When Tejan Karefa-Smart asked his uncle, James Baldwin, “When are you going to write a book about me?” he may not have expected his Uncle Jimmy to follow through so quickly. Baldwin’s only children’s book, Little Man, Little Man, which was published in 1976, chronicles a day in the life of three black children in 1970s Harlem. Four-year-old TJ, 7-year-old WT, and 8-year-old Blinky skip rope, dance in the streets, and run errands for their neighbors, but they also see the cops shoot a fleeing suspect, neighborhood boys do drugs, and the friendly Miss Lee drink gin out of sadness. “A children’s story for adults, an adult story for children,” Little Man, Little Man’s dust jacket beamed at the time, “that only a great novelist can produce.” And yet, reviewing the book for the New York Times in 1977, Julius Lester panned it as a great novelist’s admirable but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at producing children’s literature, and the book quickly went out of print. Almost four decades later, Little Man, Little Man is being reissued for a contemporary audience that may be more receptive to its ambition not to smooth over the complexity of growing up black in America. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2018-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News and Events Laura and Bunmi celebrate 41 books by Black authors. From Black joy to history to empowerment, the books on this list provide affirming messages for children and young adults with a special shout-out to NSK Neustadt Prize finalist Jason... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-24 19:13:40 UTC ]
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Works by writers like bell hooks, Damon Young and James Baldwin that will educate and make an impact on everyone. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2022-01-31 16:37:38 UTC ]
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This anthology by Kwame Mbalia is comprised of stories that have always existed but rarely get told. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-09-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Influx Press is launching a new fiction prize for Black British women, in partnership with lifestyle platform Black Ballad. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-27 19:32:32 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Black Spot Books has partnered with genre specialist PR and marketing agency Black Crow, as it announces its upcoming list. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-07 23:54:34 UTC ]
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21 Black Futures, a new stage anthology by CBC and Toronto's Obisidan Theatre Company, brings together 63 Black artists from across the country to answer the question "What is the future of Blackness?" Its creation also directly addresses, and... Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2021-02-16 09:00:00 UTC ]
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The contest was created by Macmillan Learning "to elevate Black voices in education and in recognition of the fight for social justice inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter movement." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Snapchat is marking Black History Month with a host of in-application features and tools honoring the theme of Black excellence. Snapchatters will have access to Bitmoji, creative tools and lenses highlighting the creativity of Black artists and lens creators on the platform. Black History Month... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2021-02-03 22:50:53 UTC ]
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Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, co-authors of visual anthology Black Futures, will become the first-ever guest curators of the Lift Black Voices section in its flagship mobile applications. Starting Monday and lasting for three weeks, they will personally select collections of dialogues, essays... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2021-01-11 18:55:42 UTC ]
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We've got books for the Read Harder task asking you to read an own voices YA book with a Black main character that isn't about Black pain. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-07 11:30:00 UTC ]
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We already love Dolly Parton, not just for her powerhouse songwriting and iconic hair but also for her championing of American literacy—her Imagination Library sends over 1 million free books per month (that’s one book every two seconds!) to children ages 0-5 in the United States, Canada, the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-18 18:00:10 UTC ]
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As the founder and CEO of digital media investment bank Luma Partners LLC, Terence Kawaja is a problem solver by nature. But earlier this summer, as Kawaja watched his news feed, he found himself hearing about problems that left him at a loss. He read about the killing of George Floyd and police... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2020-09-03 12:30:00 UTC ]
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If you pick up the newest edition of Oxford American, the quarterly general-interest literary magazine founded in 1992 and best known for its annual Southern music issues, you’ll notice a bold design aesthetic: the conspicuous dearth of cover lines, a prominent masthead, a thick, granular... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-11 20:06:33 UTC ]
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Founded by Manuel Godoy and his wife, Geiszel Godoy, this startup publisher focused on releasing comics, chapter books, and picture books aimed at black parents and their children. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new, refreshing bible for young black women aims to speak to a demographic neglected by mainstream self-help. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A barrage of self-indulgent snippets get in the way of a series of hazy short stories that can be, at times, engaging.When will James Franco slow down? The prince of perpetual motion continues his blur of activity, starring in movies, writing screenplays, attending classes, unveiling solo art... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When I was a child, my grandfather was embroiled in a quiet, and possibly entirely one-sided, feud with his next-door neighbor. Every summer I would visit my grandparents for a week, and follow Grandpa on his morning walks through the woodlot, along a path that skirted the neighbor’s field. Each... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-10 08:54:38 UTC ]
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