Black Issues Book Review articles from May 2004

Black Issues Book Review archives from May 2004

Life before Brown--and after.(from the editor-in-chief)(Editorial)
May 1, 2004... I am a black man who was born, raised, educated in the Deep South during the era of "separate but equal"--a phenomenon that can best be described as a hoax. When I started school in 1948 in segregated Bay Minette, Alabama, my first year was...

Our Brown stories.(executive editor's view)(Editorial)
May 1, 2004... In this issue, we pay tribute to the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, handed down May 17, 1954. I have no personal memory of the moment the Court cast out "separate but equal" from our national law. It happened days...

The Great White Fathers' Failings.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN BOOK PUBLISHING for more than twenty years and a subscriber to Black Issues Book Review since it began. BIBR is evidence of how far we've traveled in publishing books by and about blacks. I read each issue carefully and...

Congratulations!(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... ON THE BEHALF OF THE BLACK CAUCUS OF the American Library Association-Connecticut Chapter, we congratulate you on your fifth anniversary. Over the years, BIBR has been an excellent resource in our libraries. From annual poetry issues to...

Correction.(letters to the editor)(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2004... In the article "Slam or Be Slammed" (March-April 2004), the photograph showed members of The Nuyorican 2003 National Slam Team, not "a typical Friday night," which would've been a packed house. The photograph should have also been credited to...

Whoopi at kid level.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Whoopi Goldberg)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Whoopi Goldberg will apply her special brand of humor to a line of children's books for Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Hyperion Books for Children, headed for stores in the fall of 2005. "Goldberg is one of the great talents of our time--her...

Urban legend.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(www.usps.com/shop)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... An e-mail has been making the rounds suggesting that the Black Heritage Series stamps issued by the United States Postal Service was about to be discontinued and all the inventory destroyed. Don't believe it. A'Lelia Bundles, author of On Her...

Black librarian's awards.(2004 Black Caucus of the American Library Awards)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Winners of the 2004 Black Caucus of the American Library Awards will pick up their honors at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association in Orlando, Florida, June 24 to 30. The BCALA announced the winners of its 2004 Literary...

JR Lankford's.(Film Rights)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... JR Lankford's The Jesus Thief, a biomedical thriller about the theft of DNA from the Shroud of Turin to clone Jesus, sold to actress/producer Alfre Woodard by Albert Zuckerman at Writers House.

Nathan Blakeslee's.(Film Rights)(Halle Berry in Tulia)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Halle Berry, will produce and star as a civil rights attorney in a film based on Nathan Blakeslee's Tulia, a story of a small Texas town where more than a tenth of the black residents were indicted on cocaine charges--all on the word of a shady...

Jill Nelson's.(Fiction)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Mass-market paperback rights to Jill Nelson's Sexual Healing, sold to Liate Stehlik at Pocket, for publication in 2005, by Doug Seibold at Agate.

Evie Rhodes.(Fiction)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Evie Rhodes, a.k.a. Prophecy 1, gospel/hip-hop artist and songwriter landed a two-book publishing contract to publish a psycho thriller, Expired, late this year, and a second novel to follow, with Kensington. She was represented by Robert G....

Rosalyn Story's.(Fiction)(debut novel sells)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Rosalyn Story's debut novel More Than You Know, about a marriage of musicians, sold to Doug Seibold at Agate, for publication in fall 2004, also up to $100,000, by Ann Collette at the Helen Rees Agency.

Helen Oyeyemi.(Fiction)("The Icarus Girl")(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... The Icarus Girl, by Helen Oyeyemi, a 19-year-old Nigerian student at Cambridge University, has sold a novel exploring the lore of twins in her home country, plus an untitled future novel in a six figure deal to Lorna Owen at Nan A....

Christopher John Farley.(Fiction)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... An historical novel, Kingston by Starlight, by Christopher John Farley, a senior editor at Time magazine, sold to Rachel Kahan at Crown, by Caron Knauer at Caron K Literary Enterprises.

