Black Issues Book Review articles from September 2004

Black Issues Book Review archives from September 2004

Pulp fiction.(from the editor-in-chief)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Some black readers, dedicated publishing professionals and retailers have expressed alarm that new books in the rising genre of urban or hip-hop literature are far outselling classic black literature by writers like Nobel laureate Toni...

A study in contrasts.(executive editor's view)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... This summer, we met our kind of readers and motivated book buyers in droves: We met them in the heady, multicultural parade of people who prepaid $38 to get a personally signed copy of My Life when former President Clinton visited Harlem's...

Books for our children.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... This year is the 35th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Breakfast, where one of the more prestigious awards for children's literature is presented at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association. Those early founders and...

Gay lit.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... Just a brief note to tell you what a nice job BIBR did on the black gay literature features, "Out, No Doubt" and "Documenting a Black Gay and Lesbian Literary Canon," in the July-August 2004 issue. It's wonderful to see the topic covered so...

Taking BIBR on vacation.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... Just read the July-August 2004 Black Issues Book Review, and I wanted to tell you what a great issue it is. I especially loved the article "Writing While White." I knew I was uncomfortable with Grisham's The Last Juror, but couldn't put my...

More on self-publishers.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... "Paving the Way to Publishing Success" (July-August 2004), there was one important omission: Roland S. Jefferson's The School on 103rd Street, which was self published in 1976 and picked up by W.W. Norton & Co. in 1997. His latest book, Damaged...

Sister strength: Yari Yari Pamberi at NYU on October 12-16 will draw black women writers from all over the globe.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)
September 1, 2004... Where can you hear Maya Angelou, Toni Mordson, Alice Walker and Sonja Sanchez, plus Buchi Emecheta, Ama Ata Aidoo, Maryse Conde and Nawal el Saadawi in just a few days? Yari Yari Pamberi, of course. Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Writers...

Wil Haygood.(Deals)(Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Wil Haygood's biography In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. (Knopf, October 2003) was sold to Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. The project will be coproduced and directed by Denzel Washington.

Dave Chappelle.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... Dave Chappelle apparently wants to play funk musician Rick James in a film based on James's upcoming book, Memoirs of a Super Freak. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura was going after the rights to begin work on the picture, according to the NY Post.

Richard Pryor.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... A book about the comedian Richard Pryor by Elvis Mitchell, former New York Times cultural critic, was the subject of a heated book auction among New York editors with David Black as the agent, the New York Post reported. But a few days...

Joe Jackson.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... Joe Jackson, father of Michael, Janet and the test, was reported to be offering his own autobiography, through German literary agent Michael Meller.

Alicia Keys.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The book version of The Diary of Alicia Keys, the singers-composer-pianist's thoughts on growing up musically gifted in New York; plus a songbook of Alicia Keys's poems and lyrics, were sold to to David Highfill at Putnam, by David Vigliano at...

Holly Robinson Peete.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Holly Robinson Peete, the actress and NFL spouse, is the coauthor of Get Your Own Damn Beer; I'm Watching The Game, a women's guide to football, along with Daniel Paisner. It was sold to Leah Flickinger at Rodale's Men's Health and Sports...

Evander Holyfield.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Evander Holyfield and his long-time attorney, Jim Thomas, sold The Holyfield Way, an inspirational memoir illustrating key points to Evander's success--hard work, faith and perseverance--to John Humenik at Sports Publishing, by Stacey Glick...

Ronin Ro.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Ronin Ro's In Raising Hell: Run DMC, Jam Master Jay and the Birth Of The Hip-Hop Industry was sold to Stacey Barney at Amistad/Harper, in an under-$100,000 deal, by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Aaron McGruder.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... Aaron McGruder's next Boondocks collection Public Enemy # 2, was sold to Chris Jackson at Crown, by Lydia Wills at Writers and Artists Group International.

Veronica Chambers.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... Veronica Chambers's A Girl Named Banana: How Girl Japanese Power Changed a Nation, was sold to Martha Levin at The Free Press, in a six-figure deal, by Christy Fletcher at Fletcher & Parry.

