Black Issues Book Review articles from May 2002

Black Issues Book Review archives from May 2002

From the editor-in-chief.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... I wish BIBR were celebrating a wizened, silver-haired Malcolm X on his 77th birthday, which would have been May 19th. I'm guessing that he'd still be magnificently tall, but perhaps his "redbone" skin wouldn't be as taut on his sculpted...

Executive editor's view.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... I like to think of this issue of BIBR as one devoted to writers. From time-to-time, magazines have special editions devoted to a particular theme. In women's magazines, it's the fashion issue or the relationship issue. In men's magazines, it's...

Conspiracy in the 'hood. (letters to the editor).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Herb Boyd's "Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in Our Culture" ("The Man and the Plan;' BIBR, March-April 2002, pg. 38) was an excellent piece. However, Mr. Boyd did not include two seminal works by African-American authors that are the...

In praise of Haki. (letters to the editor).(Haki Madhubuti)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Haki Madhubuti, Master Poet, World Poet! ("The Measure of a Man," BIBR, March-April 2002, pg. 42.) It's always interesting to know how one comes into consciousness. And to paraphrase Haki, Richard Wright's writing opened his eyes and spoke to...

Thanks from Haki. (letters to the editor).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... I read your wonderful and heartfelt "from the editor-in-chief," dear friend. I really do not have the words in me, except: you honor me and encourage me to continue on with our work. Thank you! Then I read Ms. Ards' insightful,...

And more praise ... (letters to the editor).(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... I had the great pleasure of finding and reading your magazine at my local library yesterday. Talk about best-kept secrets! I am so excited and plan on getting a subscription. Thank you and continued blessings with your publication. ...

BIBR's index is now online. (letters to the editor).(Black Issues Book Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... For readers of Black Issues Book Review interested in what has been covered in previous issues, please note that you can access an indexed listing of the magazine's content for 1999 on our website at www.bibookreview.com. Subsequent years will...

Deals. (Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The Reverend Al Sharpton is writing a new book that will be published on Kensington's Dafina imprint. Al on America is being cowritten with Karen Hunter of the New York Daily News, Editorial Director Karen Thomas purchased the North American...

Events corner. (Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... May is National Book Month. Check your local library or the National Book Foundation's website at www.nationalbook.org for events and celebrations commemorating the joy of reading. BCALA 5th Annual National Conference August...

Oscar winners Denzel and Halle take books to the movies. (Film).(Denzel Washington)(Halle Berry)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Academy Award winners Halle Berry and Denzel Washington are making moves in the publishing world. Berry's production company, Good Shepard Productions, has optioned the rights to Nappily Ever After by Trisha Thomas. Universal is set to...

Awards spotlight. (Film).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Susan Taylor to ASME Hall of Fame Congratulations to Susan L. Taylor, senior vice president and editorial director of Essence. Taylor has been named to the American Society of Magazine Editors' (ASME) Hall of Fame. For the past 30...

Contests.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Lee & Low Books, the award-winning publisher of multicultural children's books, announces it's third anffual New Voices Award. The contest is open to all writers of color who are U.S. residents and have not previously published a children's...

Simon & Schuster. (People on the Move).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Former BIBR Publishing Manager Sanyu Dillon has been promoted to assistant director of marketing at Simon & Schuster. In her new capacity, Dillon will have direct Internet responsibility for two imprints, as well as National Geographic, and...

Amistad Press. (People on the Move).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Dawn Daniels is the new editorial director of Amistad Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Daniels was formerly a senior editor at Vintage Books before joining Amistad.

Pocket Books. (People on the Move).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Stacy Shands has moved from NYU Press and is now a publicity manager at Pocket Books.

Malaika Adero, a freelance editor and formerly a member of the Consulting Editors Alliance has joined Pocket Books as a senior editor. (People on the Move).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Malaika Adero, a freelance editor and formerly a member of the Consulting Editors Alliance (see Book Bytes, page 20), has joined Pocket Books as a senior editor, and will inherit the list of Tracy Sherrod, former Pocket Books senior editor who...

AOL Time Warner Book Group. (People on the Move).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Linda A. Duggins, former program director at QBR: The Black Book Review, has joined AOL Time Warner Book Group as a senior publicist.

QBR.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Self-published author Nancy Flowers Wilson is QBR's new program director.

In memory of Virginia Hamilton.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Award-winning children's author Virginia Hamilton, whose books for young readers set the standard in children's literature, passed away on February 19, 2002, at the age of 65 from breast cancer. Notably, Hamilton was one of the most influential...

BIBR spotlight: Tina Andrews.(Black Issues Book Review)
May 1, 2002... Tina Andrews, writer, producer, playwright, screenwriter and actress, has a new title--award-winning author. This past February, Andrews won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Literary Work for her book Sally Hemings: An American...

