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Poet Elizabeth Alexander talks to CBS News about the significance of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration and staying calm while preparing a poem to commemorate the day.
TheAtlantic.com presents an intriguing and in-depth disucssion with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book, The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood. In this video presentation, Ta-Nehisi talks passionately about his strict upbringing and the powerful role his father, Paul Coates, played in him being the talented writer and man he is today!
More about The Beautiful Struggle . . .
The Beautiful Struggle
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Spiegel & Grau, May 6, 2008
$22.95 US; ISBN: 0385520360
Book Description
An exceptional father-son story about the reality that tests us, the myths that sustain us, and the love that saves us.
Paul Coates was an enigmatic god to his sons: a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an old-school disciplinarian and new-age believer in free love, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African civilization. Most of all, he was a wily tactician whose mission was to carry his sons across the shoals of inner-city adolescence—and through the collapsing civilization of Baltimore in the Age of Crack—and into the safe arms of Howard University, where he worked so his children could attend for free.
Among his brood of seven, his main challenges were Ta-Nehisi, spacey and sensitive and almost comically miscalibrated for his environment, and Big Bill, charismatic and all-too-ready for the challenges of the streets. The Beautiful Struggle follows their divergent paths through this turbulent period, and their father’s steadfast efforts—assisted by mothers, teachers, and a body of myths, histories, and rituals conjured from the past to meet the needs of a troubled present—to keep them whole in a world that seemed bent on their destruction.
With a remarkable ability to reimagine both the lost world of his father’s generation and the terrors and wonders of his own youth, Coates offers readers a small and beautiful epic about boys trying to become men in black America and beyond.
Romance B(u)y The Book’s host, Michelle Buonfigilio, did a FABULOUS interview with my all time favorite historical romance writer, Beverly Jenkins! Check out Beverly’s interview below and how she “lovingly uses African-American history in her romance novels to give them depth and heart.” So enjoy this Lifetime Video presetation on African-American Romance!
Are you an avid romance reader? Then Michelle Buonfiglio’s Romance B(u)y The Book on Lifetime.com is one of the perfect places online to learn about today’s popular romance writers!
A Conversation With Bestselling Authors,
Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant
By, Ebony Farashuu
Contributing Writer
Miriam Webster defines collaboration as working jointly with others or together, especially in an intellectual endeavor. This will definitely be news to the many young men and women who have been led to believe that a collaboration is merely the appearance of a hip-hop artist on an R&B track, remixed and re-mastered to the point of sounding nothing like the song on the album you purchased after hearing this “collabo” on the radio.
The literary field also provides its fair share of collaborations, from anthologies, to novels ghost written or co-authored either in portions, or in its entirety. While it’s almost always entertainingly obvious, who did what on a track in the music arena, the same can’t be said for a book. Unless you’re reading an anthology or a collection of poetry by various authors, to quote a well-known proverb “to many cooks can spoil the broth”.
Is it possible that two separate personalities can actually come together to convey a single thought that is cleverly written with one distinctive voice? Literary divas Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant would say absolutely, yes!
Ten years ago I read a book called Tryin’ To Sleep in The Bed You Made. I must admit that I hadn’t really paid attention to the name of the author when I picked up the novel, but upon completing it I had to know more about her because I knew this was definitely an author to watch. The book managed to draw me in and hold my attention as I fell in love with the characters and became involved in their lives. I was shocked to learn that this wonderful book had been written by not one, but by two dynamic authors.
A conversation with the Queen of “Bling” Fiction, Méta Smith
Beauty and The Streets
By, Ebony Farashuu, Contributing Writer
In a world where mainstream Caucasian authors are selling millions of books based on crime, sex, mystery, and drug addiction, it’s intriguing when we find that books by African-American authors, based on the same subjects, are merely lumped into one single category. “Street” or “Urban” Fiction. While other authors enjoy a variety of genres, African-American authors must fight to survive in a genre that not only singles them out as a race, but sometimes causes their work to be dismissed before it is even read.
Meta Smith, author of Queen of Miami, The Rolexxx Club, Divas Need Love Too, (a novella in the Harper-Collins anthology, These Are My Confessions), and the newly released Heaven’s Fury, was not pleased when her former publisher, Warner Books, introduced her as a Street Lit author.
“I did not want to start my career out on someone hearing that I was a street author and them (the reader) going, ‘here we go’, and then not paying attention to the book.” Méta told me. “I don’t want someone to just dismiss my hard work because it happens to be about black people in the hood. I mean white people write books about white people in the hood all the time. People don’t just wave it off like trash.”
“They call it a ‘coming of age’story,” I suggested.
A conversation with Best Selling Author, J.D. Mason
A New Twist for a Literary Original
Ebony Farashuu, contributing writer
When Coca-Cola changed their best-selling formula in 1985, replacing it with what they thought was a new and improved version of the beloved beverage, they had no idea what type of consumer turmoil lay ahead of them. In an instant….the same soda drinkers who had previously shouted “Coke Is It” from the rooftops, were now singing “Coke was it” into the ears of the corporate heads. For Coca-Cola, straying from the original formula proved to be a serious mistake, rectified only by giving the consumers what they wanted…the same soda they’d been drinking for years.
So what happens when an author decides to stray from her original formula? Does she worry about how her product will be perceived? Will it sell? Will it tank? Will her readers accept her literary experimentation or will they rebel like the Coca-Cola drinkers? Is it really worth the risk?