Donnie Williams with Wayne Greenhaw's The Thunder of Angels: Behind the Scenes of Segregation, an exclusive look at the lives of little recognized players in the Montgomery, Alabama, fight for civil rights.(Deals)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Donnie Williams with Wayne Greenhaw's The Thunder of Angels: Behind the Scenes of Segregation, an exclusive look at the lives of little recognized players in the Montgomery, Alabama, fight for civil rights, sold to Yuval Taylor at Chicago...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, an epic novel of 1960s Nigeria and the Biafran War, sold to Anjali Singh at Knopf/Anchor, in a six figure deal, by Sarah Chalfant at the Wylie Agency.

Brandon Massey.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... Brandon Massey's two new untitled supernatural thrillers, the first of which leads to a haunted plantation in Georgia, for publication in October 2005, sold to to Karen Thomas at Dafina/Kensington, in an under-$100,000 deal, by Sara Camilli at...

Angela Henry.(Deals)
September 1, 2004... MystNoir Web site founder Angela Henry has signed a three-book deal with BET Books for her mystery series. The first book, The Company You Keep, is scheduled for a May 2005 release under BET's commercial fiction imprint Sepia. Richard Curtis of...

Sanyu Dillon.(Movin' on Up!)
September 1, 2004... Sanyu Dillon leaves her marketing position at Simon & Schuster to become director of marketing for the "Little Random" imprint at Random House.

Up close and personal with "Uptown Bill": because of two very special in-store appearances by the former President, black-owned bookstores in Harlem and Los Angeles sold out their My Life copies.
September 1, 2004... Former President Bill Clinton said he wanted to do a book tour that "looks like America." As the tour began in midtown Manhatian, he underscored one of the purposes of his memoir My Life. "I hope that this book will in some way be a gift to...

Signings & sightings.
September 1, 2004... ATLANTA, GA The Urban Griot (Omar Tyree), whose latest book is Cold Blooded, will be speaking at the Decatur Public Library, 215 Sycamore Street, at September 2, at 7 P.M. For information, log on to www.dekalblibrary.org, or call...

The soul of a songwriter: India.Arie talks about reading, writing and stoking her creative fires.(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... Like writing a novel or a short story or a poem, songwriting is the art of telling a story. The story is told to music--but otherwise, the bare bones remain the same. And like the novelist or poet, the songwriter wants her audience to think,...

Zane, Inc.: she has much more on her mind than black erotica. Behind the best-selling author's pseudonym is a shrewd businesswoman, astute publishing entrepreneur and--oh, yes--a wife and mother of four.(Strebor Books )(Bibliography)
September 1, 2004... Though she plans to keep key details about her true identity under wraps--like her real name, for one thing--Zane embarked on her first ever book tour this summer. (The tour preceded her ninth book, Afterburn, forthcoming this fall.) Beginning...

Before Zane was a star ... a veteran journalist and published author admits he told his former cyberpal that she would never make it as a writer. Now he just marvels at how wrong he was.
September 1, 2004... Zane is someone that I struck up a conversation with in an Internet chat room about a decade ago. I had just published my memoir, Waking From the Dream: My Life in the Black Middle Class (Anchor, 1994). Zane saw my book on Amazon.com and asked...

A short history of contemporary black erotic fiction: the best of black erotic literature since 1992 reveals as much about our souls and how they connect as it does about how we entangle and unite our bodies.
September 1, 2004... Could it be that I'm a prude? I balked initially when I was asked to write about black erotic fiction as a genre. But then I decided to challenge my preconceptions, and sure enough, I was enlightened as a result: This genre isn't just about...

Noteworthy titles.
September 1, 2004... Best Black Women's Erotica Edited by Blanche Richardson Cleis Press, May 2001, $14.95 ISBN 1-573-44106-6 and Best Black Women's Erotica 2 Edited by Samiya Bashir Cleis Press, February 2002 $14.95, ISBN 1-573-44163-5 These two...