Support your local bookseller; National Black Booksellers Week is June 15-22, 2002. (market buzz).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... For African-American booksellers, it is as Dickens wrote, "the best of times and the worst of times." Target Market News estimates that black book buyers spend more than $300 million each year. Book clubs and reading groups are at an all-time...

When faith meets fiction; Good Girl[TM] Book Club. (books N clubs).
May 1, 2002... Anyone who has a relationship with Christ is not only special, but extra special," says Monica Lloyd. "Peter 2:9 tells us that. But church shouldn't consume all of you, or all of your time. God even rested on the seventh day." When Lloyd...

Free novellas, free publicity: USATODAY.com's open-book policy. (book bytes).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... While the expression "TGIF" is usually uttered at the end of a long workweek by those anticipating the coming weekend, the phrase takes on new meaning for authors and book lovers alike. Every Friday, USATODAY.com offers a segment called Open...

Net news.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Need help editing your manuscript? The Consulting Editors Alliance (CEA) is now online. CEA, a leading independent group of 12 New York book editors, includes talents such as BIBR Associate Publisher Adrienne Ingrum. Each editor has a minimum...

Limelight site: www.coloredgirls.com.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... "... the name colored girls is a an act of resistance and an act of love." Inspired by Ntozake Shange's choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, along with embracing a philosophy of resistance to...

Click on this: www.authorsontheweb.com.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Authors on this website recently hosted an African-American Writers Roundtable (the link is on the main page under "past roundtables"). Twenty-two writers and illustrators including, Tonya Bolden, Francis Ray, and Steven Barnes, to name a few,...

Eye.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Back in the Days Photographs by Jamel Shabazz. Foreword by "Fab Five" Freddy Braithwaite PowerHouse Books, December 2001 $35.00, ISBN 1-576-87106-1 In the conspicuous absence of politically and socially positive images in today's hip-hop...

Audio: book always make a great gift. Here are a few picks for the approaching holidays--Mother's and Father's Day. (audio).
May 1, 2002... Sally Hemings: An American Scandal-The Struggle to Tell the Controversial True Story Written and read by Tina Andrews Malibu Press Audio Books, April 2002 $18.95, ISBN 0-970-12957-2 5 CDs, 5 hours 51 minutes Andrews narrates a passionate...

The artistry of T. B. Jackson Williams.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... T. B. Jackson Williams' works capture some of the most penetrating views into African American life moments. She effectively combines her formal training with her love of people and fine art. Her signature images are simple, yet complex -...

Music man: writer Christopher John Farley's biography of the late pop singer Aaliyah is one of the latest books to capitalize on the success of black music.
May 1, 2002... Christopher John Farley knows he has a plum gig. As the pop music critic for Time magazine, he has interviewed personalities including the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, rock legends Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, and some of hip hop's most...

More music.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... One category of books that is growing in popularity these days is music books. Always a good source of material about African-American culture, recent music titles run the gamut--from black music trivia books, to biographies of Dr. Dre, Death...

Writing home.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Every writer has a place they call home. For James Baldwin, it was Harlem. For Zora Neale Hurston, it was Eatonville, Florida. Whether consciously or intuitively, that sense of place invariably creeps into an author's writing. Walter Mosley's...

Thieves' Paradise.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Eric Jerome Dickey, Dutton, May 2002 $19.95, ISBN 0-525-94663-2 Change is inevitable. Contemporary pop fiction author Eric Jerome Dickey mines this simple idea in his seventh offering, Thieves' Paradise. This is a moderately cheery story...

The Bondwoman's Narrative.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Hannah Crafts, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Warner Books, April 2002 $24.95, ISBN 0-446-53008-5 In the 1850s, a fugitive slave named Hannah Crafts penned the account of a young woman's life in slavery and her escape to the North. She...

The Queen of Harlem.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Brian Keith Jackson, Doubleday, April 2002 $22.95, ISBN 0-385-50295-8 In his eagerly awaited third novel, The Queen of Harlem, Brian Keith Jackson spins an effectual and entertaining story about a young man's less than meteoric jaunt...

Wisdom.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Heather Neff, One World/Ballantine, April 2002 $24.00, ISBN 0-345-44743-3 Heather Neff's compelling debut novel, Blackgammon, introduced readers to two fiercely independent soul sisters who embarked on a remarkable journey of...

Someone to Catch My Drift.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Jacqueline Powell, Warner Books, March 2002 $23.95, ISBN 0-446-52748-3 Dense yet substantive, Someone to Catch My Drift tells the story of Nikai Parker, a sharp tongued, 20-something and her relationship with Robert, a fireman with a...

