The Root offers some "cross-cultural" book recommendations.
Tieffa Harper, talks about why she started recently Plenary Publishing, which will publish its first books in 2010. From the article: Harper’s philosophy is “there are many voices missing from the marketplace, but particularly from writers of color…We are not one dimensional people, and publishing shouldn’t reflect that…Yet when you walk into the black section of the bookstore, you see that the industry at large thinks that we only want to read about gangsters, side chicks, ride or die wifeys and scheming preacher’s wives.”
Doug Seibold, the founder of Agate Publishing, talks about why he focuses on books by African-American authors, including Leonard Pitts, Jr.
The Guardian, in England, is on the search for good popular fiction for black men. (Trust me: black American writers are still hearing that our work won't sell overseas.)
The Bottom of Heaven takes on Newsweek's review of a graphic novel.
School Library Journal is running a cool series, Writers Against Racism: interviews with different writers and how racism impacted them.
After hearing me on Tavis Smiley, a reader started a discussion on Yahoo Answers. Her question: do you read books written by authors who are black, Latin, female, etc.?
See what's coming up on Conversations Live: a book radio show with C.A. Webb.
4 comments:
All of these links are wonderful and add to the converstions that must be had to change publishing for the better.
Thanks for the shout out! I also enjoyed the recommendations at The Root - it's good for us black folks to give other people of color a try too. (http://welcomeblackfolks.com) ha ha.
But seriously, I was especially struck by how the author in the SLJ piece cited the quality of "empathy" as one reason to develop an appreciation for black writers. I know that term has earned some bad press during the latest SCOTUS hearings, but it is an important factor behind why we should encourage all people to read more people of color.
Thanks for the links. I learned through the Bottom of Heaven piece that there's a new graphic novel out about the flooding of New Orleans and the aftermath, which I then ordered for my husband and me as part of our growing collection of flood books.
Great round-up. The Writers Against Racism series is a must read.
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