It's urban, it's real, but is this literature? Controversy rages over a new genre whose sales are headed off the charts.('Round the way special report: hip-hop fiction)
September 1, 2004... These days, it seems that nearly every black-owned bookstore and every street vendor s table--from 125th Street in Harlem to Jacksonville, Florida, to Chicago, and to Oakland, California, and back--is spilling over with titles in a new genre...

Noteworthy titles.('Round the way special report: hip-hop fiction)
September 1, 2004... For continuing coverage of new titles in this genre, watch future issues of BIBR for the new column 'ROUND THE WAY. Behind the Screen by Stormy Steele Bronze Books, January 2004 $13.95, ISBN 0-974-74981-8 Kyla Sullivan is a hardworking...

Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela by Hugh Masekela and D. Michael Cheers Crown Publishers, May 2004 $25.95, ISBN 0-609-60957-2 Like his unmuted, passionate solos on flugel-horn, Hugh Masekela holds nothing back in this...

Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee by Mona Z. Smith Faber and Faber, Inc., August 2004 $26.00, ISBN 0-571-21142-9 Why was one of the greatest African American actors of his day relegated to little more than a footnote in Hollywood...

Noteworthy titles.(rhythm & books)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race. by Maureen Mahon Duke University Press, September 2004 $22.95, ISBN 0-822-33317-1 Mahon, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and the African...

Self-care and reflection: fall brings most of us back into the season's work and school routines--a good time also for a new hairstyle or a lifestyle improvement.(nurture advice, fitness and health)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The number of books for African Americans that cover self-care issues always seems to be increasing. Recent offerings include an inspirational autobiography by a beauty products entrepreneur, a new book on hair, and a number of advice books for...

Keeping it natural.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Textured Tresses: The Ultimate Guide to Maintaining and Styling Natural Hair by Diane Da Costa with Paula T. Renfroe Fireside/Simon & Shuster, June 2004 $15.00, ISBN 0-743-23550-9 Hair-styling maven Diane Da Costa, the woman who has run her...

Guiding young adults.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Move Without the Ball: Put Your Skills and Magic to Work for You! by Stedman Graham Fireside/Simon & Schuster, August 2004 $15.00, ISBN 0-743-23440-5 Stedman Graham helps teens realistically reach their goals with motivational stories from...

Mumia's voice: confined to Pennsylvania's death row, Mumia Abu-Jamal remains at the center of debate as he continues to write and options to appeal his police murder conviction dwindle.(spotlight)
September 1, 2004... Editor's Note: In April, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who became an internationally known braadcaster, author, and cause celebre from death row, released his latest book, We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party (April 2004, South End Press). Two...

Challenging cliches.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Dogon: People of the Cliffs (Imago Mundi series) Introduction by Genevieve Calame-Griaule, photographs by Agnes Pataux 5 Continents Editions, September 2003 $29.95, ISBN 8-874-39055-6 The mere simplicity and elegance of this book is a...

A primer for print collectors.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Collecting Limited Edition Prints: Contemporary African American Printmakers by Dennis L. Forbes Dennis L. Forbes, publisher, February 2004 $65.00, ISBN 0-974-55090-6 Dennis Forbes's well written and lushly illustrated book is a welcome...

Ritual artifacts.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... See the Music, Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art by Frederick John Lamp, Prestel, March 2004 $79.00, ISBN 3-791-33036-5 In 1936, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) displayed, with works from the Museum of...

Other noteworthy titles.(Eye: a showcase for the visual arts)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Malick Sidibe: Photographs Hasselblad Center/Steidl March 2004 $68.00, ISBN 3-882-43973-4 Malian-born photographer Sidibe continues to intrigue audiences with his enthusiastic black-and-white portraits of West African culture. Soul singer...

What do those big publishers want anyway? Editors for major publishing houses tell how they scout for acquisitions among self-published titles.(self-publishing)
September 1, 2004... We've all heard the rumors. Every few months, there's a new deal: A self-published author who has parlayed entrepreneurial success into a six-figure contract from a major publisher. While that news travels fast through the gossip mills, no one...