The Parcel Express Murders.
May 1, 2002... by Bernadette Y. Connor, BEE-CON Books, April 2002 $22.00, ISBN 0-971-58380-3 There have been a number of nonfiction books that have looked at the negative effect fatherlessness has on daughters. Bernadette Connor, author of the...

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Francis Ray, St. Martin's Griffin, May 2002 $13.95, ISBN 0-312-30050-6 Romance novelist Francis Ray's first women's fiction novel, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, quickly pulls readers into the lives of her characters. Madison and Wes Reed,...

Walk Through Darkness.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by David Anthony Durham, Doubleday, April 2002 $23.95, ISBN 0-385-49925-6 Set during the period shortly before the Civil War, Walk Through Darkness chronicles the plight of those new arrivals to America--both African slaves and European...

Lion's Blood.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Steven Barnes, Warner Books, February 2002 $24.95, ISBN 0-446-52668-1 Now hear this: All those who worship Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, are pagans. There is no God but the one true God, Allah. The black man rules and the white man is...

The Prodigal Husband.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Jacquelin Thomas, New Spirit/BET Publications, April 2002 $15.00, ISBN 1-583-14254-1 In the genre of contemporary Christian fiction, The Prodigal Husband is much like contemporary Christian music, feeling secular, but upon closer...

When Twilight Comes.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Gwynne Forster, Dafina Books, February 2002 $24.00, ISBN 1-575-66919-6 Veteran romance writer Gwynne Forster has made a smooth transition to mainstream fiction. But don't assume this new project, When Twilight Comes, is just another...

Keeper of Secrets: Day One.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by John Dunson, Black & White Publishing Group March 2002, $24.95, ISBN 0-971-44205-3 Keeper of Secrets is about people who have something to hide. John Dunson's self-published fiction debut begins with a murder: Stuart Hastings, a...

Hit Time: A Mystery.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Ardella Garland (Yolanda Joe), Simon & Schuster, February 2002 $21.00, ISBN 0-684-87376-1 Hit Time, Yolanda Joe's second mystery novel penned under the pseudonym Ardella Garland, opens as Channel 8 news reporter Georgia Barnett...

Glow in the Dark.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Lisa Teasley, Cune Press, January 2002 $23.95, ISBN 1-885-94219-2 What starts out as a promising story about people whose lives have reached the breaking point, quickly dissolves into sketchy profiles of characters that are never fully...

Literary checkmate: the overwhelming response to first-time novelist Stephen Carter has the publishing world calling it the next Bonfire of the Vanities.('The Emperor of Ocean Park')
May 1, 2002... In a very real sense Stephen L. Carter has known the Gar lands for much of his life. Now the rest of us can finally enter their world with the publication of his first novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park. More than likely, it won't be the last we...

The Emperor of Ocean Park.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Stephen L. Carter, Alfred A. Knopf $26.95, June 2002 ISBN 0-375-41363-4 I always feel an acute sense of loss when I reach the last page of a book, blankness. After reading Stephen L. Carter's much-anticipated debut novel, there is a...

The artistry of Paul Goodnight.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... PAUL GOODNIGHT is an outstanding artist who works in many media including acrylic, pastel, and mixed media. Born in Chicago, Goodnight was raised in New London, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts, where he currently resides. Goodnight's...

"The Oooh Baby Experience".(art print)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The Oooh Baby Experience:It's a newly-released rhythmic, dance image, measuring approximately 30" x 40". It is a serigraph created by using more than 60 silk screens to give it an exquisite finish typical of a fine art image. The print comes in...

Spring cleaning, spiritual healing. (faith).(spiritual journeys and African American literature)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... It's time for a seasonal roundup of some of the eclectic titles that have come in during the year. The thing about spring cleaning, which is how I think of book roundups, is that more often than not unless you're a compulsive neat-freak it can...

Daughter of destiny.(Illyasah Shabazz's 'Growing up X')
May 1, 2002... You think you have heard the story before--her story. She's one of Malcolm X's daughters, but which one? The eldest? The middle? Perhaps you think you know some small measure of her loss. Some of it has been quite public and chronicled off and...

Malcolm X documents recovered.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Aside from his speeches and acclaimed autobiography by Alex Haley, Malcolm X's life has mostly been written by others. Missing in many of the documents amassed over the years are the intimate details of his life. As a result, researchers...

Growing Up X.
May 1, 2002... by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kim McLarin, One World/Ballantine May 2002, $25.00, ISBN 0-345-44495-7 To read Ilyasah Shabazz's story about her life in Growing Up X, you would think she was just like any other young woman coming of age in...

