Black Issues Book Review articles from March 2007

Black Issues Book Review archives from March 2007

New relationships, new opportunities.(publisher's page)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... Spring is here, and if you'll pardon me for tapping into an old cliche, there are many new things blooming at Black Issues Book Review. March marks the first anniversary of the magazine coming under Target Market News ownership. The past...

Remembering Bebe Moore Campbell.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Dear BIBR Editors Thank you so much for your positive and illuminating cover story of the brilliant author Bebe Moore Campbell CA Writer for Our Time," January/February 2006). I feel your story's timing and accurate description of such an...

The voice of Golly Goose promotes talking books.(between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(American Library Association's audio books)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Cedric the Entertainer, who gave voice to Golly the Goose in the film version of E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, has been chosen to launch the American Library Association's Listen[TM] poster series. The campaign underscores the importance...

Starbucks offers a jolt of serious reading.(between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Starbucks's latest book offering is Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, February 2007). It is the second book chosen for sale in Starbucks's thousands of coffee shops across the land. The...

Doing it their way: authors producing films.(between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant are turning their book "Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made" into a movie)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The writing duo of Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant is in the early stages of producing To,in' to Sleep in the Bed You Made (St. Martin's Press, 1997), their novel about the lives of three friends, as an independent film--for release late in...

Alexander awarded poetry prize.(AWARDS)(Elizabeth Alexander awarded Jackson Poetry Prize)
March 1, 2007... Elizabeth Alexander, author of American Sublime (Graywolf Press, 2005), has been selected by Poets & Writers Inc. to receive the first annual Jackson Poetry Prize. The $50,000 prize honors an American poet of exceptional talent who has...

Franklin wins major prize.(AWARDS)(John Hope Franklin and Yu Yingshih)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... John Hope Franklin, 91, historian, author and emeritus professor of history at Duke University, has been awarded the third John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity. He shares the prize with Yu Yingshih, 76, a...

ZZ Packer.(recieved National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" award )(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... In November 2006, the National Book Foundation introduced its newest program "5 Under 35," to highlight the work of the next generation of fiction writers. Five National Book Award fiction finalists from previous years each selected one writer...

The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation awarded black writers for their outstanding contribution to literature during an awards ceremony at the National Press Club on November 3, 2006.(Other honors)
March 1, 2007... The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation awarded black writers for their outstanding contribution to literature during an awards ceremony at the National Press Club on November 3, 2006. The 2006 Legacy Award recipients are: Debut...

E. Ethelbert Miller.(Other honors)
March 1, 2007... E. Ethelbert Miller was among the recipients of Poets & Writers magazine's 2007 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. Established in 1996, the award recognizes authors "who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary...

With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (Time Warner) won a Grammy Award for best spoken-word album.(Other honors)
March 1, 2007... With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (Time Warner) won a Grammy Award for best spoken-word album, sharing the prize with former President Jimmy Carter for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (Simon &...

Tyehimba Jess.(recieved Whiting Writers' Award)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Tyehimba Jess was among 10 recipients of the 2006 Whiting Writers' Awards. The awards, which are $40,000 each, are given annually to emerging writers of exceptional talent and promise. The poet's first book, Leadbelly, was published by Verse...

Marita Golden.(received Capital BookFest Literary Excellence Award)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Marita Golden, founder of the Hurston-Wright Foundation, received the inaugural Capital BookFest Literary Excellence Award for "her commitment to writing, the inspiration given to other writers, and her give-back attitude toward the writing...

Kevin Wayne Johnson.(received Capital BookFest Independent Voice Award)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Kevin Wayne Johnson, author of the Give God the Glory series, received the Capital BookFest Independent Voice Award for self-published work. Capital BookFest '06 was presented by the Washington Post to celebrate the literary arts and promote...

Rosalind McLymont.(won "Best Fiction" award at the Self-Publishing Symposium)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Rosalind McLymont, editor-in-chief of The Network Journal, won this year's "Best Fiction" Self/Independent Publishing (S'Indie) Award for her debut novel Middle Ground (Beckham, 2006) at the second annual Self-Publishing Symposium, on March 25,...

Sisterfriends' first decade: a North New Jersey reading club shares literature and lots of love.(books & clubs)
March 1, 2007... EACH MONTH, MEMBERS OF SISTERFRIENDS, each bearing a book and a dish to fit the selected menu, converge on one of the member's living rooms from throughout northern New Jersey. It is not uncommon, they say, for some discussions to get lively...