One shrewd online bookseller, a constellation of smaller sites: a black-owned Internet bookseller thrives by broadening its product lines.(bookbytes)
September 1, 2004... When I wrote my first book in 1996, a friend told me about what was probably the first online bookseller, Amazon.com. It was a marvel. I logged on often to check out the sales of my books, as well as the comments made by people who bought it. I...

It's Not About You ... It's About God.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Rebecca Florence Osaigbovo InterVarsity Press, January 2004 $12.00, ISBN 0-830-82367-0 Author Rebecca Florence Osaigbovo pulls no punches in stating that in order for God to work in your life, you must submit fully to His will. Using...

Rise Up: a Call to Leadership for African American Women.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Sylvia Rose InterVarsity Press, July 2004 $13.00, ISBN 0-830-83212-2 Rose's message that we should strive to walk in God's calling in our lives with courage and conviction is not new. The advice, however, is delivered in a beautiful...

Things My Mama Told Me: the Wisdom that Shapes Our Lives.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Olga Samples Davis WaterBrook Press, April 2004 $12.99, ISBN 1-578-56819-6 Embedded in the homespun and universal sayings in this new book is a wonderful story of the lives of two strong women, specifically how the wisdom of the older...

The Dinah Project: A Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Monica A. Coleman Pilgrim Press, April 2004 $23.00, ISBN 0-829-81587-2 How is God present in situations of abuse? Monica Coleman invites readers into a dialogue on the church's lack of response to a problem often-perceived of...

A quest for righteous reading: with its focus on Christian-based books, Literally Speaking Publishing House aims to publish books that speak to the heart and spirit.
September 1, 2004... The opening session and luncheon of the African American Booksellers Association at BookExpo America 2004 was sponsored for the first time by an African American publisher--Literally Speaking Publishing House (LSPH). Founded in 2000,...

Longing for Daddy: Healing from the Pain of an Absent or Emotionally Distant Father.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Monique Robinson WaterBrook Press, January 2004 $11.99, ISBN 1-578-56587-8 Longing for Daddy examines the concerns and fears of fatherless daughters that leave them open to emotional and physical abuse. She teaches women to replace...

From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by David W. Dunlap Columbia University Press, June 2004 $69.50, ISBN 0-231-12542-9 Published in collaboration with the New York Historical Society, From Abyssinian to Zion is a travelogue of 1,079 houses of worship in New York City....

Other noteworthy titles.(faith reviews)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... African Wisdom: 101 Proverbs From the Motherland by Tokunbo Adelekan Judson Press, July 2004 $11.00, ISBN 0-817-01461-6 Adelekan, who is of African descent, is an assistant professor at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary; and here he...

Taking aim at higher education: a selection of books that explore the progress, struggles and aspirations.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Advancing Democracy: African Americans and the Struggle for Access and Equity in Higher Education in Texas by Amilcar Shabazz, University of North Carolina Press, January 2004 $19.95, ISBN 0-807-85505-7 In the Introduction, Shabazz, a...

Take Back Higher Education: Race, Youth, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Post-Civil War Era.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Henry A. Giroux and Susan Searls Giroux Palgrave, May 2004 $35.00, ISBN 1-403-96423-8 The peddling of credit cards to college students and the institutions' signing of exclusive soft drink and athletic shoe contracts--with hefty...

Other noteworthy titles.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A Black and White Case: How Affirmative Action Survived Its Greatest Legal Challenge by Greg Stohr, Bloomberg Press September 2004, $26.95 ISBN 1-576-60170-6 Storh, an award-winning Supreme Court reporter for Bloomberg News, follows...

Mountain memories: a wave of new books from scholars shed light on the Appalachian past shared by many African Americans.(bibliomane)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... By its very nature, Appalachia is a hidden culture. The mountains keep its people, language and customs in a kind of time bubble, barring easy access to prying eyes of outsiders and the pressures for changes. The region stretches along...

The sound of silence: two books encourage open dialogue about the complexities of sexual abuse, gender bias and racism in our society.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... No Secrets, No Lies: How Black Families Can Heal From Sexual Abuse by Robin D. Stone Broadway Books, April 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-767-91344-2 Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins...