No Free Lunch: One Man's Journey from Welfare to the American Dream.
May 1, 2002... by Rodney Carroll with Gary Karton, One World/Ballantine. April 2002 $23.00, ISBN 0-345-45229-1 Rodney Carroll's No Free Lunch runs counter to most rags-to-riches tales in that it makes no attempt to con the reader with a sense of...

On Our Way to Beautiful: A Family Memoir.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Yolanda Young, Villard Books, April 2002 $21.95, ISBN 0-375-50493-1 Much of the account in Yolanda Young's memoir On Our Way to Beautiful takes place in and around the church, because the church is a central part of the lives of the...

The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Bakari Kitwana, Basic Books, May 2002 $24.00, ISBN 0465-02978-7 Today, there are a slew of books about what is now being called the "hip hop generation," that segment of the population who came of age with the evolution of rap music....

The Essential Harold Cruse: a Reader.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... edited by William Jelani Cobb foreword by Stanley Crouch Palgrave, February 2002 $19.95, ISBN 0-312-29396-8 It has become a cliche to say that Harold Cruse's 1967 work The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual remains as provocative today as it...

The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... edited by Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy New Press, March 2002 $24.95, ISBN 1-565-84544-7 Generally speaking, language, especially black English or Ebonics, never manages to capture the fancy of the reading public until some renowned...

Passed On: African American Mourning Stories.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Karla FC Holloway, Duke University Press, March 2002 $24.95, ISBN 0-822-32860-7 After the violent death of her son, Duke University professor and author Karla FC Holloway found herself dealing with loss, grief and the finality of death....

In the Black: a History of African Americans on Wall Street.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Gregory S. Bell, John Wiley & Sons, January 2002 $24.95, ISBN 0-471-40392-X Gregory S. Bell delivers a magnificent history of African-American financiers with In the Black. Bell--who is the son of Travers Bell, cofounder of Daniels &...

The New Urban Leaders.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Joyce A. Ladner, Brookings Institution Press, October 2001 $22.95, ISBN 0-815-75108-7* In The New Urban Leaders, author and senior fellow in the Washington D.C.-based Brookings Governmental Studies program, Joyce A. Ladner offers a look...

The Condemnation of Little B.
May 1, 2002... by Elaine Brown, Beacon Press, February 2002 $24.00, ISBN 0-807-00974-1 With The Condemnation of Little B, Elaine Brown, former Black Panther chairwoman and author of the heralded memoir A Taste of Power, tackles one of the most pressing...

Jailhouse bards. (self publishing).
May 1, 2002... Prison. The mere word conjures up feelings of despair. But for some, what could have been the end of a meaningful life, sparked a beginning. Three men, who ended up in various state penitentiaries, discovered a voice from the inside that...

Ask the book doctor.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2002... Dear Dr. Rosie, How important are public speaking classes for authors? Dear Author, For many people, one of their most common fears is speaking in front of an audience. I think any author who has mastered the art of public...

A poet's migration. (poetic license).(Brief Article)(Column)
May 1, 2002... I've lived nearly all my life down South and it shows in my poetry. The cadence of the lines, the historical subject matter I choose, and my attention to narrative--that probably comes from sitting by an oil drum barbecue grill listening to my...

The Emperor's Babe.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Bernadine Evaristo Viking, April 2002 $23.95, ISBN 0-670-03071-6 Irreverent, wild, oddly familiar. Bernadine Evaristo's imaginative depiction of Londinium, Britannia--a remote northern outpost of the Roman Empire circa A.D. 211--is all...

The Shine Poems.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... by Calvin Forbes Louisiana State University Press, April 2001, $15.95, ISBN 0-8071-2666-7 This collection of poetry is divided into four different sections, and begins with reflective poems that speak of a "forty something" man's...

Guide to BookExpo America: car buffs have the auto show. Book lovers have BookExpo America.
May 1, 2002... BEA, as BookExpo America is usually referred to, is an annual trade show, publishing rights forum and industry conference that showcases the $25 billion book publishing industry. Formerly known as the American Booksellers Association Convention...

BEA event highlights. (Guide to Book Expo America).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... BEA America at a glance What: BookExpo America 2002 Where: Jacob K. Javits Convention Center New York City When: African-American Booksellers Conference Thursday, May 2, 2002 Educational Programs and...

Children's bookshelf.(Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali )(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by Jim Haskins Illustrated by Eric Velasquez, Walker & Company, May 2002 $17.95, ISBN 0-802-78784-3 Jim Haskins' Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali is an oversized picture book that chronicles the life...

Claude Brown. (tribute).
May 1, 2002... Claude Brown, like Ralph Ellison, is best remembered for one book: Manchild in the Promised Land. When this novelistic autobiography exploded onto the literary and social scene in 1965, it was like holding a mirror up to America's seething...