenoyne Adams, best-selling author of Resurrecting Mingus, is back with a moving story of a woman trying to find herself, and begin the process of reconciliation and...

The big book push: from the King holiday through Black History Month, publishers do their biggest business in African-American books. But is it the best way to promote black literary culture?
January 1, 2003... January 2002. An amazing manuscript for a novel from a new African-American writer has just been acquired after a brisk auction, with substantial bidding by many of the major publishing houses. The editor wants to place the novel on a fast...

Call him Ishmael: the controversial (some say reckless) cultural critic Ishmael Reed returns a new collection of essays appropriately titled Another Day at the Front.
January 1, 2003... I had the feeling, as I prepared to interview Ishmael Reed, that the 64-year-old writer would turn out to be much more mellow and friendly in conversation than his nine novels, four books of nonfiction, five poetry collections and five plays...

New year new you: a look at books that can help you begin the new year happier and healthier.(Bibliography)
January 1, 2003... For some of us, feelings of anxiety hit during the holiday season. With the new year approaching, we tend to think about the past and look to try something new: a new job, a new car or a new romance. Making resolutions takes little effort, but...

Wrapped in Rainbows: the Life of Zora Neale Hurston.(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... by Valerie Boyd Scribner, January 2003 $30.00, ISBN 0-684-84230-0 A misidentified photograph says it all. During the 1980s, as interest in Zora Neale Hurston's life and work began to gather speed, a widely-circulated photograph of a young...

BIBR talks to Valerie Boyd.(Interview)
January 1, 2003... BIBR: Your writing style is very literary, very poetic. How did you decide how to write this book? How did you decide on what tone to take? VB: Hurston's life itself dictated the tone. I really had to tell the kind of story that would be...

Another Day at the Front: Dispatches From the Race War.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Ishmael Reed Basic Books, January 2003 $24.00, ISBN 0-465-06891-X If there is one thing that can be said unequivocally about Ishmael Reed's new collection of essays--and there may be only one thing--it is that these essays are...

Why I Love Black Women.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Michael Eric Dyson Basic Civitas Books, February 2003 $23.00, ISBN 0-465-01763-0 Whether they are academics, cultural critics, educated folk who talk a lot or all of the above, most are looking for meaning from behavior and situations...

Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority.(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority by John McWhorter Gotham Books, January 2003 $25.00, ISBN 1-592-40001-9 The Great Wells of Democracy by Manning Marable Basic Civitas Books, January 2003 $26.00, ISBN 0-465-07062-0...

Growing Up King.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Dexter Scott King with Ralph Wiley Warner Books, January 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-446-52942-7 Let's be honest. There are two reasons for reading the memoirs of children of famous people. You want to gain insight into the celebrity parent, or...

Like a Mighty Stream: the March on Washington August 28, 1963.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Patrik Henry Bass Running Press, October 2002 $18.95, ISBN 0-762-41292-5 If the goal of Essence Books Editor Patrik Henry Bass is to breathe life into his recounting of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the most significant events of...

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Richard Wormser St. Martin's Press, February 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-312-31324-1 In this well-researched companion volume to the acclaimed PBS television series of the same name, Richard Wormser, an award-winning writer and producer, puts...

A Love No Less: More Than Two Centuries of African American Love Letters.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Pamela Newkirk Doubleday, February 2003 $19.95, ISBN 0-385-50379-2 Love. We write songs about it, make movies about it, and over the years, many writers have attempted to examine romantic relationships in the black community--often...

Mending the World: Stories of Family by Contemporary Black Writers.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... edited by Rosemarie Robotham Basic Civitas Books, December 2002 $25.00, ISBN 0-465-07062-0 Mending the Worm is noteworthy for bringing together a cadre of black authors (both established and new) writing about the most influential aspect...

Harlem: Between Heaven and Hell.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Monique M. Taylor University of Minnesota Press, Nov. 2002 $18.95, ISBN 0-816-64052-1 Upon first glance, there is a tendency to embrace Harlem: Between Heaven and Hell without hesitancy. But despite its good intentions, the book spends...

Gunshots In My Cook-Up: Bits and Bites of a Hip-Hop Caribbean Life.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds Atria Books, October 2002 $23.00, ISBN 0-743-40741-5 Gunshots In My Cook-Up will convince readers of one thing, if nothing else: the author has done a lot of living. In his first book, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds includes...

Rootwork: Using the Folk Magick of Black America for Love, Money and Success.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Tayannah Lee McQuillar Fireside, February 2003 $10.00, ISBN 0-743-23534-7 Blending fuzzy, sister-girl friendly pablum, with down-and-dirty practicums, Rootwork is a slender, cheerfully, loopy self-help book for the spiritual tourist in...

Style for the real you. (New Year New You).(Bibliography)
January 1, 2003... We all want to have beautiful homes that reflect our personal style and sensibility. But money, time and design-phobia can stall even the best intentions. Often, we dismiss our own sense of style and seek professional design advice believing...

Beautiful Blackbird.(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... by author-illustrator Ashley Bryan Antheneum, January 2003 $16.95, ISBN 0-689-84731-9 Black is beautiful! That is just one of the many messages conveyed in the picture book Beautiful Blackbird, a sparkling adaptation of an old Zambian...