Democracy Matters.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Cornel West The Penguin Press, September 2004 $24.95, ISBN 1-594-20029-7 What is most rewarding about reading Cornel West is that he writes like he talks. As anyone who has been present at one of his speeches or lectures can tell you,...

Children of the Movement.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by John Blake Lawrence Hill Books, June 2004 $24.95, ISBN 1-556-52537-0 It seems a cruel thing to seek out the children of Civil Rights Movement leaders and ask them about the twin roles of their parents and the Movement in their lives....

Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Aram Goudsouzian The University of North Carolina Press March 2004 $29.95, ISBN 0-807-82843-2 Goudsouzian's study of Poitier is in many ways a portrait of an industry that not only reflects public sentiment but often seeks to shape it....

On the Down Low: a Journey Into the Lives of "Straight" Black Men Who Sleep with Men.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by J.L. King Broadway Books, May 2004 $21.95, ISBN 0-767-91398-1 We have this expression "on the up and-up." I think we all know that means truth or being open. Believe me, after 20 plus years of practice as a family psychologist, I know...

Low Road: the Life and Legacy of Donald Goines.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Eddie B. Allen Jr. St. Martin's Press, October 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-312-29124-8 "I remember that I was much too young when I first started reading his books, probably in the second or third grade. I recognized people in my neighborhood...

And It Don't Stop: the Best American Hip-Hip Journalism of the Last 25 Years.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Edited by Racquel Cepeda Foreword by Nelson George Faber and Faber, Inc., September 2004 $15.00, ISBN 0-571-21159-3 This engaging anthology captures the controversial moments of hip-hop from its birth in 1979 to now. In his Foreword, Nelson...

From Rage to Reason: My Life in Two Americas.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Janet Langhart Cohen with Alexander Kopelman, Dafina Books/Kensington Publishing, May 2004 $27.00. ISBN 0-758-20393-4 She was born in 1941 in a charity hospital in Indianapolis to a black woman with a ninth grade education who wanted...

Recipe for Success: the 21 Indispensable Things That Can Help You Succeed in Life.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... by Emma S. Etuk, Ph. D. Emida International Publishers, 2004 $19.95, ISBN 1-881-29306-8 The Nigerian-born author earned a doctorate in history from Harvard and uses his practical experience and scholarly focus to help readers succeed for...

White Out: Blacks Screened Out on the Boob Tube--One Community's Story (Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Changing Channels: The Civil Rights Case That Transformed Television by Kay Mills University Press of Mississippi, April 2004 $30.00, ISBN 1-578-06519-4 Watching Jim Crow: The Struggles Over Mississippi TV, 1955-1969 by Steven D....

DeBerry and grant calling ... South Carolina club is excited about winning essay contest.(books & clubs)
September 1, 2004... When Corrie Claiborne, a member of the Reading Between the Wines Book Club, heard that her group had won the DeBerry and Grant Book Club Contest, she screamed into this editor's ear. "Oh, thank you. That's so great!" Claiborne, an English...

Soul City.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Soul City by Toure Little, Brown and Company September 2004, $23.95 ISBN 0-316-74158-2 When reporter Cadillac Jackson steps off the train in Soul City, he is eager to find out what makes the place what it is. Flowers blossom through the...

The Second Life of Samuel Tyne.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The Second Life of Samuel Tyne by Esi Edugyan Amistad, August 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-73603-8 Born in Ghana, educated in England, and immigrated to Canada, Samuel Tyne showed great promise and much was expected of him. As the novel opens,...

Passing Through.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Passing Through by Colin Channer One World/Ballantine Books, June 2004 $13.95, ISBN 0-345-45334-4 Channer combines the emotionally titillating eroticism of his first book, Waiting in Vain, with the psychic depth of his second, Satisfy My...

Orange Crushed: An Ivy League Mystery.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Orange Crushed: An Ivy League Mystery by Pamela Thomas-Graham Simon & Schuster, June 2004 $24.00, ISBN 0-684-84528-8 First, there was A Darker Shade of Crimson (Simon & Schuster, April 1998) and then Blue Blood (Simon & Schuster, May 1999),...