Home to Ghana.(books & clubs)
March 1, 2007... This year's National Book Club Conference convenes in Ghana, West Africa, August 4-12, 2007, to celebrate its fifth anniversary. In addition to some of the familiar American authors, the roster will include Ekow Eshun, the Ghanaian-born...

A love supreme: Angela Basset and Courtney B. Vance share the joys of their marriage and offer advice on creating a fulfilling relationship.(Interview)
March 1, 2007... IF YOU WERE TO ASK ANGELA BASSET AND COURTNEY B. VANCE "What's love got to do with it?" they'd answer, with heartfelt enthusiasm, "Everything." In Friends: A Love Story (Kimani Press, February 2007), the celebrities describe their first date...

Creativity on fire: the Black Arts Movement took root in and gave meaning to the political dynamics of an era.
March 1, 2007... GO BACK IN TIME TO 1968. BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. Chelsea Theater Center. An energetic group of black artists stages Amiri Baraka's remarkable play Slave Ship. But this performance is unlike anything seen before. The stage--if you want to call it...

Rhythmic poetry: master poet Nathaniel Mackey's language of rebellion.
March 1, 2007... It was in language that the slave was perhaps most successfully imprisoned by his master and it was in [the slave's] (mis-)use of [language] that [they] perhaps most effectively, rebelled. --Kamau Brathwaite POET NATHANIEL MACKEY WAS...

Teahouse of the Almighty.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Teahouse of the Almighty By Patricia Smith Coffee House Press, September 2006 $15, ISBN 1-566-89193-0 The last time I ate hot-water cornbread, my great-grandmother was still alive and complaining about the stench the burn of the bread made....

Splay Anthem.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Splay Anthem By Nathaniel Mackey New Directions, May 2006 $15.95, ISBN 0-811-21652-7 In Nathaniel Mackey's Splay Anthem, winner of the 2006 National Book Award for Poetry, readers travel with the author in to a newly synthesized present,...

Recyclopedia.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Recyclopedia By Harryette Mullen Graywolf Press, November 2006 $15, ISBN 1-555-97456-5 For hip readers who were, are, and will be in love with "Trimmings;' "S*PeRM**K*T," "Muse & Drudge." For the hydrating drink that is Harryette Mullen's...

The Architecture of Language.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... The Architecture of Language By Quincy Troupe Coffee House Press, October 2006 $24.95, ISBN 1-566-89189-2 Having been compared to Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes, Quincy Troupe continues to exhibit a true American aesthetic loaded with...

Red Summer.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Red Summer By Amaud Jamaul Johnson Tupelo Press, April 2006 $16.95, ISBN 1-932195-32-7 Red Summer, the monumental debut collection of Amaud Jamaul Johnson, powerfully explores the air that circulates around the race-incited crimes that...

Femme du Monde (Woman of the World).(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Femme du Monde (Woman of the World) By Patricia Spears Jones Tie Chucha Press, June 2006 $13.95, ISBN 1-882-68831-7 Spears Jones's second collection of poems, Femme du Monde, does not simply unfold the artful experiences of a woman who has...

Hoops: Poems.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Hoops: Poems By Major Jackson W.W. Norton & Company, March 2006 $23.95, ISBN 0-393-05937-5 In his sophomore collection, Hoops, Major Jackson stitches poems with an invisible thread. Divided into three sections, Hoops is narrative,...

Re: f (gesture).(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Re: f (gesture) By Percival Everett Red Hen Press, January 2006 $14.95, ISBN 1-597-09057-3 Mostly known for his award-winning fiction, Everett's new collection of poetry, Re: f (gesture), is a journey through a philosophical landscape. His...

Celebrating our finest: the 2007 Coretta Scott King Book Awards honor the best in children's literature.(children's bookshelf)
March 1, 2007... THE 2007 CORETTA SCOTT KING Book Awards were announced on January 22, 2007, at the American Library Association (ALA)'s midwinter meeting in Seattle, Washington. Since the awards began in 1969, the jury of children's library professionals have...

Truth be told: real stories are the inspiration for several recent books for kids and young adults.(Champions on the Bench: The Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars)(Wind Flyers)(Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria)(The Other Mozart: The Life of the Famous Chevalier De Saint-George)(Ain't Nobody a Stranger to Me)(God, Can You Hear Me?)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Champions on the Bench: The Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars By Carole Boston Weatherford Illustrations by Leonard Jenkins Dial Books for Young Readers, January 2007 $16.99, ISBN 0-803-72987-2 Ages 5 and up The teammates of the Cannon Street...

