Round Up

Howdy folks. Checking in to let you know that I have two blog posts up on how writers cope with self-doubt, one on the Girlfriends Book Club and one on Writer Unboxed. Both posts offer great advice and inspiration for writers or anyone hoping to achieve a goal. As you may note, I quoted black authors extensively. It's part of my not-so-secret mission to make sure we get included when the topic is something other than race and diversity. I think you'll get a sense of the authors from their answers. If someone intrigues you, I hope you'll click the link to their site and check them out...even purchase one of their books.

In other news:

Jesymn Ward's Salvage the Bones was recently named a finalist for a National Book Award! Congratulations!

Last month Pym author Mat Johnson received the Dos Passos Prize, which "honors American authors whose mid-career works focus on American themes and the human experience, while embracing an experimental approach to literary form"!

On October 30th, #blacklitchat celebrates one year of talking with authors on Twitter! The anniversary celebration will be hosted by Tayari Jones. Congratulations Bernadette and Dee!

Jacqueline Luckett's forthcoming Passing Love got a rave review in Publishers Weekly!

Bernice McFadden has a couple of new releases coming in January. Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River, says about Gathering of the Waters: "As strange as this may sound, Bernice L. McFadden has created a magical, fantastic novel centered around the notorious tragedy of Emmett Till's murder. This is a startling, beautifully written piece of work."

Martha Southgate, author of The Taste of Salt, recommended three books for finicky folks on NPR.

Tina McElroy Ansa is one of the storytellers for The Moth's 5th radio season. Go here to stream or to check to see if one of your local radio stations is broadcasting stories from The Moth. Or, if you've got a story to tell, hit 'em up!

Election Day Links

I voted and I hope you have/will too. Because I haven't done a round up in a while, here are a bunch of interesting links. Maybe you can check some of them out when you need a break from politics.

Actor Michael Boatman is also an author. Didn't know that. He writes speculative fiction and has some bones to pick with those that say he should write more "black."

Doubt his critic knows about The Carl Brandon Society. Check out their contest to support the Butler (as in Octavia) Scholarship, which helps writers of colors who write, wait for it, speculative fiction.

Dawn Davis is one of the more influential women in publishing. She recently gave an interview on SheWrites about the current state of publishing. "Most of the books with multi-racial characters that have been hugely successful have been written by white women or men, The Secret Life of Bees, Little Bee, The Help. We've yet to really make those same inroads with readers with books penned by black women."

One of her authors was just featured in an article about 5 young authors you should be reading. Nick Burd author of The Vast Fields of Ordinary was a new name to me.

Miss this? A podcast of Martha Southgate, Eisa Eulen and Bridgette Davis talking writers and books.

Congrats to Heidi Durrow! Booklist named The Girl Who Fell From the Sky one of the top 10 debuts of 2010.

Who's going to see For Colored Girls....? I saw the play in college and was very moved, but so far am not real excited about the movie. I hope it's great and I hope at least half of those who go to the theater also hit up a bookstore and pick up a copy of the book.

Speaking of movies, filmmakers are raising funds to make Leaving Atlanta, based on Tayari Jones' first novel.

Girlfriends Cyber Circuit

I try not to talk about myself too much (or at least too, too much) on this blog, but this blog happens to be the perfect place to share this. I'm doing a blog tour of the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit. 20+ non-black authors hosting a black author and her book on their blogs (I've also hosted them on my personal blog.). As much as I acknowledge the bad over here, have to also shine light on what's working. Thanks Girlfriends!

Keep reading for beach reads and giveaways.

Who?

Being an author, especially a black author, sometimes makes me feel like one of the Who’s in Whoville. Remember Horton Hears a Who? The Whos were little creatures screaming to be heard. They all banded together and yelled, “We are here. We are here. We are here. We are heeaar!” And Horton heard them.

That's what I do on this site. And that's what I'm currently doing to promote my new novel, so I feel like my screaming voice is a little hoarse right now. So I don't have much to blog.

Just want to remind all readers that whether you're looking for high quality literary fiction or fast-paced juicy beach reads, black authors are here and we're writing what you like.

You may have to search us out, but find us. Read us.

We are here.