Inspired by an article in Essence Magazine titled, Confessions of the Other Woman, author J.D. Mason’s editor thought the subject matter covered in the article would make a fantastic book. When her editor approached her with the idea, J.D. was thrilled with the prospect of penning a novel that dared contradict the style of writing that had established her as a best seller.
A Conversation with Professional Speaker and Certified Life Coach, Ellen Junious
Marlive: Congratulations on your new book, Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage. Please briefly tell us what your new book is about.
Ellen Junious: Unleash the Power of Personal Advantage is an inspiring guide that offers suggestions for achieving personal success by your own definition. I believe that life is to be loved, lived, and enjoyed. Oftentimes people get caught up living someone else’s dream. I encourage my readers to follow their own dreams–not only to dream about what’s possible but to live their best life now.
Marlive: The title of your book is very powerful. How did you come by that title and what personal situations in your own life inspired you to write this book?
Ellen Junious: That is a great question. When I started this journey, I wanted a title that would stand on its own, captivate and motivate my reading audience. When people begin to recognize the beauty and uniqueness they offer the world, I want them to be encouraged to take advantage of every opportunity to reach new heights in every aspect of their lives. For just a moment, let’s think about what sets organizations apart and what differentiates the “A” from the “B” players. We refer to this in the business world as “competitive advantage.” When it comes to individuals, we are born with our gifts, and then we develop our skills and talents that then set us apart from other people. If you are unwilling to live life in a state of complacency, then you can work toward your personal advantages, those things that set you apart from “B” and “C” players.
Let me define what I mean by Personal Advantage. Personal Advantage is the results of actions taken that help you to achieve very favorable and positive outcomes in your life. I call that success. In my book, I encourage people to take practical and decisive steps to achieve their goals. When a person has a vision for their lives and is willing to take charge, they begin to see themselves as not just the person in the driver’s seat, but as the vehicle itself, the physical being that gets them where they’re going.
A conversation with award winning author, Omar Tyree
An Intellectual Warrior
Ebony Farashuu, contributing writer
New York Times best-selling author, Omar Tyree carries himself with the confident swagger of a jock and the mentality of a mastermind. It is a combination that exudes a certain level of arrogance, but is balanced out by his intellect and the intensity with which he speaks about his passion: writing.
I first met Omar Tyree in August of 2006, at the Tulisoma Book Fair in Dallas, Texas. I’d heard many things about the author, mainly that he was obscenely egotistical, and being an author myself, I wasn’t sure if his showcase was an event that I wanted to attend. That changed the moment Omar walked into the room and began to speak. The first thing that impressed me was the enthusiasm that took over his entire persona as he began to talk about his craft. He felt every word and he brought the audience into his world, allowing us to feel it with him. He spoke openly about the disappointment he felt when many fans of his best-selling debut novel, “Flyy Girl”, seemingly abandoned the sequel, “For the Love of Money”. I recently revisited that subject with Mr. Tyree as we spoke over the phone during a break in his busy day.
“I feel better about writing a book that I can appreciate and stand up for…than just writing a book for people to read and gossip about.” He explained. He made it very clear that he doesn’t write strictly to entertain the masses. “I want my books to say something.”
A conversation with Marcus Mabry, the award winning chief of correspondents for Newsweek, about his new biography, Twice As Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power
Q: How did this in-depth book about Condoleezza Rice come about and when did you know that you would be the author of it?
M. Mabry: I was fascinated by Condoleezza Rice since I first saw her speak at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York during the 2000 Presidential campaign. There were only about five black people in the room, and Rice and I were two of them, out of about 500 total. Rice spoke for 40 minutes about the whole range of American foreign policy–with no notes, no “ah”s or “um”s and got a standing ovation. After Bush won, I watched her become more controversial–and more steely–through the first term, with 9/11 and the start of the war in Iraq. Rice was full of contradictions. She grew up in segregated South, at a time when Martin Luther King was leading marches in her hometown, Birmingham; but, she was the most vocal defender of a Republican Party that had gained national power, at least in part, through a “Southern strategy” that exploited white resentment over black civil rights gains. When Bush nominated her to be his secretary of state in November 2004–which would make her, literally, the most powerful African American woman in 230 years of American government–I decided I had to write her biography. I had to understand who this powerful–and very private and complicated–woman was. I didn’t know I’d be the author until a publisher liked the idea and bought the book proposal in January 2005.
A Conversation with new author, Mimi Jefferson
Q: When did the writing bug first hit, and do you have any other published works other than The Single Sister Experiment?
Mimi: The Single Sister Experiment is my first novel. I guess the writing bug was dormant for a while. I used to enjoy writing in high school but completing a novel was not something I had given much thought to. I can remember adults telling me that writing was not a stable profession. I wished I had not listened to that advice now. Being an author may not be the most lucrative profession but sitting at the computer creating stories with higly flawed characters, real life drama, and a forgiving God is where I feel most comfortable.
Q: How did you come by the idea/concept of The Single Sister Experiment?
Mimi : About five years ago I had a conversation with a friend over lunch. Throughout the lunch my friend’s cell phone kept ringing; different women were calling him. After answering the phone one time he looked at me and said something like, “I haven’t spoken to her in weeks, but I bet I could convince her to have sex with me again. She will probably resist at first, asking me where I’ve been and why I haven’t I called. But eventually she’ll give in.” Later on he answered the phone again and after hanging up with yet a different woman he said something to the effect of, “You know, you women don’t know your power. You are selling yourselves too short.”
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