Zadie Smith's.(Fiction)(Hamish Hilton to publish two most recent books)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Zadie Smith's novel On Beauty and a nonfiction book about writing, Fail Better, to Simon Presser at Hamish Hilton, by Georgia Garrett at A P Watt.

Kayla Perrin's.(Fiction)(Avon Books to publish new book)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Kayla Perrin's The Sweet Spot, about a jinxed pro-football player, to Lucia Macro at Avon trade paperback, by Helen Breitwieser at Cornerstone Literary (NA).

Nina Foxx's.(Fiction)(Avon Books to publish next book)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Nina Foxx's next love novel Marrying Up, to Carrie Feron at Avon, for publication in July 2005, by Elaine Koster (NA).

Pamela Newkirk's.(Nonfiction)(FSG to publish new book)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Pamela Newkirk's African American Life in Letters, epistles collected from from slavery times to the present, to Ayesha Pande at FSG, by Neeti Madan at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Venus and Serena Williams'.(Nonfiction)(sell autobiography to Houghton Mifflin Books for Children)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Venus and Serena Williams' Venus and Serena: Serving From the Hip, an account of their lives as champions on and off the court, to Andrea Davis Pinkney at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Jacqueline Tobin.(Nonfiction)(sells book to Harlem Moon/Doubleday)
May 1, 2004... From Midnight to Dawn: The Last Tracks of The Underground Railroad by Jacqueline Tobin was sold to Janet Hill at Harlem Moon/Doubleday, by Barbara Lowenstein and Madeleine Morel at Lowenstein-Morel Associates. The book traces what happened to...

Dax Devlon-Ross's.(Nonfiction)(wins book contract with Hyperion Press)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Dax Devlon-Ross's Outside the Box: Profiles of African Americans Who Transcend Stereotypes, to Ben Loehnen at Hyperion, by Byrd Leavell at Carlisle & Company.

Rebecca Carroll's.(Nonfiction)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Rebecca Carroll's narrative nonfiction on the legacy of Booker T. Washington, sold to Janet Hill at Harlem Moon/Doubleday, by Meredith Bernstein.

Known world.(Edward P. Jones' novel wins National Book Critics Circle prize)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Edward P. Jones's first novel, The Known World (Amistad/HarperCollins), won the fiction prize of the National Book Critics Circle in March. The provocative tale examines the psycho/sociopolitical sphere of a slave-owing family of African...

Diggs joins literary agency.(Anita Diggs joins The Literary Group)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Anita Diggs has joined The Literary Group as an agent in New York, charged with bringing in books for a multicultural readership, Frank Weimann, president of the company, has announced. She was previously senior editor/director of One World...

Cutting out the middlemen.(Amber Communications Group Inc. to sell directly to Barnes & Noble)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Amber Communications Group, Inc., of Phoenix, Arizona, reached an agreement to become the first African American book publisher to sell its titles directly to the Barnes & Noble Bookstore chain. The publisher's imprints include Amber, Busta,...

Signings & sightings.(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... ATLANTA, GA The Atlanta Daily World and the Auburn Avenue Research Library present the Children's Literary Festival Day, Saturday, May 8, 2004, from 12 P.M. to 8 P.M., celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education...

The goings-on at the 2004 BookExpo: this year, all eyes and ears in the publishing industry will focus on Chicago, host city of BookExpo America.
May 1, 2004... BookExpo America (BEA), returns June 3 to McCormick Place in Chicago, where it has met before, most recently in 2001. The convention center is one of the few large enough to accommodate this whale of a conference with ease, and it is centrally...

The unfinished agenda of Brown v. Board of Education: a new book compiled by Black Issues in Higher Education, BIBR's sister publication, examines the impact of the landmark civil rights court decision 50 years later. BIBR excerpts it below.(Excerpt)
May 1, 2004... Fifty years after the landmark May 17, 1954, Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, there is a critical need to foster national dialogue about its unfinished agenda. What is the historical importance of this decision as we look...

