Black Author Showcase™ A Standing Room Only Success!

Comments heard last Friday at the Black Author Showcase™ at Howard University Continuing Education:

"That was just fantastic!"

"A premium experience"

". . . so upscale"

"We really enjoyed the authors and their presentations . . ."

"The food was excellent!"

(It was) so good – more than I expected."

"Please make sure I'm on your invitation list for the next one!"
Thank you to all of you who made the showcase this past Friday a success. Over 130 people came out in the rain to see:

Rey Harris - Motivational Morsels

Henriette Edmonds - The Georgia Avenue Bus

James A. Jimason - Dante's Destiny

Silvia Henderson - Why You Talk So White?

Angeline Bandon-Bibum - Sojourner's Dream

R.J. Williams - Cheapa 2 Keepa

Stafford L. Battle - AfroCyberspace

Shaun Mathis - This Hurts

Hilda Thomasine Wren - A Plain, Brown Wren

Wanda Childs - Pushed Into My Purpose

K. Lowery Moore - When I'm Loving You

Joyce Veranda Gray - Dark Karma

Dwayne Vernon - My Man, My Boyz

MacArthur Burton - Management Out of the Blue

Anita R Lambert - F.H.M. Murray

Matthew Horne - The Universe Is Inviting You In

Larry Chang - Wisdom for the Soul of Black Folk

Oscar Harp - Across Time: Mystery of the Great Sphinx

Theresa Grant - Hope and Desire

William Powell, Jr. - Valkyrie

Paul Lawrence Vann - Living on Higher Ground

22nd Century Press also introduced three new authors: Pleasetta Grace, Randy Philip, and Ralph Spencer.

The works ran the gamut: novels, self help, romance, poetry, autobiographical, technology, sci-fi, historical - you name it. There was a book for every type of book buying customer (except children, but keep an eye out for our next showcase in February).

The speakers were outstanding. Some had only a few minutes, but still left an indelible mark on the audience. During intermissions attendees checked out the school's facilities, visited the photographer Kea Taylor of Imagine Photography Studios taking professional head shots on location during the showcase, and dined on assorted cheeses, wines, smoked salmon, caviar and more. All of this and it was free to the public.

You will not want to miss the next one. Special thanks to the Prince George's County, MD chapter of the Black Writer's Guild for their support. See their website for the Afro Books Expo in February 2008.

The More Things Change . . . Books and Race - Blah, Blah, Blah

As a writer, where do you want your book to reside in ANY bookstore? That's right. WHEREVER the most people interested in your genre will find it. It's a shame that writers of Sci-Fi, horror, and other genres are instantly installed in the "African American" section of the major booksellers just because they also happen to be a different shade.

Simply put, bookstore segregation must stop. However, there will be no busing of novels across the store aisles. Supposedly, Barnes and Nobel has begun to integrate their fiction stacks.

I am going to keep my eye on the lawsuit filed by Nadine Aldred against her publisher, the Penguin Group. This lawsuit and the larger issue are covered in this article written by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg in the December 6, 2006 issue of the Wall Street Journal: Why Book Industry Sees the World Split Still by Race - WSJ.com

The blog, "On The Wrong Side of the Alligator" has posted a large portion of the complaint. It's lengthy but fascinating reading for those of us that want the best chance to produce an international bestseller. Ms. Aldred's pseudonym weighs in on her blog here: Millenia Black | Taking Care of Business