Talkin' About Bessie: the Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by E. B. Lewis Orchard Books/Scholastic, November 2002 $16.95, ISBN 0-439-35243-6 Bessie Coleman was the first licensed black female aviator in the nation. Despite growing up in the segregated South and battling...

My Brother Martin: a Sister Remembers Growing Up With the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Christine King Farris, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet Simon & Schuster, January 2003 $16.95, ISBN 0-689-84387-9 Every January on Martin Luther King Jr Day, broadcasts of the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream," speech resound across...

Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... illustrated by various artists W.W. Norton, November 2002 $24.95, ISBN 0-393-05212-5 Nelson Mandela devoted his life to dismantling apartheid in South Africa, his birthplace. In 1998, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his courageous...

Crafts That Celebrate Black History.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Kathy Ross, illustrated by Jenny Stow Millbrook Press, September 2002 $8.95, ISBN 0-761-32515-8 Young readers will have a blast learning about notable African Americans with Crafts That Celebrate Black History, by primary schoolteacher...

Rap A Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles--Think of That!(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Leo and Diane Dillon Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, September 2002 $15.95, ISBN 0-590-47883-4 Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878-1949) was a world-famous tap dancer. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the charismatic hoofer was the...

Summer Sun Risin'.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by W. Nikola-Lisa, illustrated by Don Tate Lee & Low Books, April 2002 $16.95, ISBN 1-584-30034-5 Summer Sun Risin' is a lively picture book that captures the sights, sounds and activities of an African-American boy's day on his parents'...

I'm Your Child, God: Prayers for Our Children.(Book Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... I'm Your Child, God: Prayers for Our Children by Marian Wright Edelman, Illustrated by Bryan Collier Hyperion Books for Children, October 2002 $19.99, ISBN 0-786-80597-8 Favorite Bible Stories Retold and illustrated by Fred Crump Jr. Urban...

This Far by Faith: Stories From the African-American Religious Experience.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Juan Williams and Quinton Dixie William Morrow, January 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-060-18863-4 Anyone who believes that the black church is a monolith or that black religious leaders began and ended with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X...

Get Over It and on With It! How to Get Up When Life Knocks You Down.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Michelle McKinney Hammond WaterBrook Press/Random House, September 2002 $17.99, ISBN 1-578-56450-6 Some books can be quickly gobbled-up--the reader can't wait to turn the page to reveal the mystery. Others books are better when they're...

I Say a Prayer for Me: One Woman's Life of Faith and Triumph.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Stanice Anderson Warner Books, November 2002 $21.95, ISBN 0-446-53034-4 If you've ever doubted God's goodness, grace and mercy, then I Say a Prayer for Me by Stanice Anderson will erase those uncertainties--forever. That is, if you have...

Letters From the Infinite, Volume 1: the Sacred Yes.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Rev. Deborah L. Johnson New Brighton Books, August 2002 $23.95, ISBN 0-971-83770-8 Do you hear God in the roar of the ocean; feel Him in the cool autumn breeze? Do you see Him amidst the chaos and sadness of September 11, or in the eyes...

From self-published to top publisher. (self publishing).
January 1, 2003... What do you do when you self-publish your book and, within a year sell over 40,000 copies? You help others with the same dream that may not know how to achieve success. That's what S. James Guitard, author of Chocolate Thought and one of the...

Ask the book doctor. (self publishing).
January 1, 2003... Dear Dr. Rosie, I self-published my first novel and sold 5,000 copies in eight months. I want to sell it to a publisher, but I am somewhat torn by my decision because many publishers initially rejected my manuscript. I feel that they will...

Poetic lotto: playing the game. (poetic license).
January 1, 2003... I have to admit, I've played the lottery. I've tried to find the right combination of figures, the perfect alignment of planets, the flawless sequence of characters to make sure my numbers hit. I've spent ten (or fifteen, or twenty) dollars at...

The Revenge of Dandelions.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by OLU "Butterfly" Woods, Preface by Haki R. Madhubuti BlackOut Studios, Inc., September 2002 $10.00, ISBN 0-967-55253-2 I must admit, the idea of another spoken-word artist releasing a book reminded me of the scene in Hollywood Shuffle...

Beyond the Frontier: African-American Poetry for the 21st Century.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Edited by E. Ethelbert Miller Black Classic Press, December 2002 $24.95, ISBN 1-574-78017-4 Most of the 162 poets in Beyond the Frontier are widely published, working poets and authors who write in various genres. Among the more...

When words become flesh: an Anthology of New Generation Poetry.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Edited by Myisha V. Cherry Mwaza Publications, September 2002 $14.00, ISBN 0-971-76631-2 Over the past three years, the renaissance in "people's poetry"--that which is political, powerful and for mass consumption--has produced several...

10 Tongues.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... by Reggie Harris Three Conditions Press, June 2002 $12.95, ISBN 0-972-12410-1 "I am a house whose doors have been thrown open." As a young reader, I learned the cliche "You can't judge a book by its cover." But the design of 10...

Tribute: author, editor, activist Philippe Wamba, 1971-2002.(Obituary)
January 1, 2003... Philippe Wamba, who died September 11, 2002, in an auto accident in Kenya, was more than a promising black writer and editor--he was an important figure among African writers, a journalist of striking intelligence and deep compassion, and a...