Defending quality public education for all.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... In January, Elaine R. Jones announced that effective May 1 she is stepping down as President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., after 32 distinguished years as an attorney with the LDF. Under the...

Speaking volumes about Brown: scholarly works review the record of the landmark mid-20th century ruling.("Brown v. Board of Education: A Documentary History," "Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution" and "What 'Brown v. Board of Education' Should Have Said: The Nation's Top Legal Experts Rewrite America's Landmark Civil Rights Decision")(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... If the 50th anniversary celebration of Brown v. Board of Education is muted in many school districts, it is quite understandable. Some of these districts are more segregated today than they were back in the 1950s. A recent report discloses that...

Chronicles of the movement: the greatest hits among the important books that have shaped the record of America's civil rights struggles.(bibliomane)(Bibliography)
May 1, 2004... What will future generations know about the great mass movement for racial equality that came to a head in the middle of the 20th century? What books will stand as the central canon for understanding this passage in our nation's history? Where...

Room at the inn for writers: a D.C. bed-and-breakfast not only caters to booklovers as paying guests, but runs a free writer-in-residence program.(sojourn)(The Akwaaba D.C.)
May 1, 2004... The Akwaaba D.C., the third bed-and-breakfast operated by Monique Greenwood, is a booklover's paradise and a writer's haven. The five-story, 1920s brownstone--conveniently located near Dupont Circle, in sight of the White House and within...

Triple crown winner: in the hot category of urban fiction, ex-offender Victoria Stringer self-published her story and launched her successful, independent press.(self-publishing)
May 1, 2004... Urban fiction. Street fiction. Hip-hop fiction. This genre's growth by any name can be summed up in one word--"exploding" Since the popularity of Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever (Atria Books) in 1999, these novels have earned major...

Celebrating love, honor and achievement: gifts for bookloving moms and dads, newlyweds and grads.(Buyers Guide)
May 1, 2004... Special occasion keepsake box: Initials, dates, quotations, or the occasion itself can be engraved on the cover of this keepsake box of natural cherry; $59.95 from www.levenger.com. For the visionary: For a desk at home or at work,...

An all-star collection.("Something All Our Own: The Grant Hill Collection of African American Art" )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Something All Our Own: The Grant Hill Collection of African American Art Edited by Alvia J. Wardlaw Duke University Press November 2003 $49.95, ISBN 0-822-33306-6 Orlando Magic basketball star Grant Hill has another passion that he has...

Images with definition.("Black: A Celebration of a Culture")(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Black: A Celebration of a Culture by Deborah Willis Hylas Publishing January 2004 $35.00, ISBN 1-592-58051-3 This deserving recipient of a MacArthur fellowship--the "genius" award--has curated yet another stunning collection of photographs...

Divine folk art.("Tools of Her Ministry: The Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan" )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Tools of Her Ministry: The Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan by William A. Fagaly, with essays by Jason Berry and Helen M. Shannon Foreword by Gerald C. Wertkin Rizzoli International Publications, March 2004 $35.00, ISB 0-847-92623-6 Folk art...

A complete map of Reggae: the Caribbean beat's journey through the Diaspora, plus the "Black Mozart".("Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music")(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music. by Lloyd Bradley, with photographs by Dennis Morris, BBC Books, February 2004 $19.95, ISBN 0-563-48807-7 Lloyd Bradley does such a good job of breaking down reggae music in his tightly written work that...

Monsieur de Saint-George: Virtuoso, Swordsman, Revolutionary, a Legendary Life Rediscovered.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Monsieur de Saint-George: Virtuoso, Swordsman, Revolutionary, A Legendary Life Rediscovered by Alain Guede, Picador, December 2003 $26.00, ISBN 0-312-30927-9 The life of Joseph de Saint-George was so incredible it seems almost fictitious....

Reading Black music.(brief reviews of 12 books)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... In celebration of Black Music Month, June 2004, here's a listing of several titles that recognize the various artists and distinctive styles and voices that have helped to define black music. Armstrong by David Bradbury Haus Publishing,...