Havoc After Dark: Tales of Terror.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Havoc After Dark: Tales of Terror by Robert Fleming Dafina Books, March 2004 $14.00, ISBN 0-758-20575-9 This first horror collection from Robert Fleming is an ambitious work that draws heavily on the mythology of and stereotypes about...

The Million Dollar Divorce.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The Million Dollar Divorce by RM Johnson Simon & Schuster, September 2004 $23.00, ISBN 0-743-25816-9 This is the entertaining story of Nate Kenny--a handsome and rich entrepreneur with a beautiful wife. His dream of having a family is...

Ida B.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Ida B. by Karen E. Quinones Miller Simon & Schuster, August 2004 $22.00, ISBN 0-743-26001-5 The Ida B. Wells Tower, a subsidized housing development in Harlem, is the site of mounting tensions between long-time residents and the relentless...

Truth Be Told.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Truth Be Told by Victoria Christopher Murray Touchstone, June 2004, $14.00, ISBN 0-748-25567-4 What happens when the truth comes out? Do you confront it head-on, or do you sweep it under the rug? In Truth Be Told, Christopher Murray's...

Run Toward Fear: New Poems and a Poet's Handbook.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Run Toward Fear: New Poems and a Poet's Handbook by Haki Madhubuti Third World Press, June 2004 $12.00, ISBN 0-883-78265-0 For nearly four decades, Haki Madhubuti has been a major force in African American poetry. Madhubuti emerged as one...

Macnolia.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Macnolia by A. Van Jordan W.W. Norton & Company, June 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-393-05907-3 The jacket copy of A. Van Jordan's second book of poetry, Macnolia, describes the collection too narrowly as a "nonlinear narrative" based on the life of...

Slave Moth: a Narrative in Verse.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Slave Moth: A Narrative in Verse by Thylias Moss Persea Books, February 2004 $24.00, ISBN 0-892-55289-1 Moss's outstanding narrative in verse transcends maW boundaries of slavery discourse. In this fictional account, young Varl lives on...

Conversations with Audre Lorde.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Conversations With Audre Lorde by Joan Wylie Hall (ed.) University Press of Mississippi, dune 2004 $48.0, ISBN 1-578-06642-5 In what would become her last important interview (conducted by Charles Rowell), Audre Lorde, who died in 1992,...

Dancing on Main Street.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Dancing on Main Street by Lorenzo Thomas Coffee House Press, April 2004 $15.00, ISBN 1-566-89156-6 Lorenzo Thomas is a master of language and craft and his long awaited new collection showcases his agility--from rangy surrealism to the...

The making of a people's pundit: writing about a dysfunctional political system and people who don't vote is as much about healing anger as it is about righting wrongs and affirming rights.(the writing life)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... I wouldn't be a writer if I weren't angry. In fact, I'm angry right now--furious that America is embroiled in an ill-reasoned war (in which one of my cousins is fighting). I'm livid that 50 percent of black men in New York have no stable job...

We shall not be moved: D.C.'s Sisterspace and Books fights to keep historic U Street location.(market buzz)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... At BIBR's late July presstime, Sister-space and Books' cofounders Faye Williams and Cassandra Button were standing firm on what they called their battle ground of 1515 U Street, NW." They were expecting an imminent visit from the marshals, but...

Recommended bookstores.(Directory)
September 1, 2004... You can find (or special order) the titles reviewed and advertised in Black Issues Book Review at these fine independent booksellers: Black Images Book Bazaar 230 Wynnewood Village Dallas, TX 75224 214-943-0142 ...

Let every child relate: a publishing veteran launches the Just For You! book series with black characters and unifying themes.(Children's bookshelf)(Children's Review)
September 1, 2004... Bernette Ford, an independent editorial consultant and book packager, is the creative force behind Just For You!, a series of books for children officially launched this summer. "It was like a dream come true--the opportunity to work with...