Other noteworthy titles.(Cherish Today: A Celebration of Life's Moments)(I Dream for You a World: A Covenant for Our Children)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Cherish Today: A Celebration of Life's Moments By Kristina Evans Illustrations by Bryan Collier Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children April 2007, $15.99, ISBN 0-786-80818-2 Ages 4-8 This talented husband-and-wife team has created a...

Coming of age--free-verse style: new poetry titles celebrate and encourage the spirits of youngsters.(Tough Boy Sonatas)(On My Journey Now: Looking at African American History Through the Spirituals)(Young Cornrows Callin' Out the Moon)(If: A Father's Advice to His Son, A Poem)(Book review)(Children's review)
March 1, 2007... Tough Boy Sonatas By Curtis L. Crisler Illustrations by Floyd Cooper Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, February 2007 $19.95, ISBN 1-932-42577-2 Ages 13 and up In this collection, Crisler, a Cave Canem Fellow at Indiana University-Purdue...

The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... * The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York By Mat Johnson Bloomsbury, February 2007 $19.95, ISBN 1-582-34099-4 Bard College Professor Mat Johnson's The Great Negro Plot uncovers an understudied...

Like Trees, Walking.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... * Like Trees, Walking By Ravi Howard Amistad/HarperCollins, March 2007 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-52959-8 Witness if you will the murder of 19-year-old Michael Donald, a young black man who was lynched by two members of the Ku Klux Klan more than...

Fruit of the Lemon.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Fruit of the Lemon By Andrea Levy Picador February 2007, $15 ISBN 0-312-42664-X What to do when fife seems to be going reasonably well, when you have a fine education and a decent job, a loving family and a network of friends, and yet a...

The New Moon's Arms.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... The New Moon's Arms By Nalo Hopkinson Warner Books, February 2007 $23.95, ISBN 0-466-57691-8 Myth, mystery and, yes, menopause form a supernatural, life-affirming combination that have people literally walking out of the water in this...

The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... * The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation By Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff Alfred A. Knopf October 2006, $30, ISBN 0-679-40381-7 It took a half century for this story to be told: mainstream...

The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom By Patrick S. Washburn Foreword by Clarence Page Northwestern University Press November 2006, $24.95, ISBN 0-810-12290-1 Washburn, a professor of journalism at Ohio University, takes a look...

Black Voices in Commentary: The Trotter Group.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Black Voices in Commentary: The Trotter Group Edited by Wayne Dawkins August Press, November 2006 $15.95, 0-963-57209-1 William Monroe Trotter was a businessman, a political activist and the publisher of the Boston Guardian, a militant...

Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper By Jacqueline Bacon Lexington Books, February 2007 $29.95, ISBN 0-739-11894-3 Based on extensive historical research, Bacon examines the nation's first black newspaper that began...

Les Brownlee: The Autobiography of a Pioneering African American Journalist.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Les Brownlee: The Autobiography of a Pioneering African American Journalist By Les Brownlee, Foreword by John Kass Marion Street Press, Inc., January 2007 $24.95, ISBN 1-933-33810-5 Brownlee's career in journalism spanned 60 years, during...

Writings of Frank Marshall Davis: A Voice of the Black Press.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Writings of Frank Marshall Davis: A Voice of the Black Press Edited by John Edgar Tidwell University Press of Mississippi January 2007, $40, ISBN 1-578-06921-1 Frank Marshall Davis worked as an editor and reporter the Atlanta World, the...

The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... * The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business By Stephanie Capparell Wall Street Journal Books/Free Press, January 2007 $25, ISBN 0-743-26571-3 Getting black folks to drink soda water...

Ghettonation: A Journey into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... * Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless By Cora Daniels Doubleday, March 2007 $23.95, ISBN 0-385-51643-6 One thing on the minds of many African Americans today is the self-destructive attitudes and...

The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why By Jabari Asim Houghton Mifflin, April 2007 $26, ISBN 0-618-19717-6 Ebony and Jet announcing that "it" would never again appear in their pages was no big deal. The real shock came when Mr....

Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries.(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries By Neil deGrasse Tyson W.W. Norton & Company, January 2007 $24.95, ISBN 0-393-06224-3 The power of Death by Black Hole is in the telling where Neil deGrasse Tyson delivers a drama expressing...