Out of the wilderness: books that explore a vast range of black religious experiences.(Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun)(African American Religious Thought: An Anthology)(Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adiele W.W. Norton & Company, April 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-393-05784-4 The daughter of a Scandinavian mother and a Nigerian father, Faith Adiele grew up on her maternal...

Ya, Sweden: for one of New York City's culinary stars, Scandinavian cuisine is just good homecooking.(the welcome table)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... In the rarefied world of haute cuisine, a black executive chef is indeed all anomaly. Rarer still is Marcus Samuelsson, one who is not only the co-owner of an acclaimed Scandinavian restaurant in New York City, but also author of a definitive...

A pivotal year for social change: so much happened in 1968, Mark Kurlansky makes good use his "quirky verve" to write a narrative history.(1968: The Year That Rocked the World)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... 1968: The Year That Rocked the World. by Mark Kurlansky Ballantine Books, January 2004 $26.95, ISBN 0-345-45581-9 It was a year of assassination and healing, repression and revolt, nonviolence and militancy, and war without peace. Mark...

The Michael Eric Dyson Reader.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... The Michael Eric Dyson Reader by Michael Eric Dyson Basic Civitas Books, January 2004 $29.95, ISBN 0-465-01768-1 There was a time when, if a writer or scholar had a "Reader" it marked a plateau--an accumulation of books, essays, and...

Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex. by Marita Golden Doubleday, April 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-385-50786-0 In her new book, Marita Golden uses many of her own stories and takes examples from her friend's lives,...

Death of Innocence: the Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America by Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson Random House, October 2003 $24.95, ISBN 1-400-06117-2 It's the photograph that we remember: a picture of the dead black boy in...

Black Titan: A. G. Gaston and the Making of a Black Millionaire.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Black Titan: A. G. Gaston and the Making of a Black Millionaire by Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines One World/Ballantine, January 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-345-45347-6 For African Americans who have come from the depths, stories of...

In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on the Bondwoman's Narrative.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... In Search of Hannah Crafts: Critical Essays on The Bondwoman's Narrative Edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Hollis Robbins Basic Civitas Books, January 2004 $27.50, ISBN 0-465-02714-8 In 2002, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr....

To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Sacred Mission to Save America, 1955-1968.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Sacred Mission to Save America, 1955-1968 by Stewart Burns HarperSanFrancisco, January 2004 $27.95, ISBN 0-060-54245-4 An author offers what he considers to be another point of view on the life...

The gifts of the grandmother spirit: Alice Walker's seventh novel examines the questing soul.(Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart: A Novel)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart: A Novel by Alice Walker Random House, April 2004 $24.95, ISBN 1-400-06173-3 Alice Walker has always most identified with people who are profoundly connected to the earth and are mindful of the wisdom of...

A scrapbook for the whole race.(From My People: 400 Years of African American Folklore)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... From My People: 400 Years of African American Folklore Edited by Daryl Cumber Dance W.W. Norton & Company, November 2003 $19.95, ISBN 0-393-32497-4 As a first generation "Yankee," I grew up surrounded by songs, stories, parables, folktales...

The Darkest Child.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips Soho Press, Inc., January 2004 $26.00, ISBN 1-569-47345-5 This novel documents the unjust and dreadful life of 13-year-old Tangy Mae Quinn from 1958 to 1960. "Tan" is a very dark and therefore highly...

Better Than I Know Myself.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Better Than I Know Myself by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant St. Martin's Press, June 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-312-27309-6 The love and support girlfriends provide for one another is a special bond that anchors us through the seasons of life...

Leaving Cecil Street.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Leaving Cecil Street by Diane McKinney-Whetstone William Morrow, April 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-668-16385-8 Love gone wrong every which way it can is the substance of this new novel by Diane McKinney-Whetstone. It is 1969, and a cloistered block...

Voices from the Quarters: the Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Voices From the Quarters: The Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines by Mary Ellen Doyle Louisiana State University Press September 2003 $14.95, ISBN 0-807-12910-0 It is not difficult to End a plethora of reviews and literary criticism of the works...

The love scene.(Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality)(Hitts & Mrs)(Mississippi Blues)(Tastes Like Chicken)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality by Brenda L. Thomas Pocket Books, March 2004 $12.00, ISBN 0-743-47727-8 Brenda L. Thomas brings readers up-to-date with Sasha Borianni who narrated Thomas's earlier novel Threesome: Where Seduction Power...

Adventures in growing up: the latest book in Jackie Hardrick's self-published Imani series keeps the drama of teen angst in perspective.(Imani in Never Say Goodbye)(Imani in Young Love and Deception)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Imani in Never Say Goodbye by Jackie Hardrick Enlighten Publications, March 2004 $15.00, ISBN 0-970-62262-7 Whoever said that being a teenager would be the easiest time in one's life, certainly didn't have these characters in mind. The...

Warrior Poet: a Biography of Audre Lorde.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis De Veaux W.W. Norton & Company, March 2004 $29.95, ISBN-0-393-01954-3 This first biography of Audre Lorde, who famously defined herself as "a black feminist lesbian mother poet," attempts...

The Devil's Garden.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... The Devil's Garden by Adrian Matejka Alice James Books, October 2003 $13.95, ISBN 1-882-29541-2 In his first collection, Matejka challenges notions of propriety, as if breaking silence on long held family secrets. The product of an...

Mastering deceit: Jayson Blair, self-avowed plagiarist/fabricator who brought shame on himself and The New York Times, keeps a straight face before skeptics as BIBR asks the questions.(Black Issues Book Review)("Burning Down My Masters' House: My Life at The New York Times")(Interview)
May 1, 2004... HYATTSVILLE, MD -- As Jayson Blair answered questions from interviewer William E. Cox, president and editor-in-chief of Black Issues Book Review, audience members at black owned Karibu Books stared. A tall brother wearing a black beret stood...

Africa reborn for the 21st century: a decade after the end of South African apartheid and the horrors of Rwandan genocide, an African American journalist talks about turning her witness to history into a book.(the writing life)(Lynne Duke)(Column)
May 1, 2004... In a lush valley ringed by cloud-draped mountains, the idea of my book was born. I didn't know it at the time. I was focused, instead, on the automatic weapons fire echoing in the hills and the villagers burying the freshly fallen dead. The...

How black booksellers are reinventing themselves: an uncertain economy and stepped-up competition from other retailers keep black independents on their toes.(market buzz)
May 1, 2004... The largest growth ever of blacks in the retail bookstore business came in the period between the late 1960s and through the '90s. But nowadays, an increasing number of black independent booksellers are finding themselves not only in the red,...

Learning as we climb: stories about the Civil Rights Movement for young readers.(books)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Black Issues Book Review's editor for children's books, Suzanne Rust, chose several books to provide a range of choices for young readers this season, as well as the sampling for young-adult readers that follows: Remember: The Journey to...

Choice high-tech gifts: cool digital cameras, mobile accessories and wired watches are more affordable than ever.(book bytes)(Buyers Guide)
May 1, 2004... Booklovers--readers, scholars and writers--also need gadgets to make work and play easier. If you need a gift for one of them in this season of Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations, weddings and other family events, this is a good time to...

The mother of all black Book Clubs: after 13 years, Go on Girl! has become a national presence with more than 300 members in 12 states.(book & clubs)
May 1, 2004... Thirteen years ago, Tracy Mitchell-Brown opened the doors of her Brooklyn brownstone and invited a circle of friends to join her in a monthly celebration of black literature. They named themselves the Go on Girl! Book Club, Inc. and affirmed...

Flying off the shelves.(www.bibookreview.com)
May 1, 2004... Hardcover Fiction 1. Nervous/Zane (1) ($24.00, Atria Books, ISBN 0-743-45705-6) An alternate personality wrens havoc for the normally shy Jonquinette Peirce, who seeks help from the psychiatrist introduced in Zene's novel...