Patience, Perspective, and the Power of Story: An Interview with Toni Ann Johnson, by Scott LaMascus Interviews [email protected] Mon, 10/16/2023 - 13:46 Storyteller Toni Ann Johnson uses her skills as an actor, playwright, and fiction writer to tell powerful stories of race, reconciliation, and the effects of lingering racism. She is award-winning on stage and screen, most recently with her story collection Light Skin Gone to Waste (University of Georgia Press, 2022), selected for the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. When I spoke to Johnson in Los Angeles and later by email, we explored the role stories can play in our understanding of truths, including matters many would rather forget. Scott LaMascus: If you were joining the late Flannery O’Connor on her porch in Milledgeville, Georgia, what do you hope she would praise about your stories that were honored with the award named for her? Toni Ann Johnson: I wouldn’t expect Ms. O’Connor to praise my stories. Her racism would likely have prevented her from appreciating their subject matter. In her letters, she wrote: About the Negroes, the kind I don’t like is the philosophizing prophesying pontificating kind, the James Baldwin kind. Very ignorant but never silent. Baldwin can tell us what it feels like to be a Negro in Harlem but he tries to tell us everything else too. O’Connor was put off by James Baldwin’s writing because it dared to stray beyond the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-16 18:46:19 UTC ]
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“A collection of these issues would undoubtedly be my favorite book that no one has heard of,” says the author of the memoir “Stay True,” one of the Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2022. “If you are reading this, please write me!” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-07-13 09:00:09 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Marrying Friends, the forthcoming collection of short stories from Mary Rechner, which will be published by Propeller Books in October. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: When her troubled husband dies unexpectedly, mercurial Therese... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-11 15:00:43 UTC ]
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Award-winning children's author and poet Mary Ann Hoberman died July 7 following a long illness; she was 92. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The ALA’s first-ever Rally for the Right to Read featured librarians and advocates speaking of the need to fight censorship and a keynote from author Ibram X. Kendi, who praised librarians as modern-day freedom fighters. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Almost 60 years after the publication of Where The Wild Things Are (November 23 will mark the rumpus), the world is getting a new children’s book from the late Maurice Sendak. HarperCollins Publishers will be releasing Ten Little Rabbits: A Counting Story with Mino the Magician, a count-along... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-22 13:53:52 UTC ]
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The writer on the long gestation of Locks – his debut novel set in 90s Merseyside – his work in prisons and what Virginia Woolf has taught him Continue reading... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-17 17:00:19 UTC ]
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CES might get the biggest headlines, but for desktop fans, there’s no better trade show than Taeipei’s Computex. The show was put on hiatus for two years, and technically back but severely muted in 2022, so this year was the first return to its full prominence. In addition to coverage of... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-06-16 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Sound too good to be true? Well I have news for you, dear aspiring writer, you can get yourself a phone call or a manuscript critique from a fancy literary agent by bidding at this year’s Literary Agents of Change Auction. The LAOC is an organization that believes that advancing the publishing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-15 17:12:39 UTC ]
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Rev. Linda Barnes Popham says she’ll keep leading her Baptist church in Kentucky so long as her congregation stands behind her. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-06-14 22:50:19 UTC ]
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A new essay collection aims to broaden readers’ perspectives on China and foster cross-cultural understanding. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Emergence Magazine is an online publication with annual print edition exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the Earth, we look to emerging... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-12 08:51:53 UTC ]
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“So many come to mind,” says the author, whose novel “The Rabbit Hutch” won a National Book Award last year and will be out in paperback this month. “I guess I’m often furious?” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-08 09:00:31 UTC ]
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Decades after “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” an anthology and a novel let readers see periods through the eyes of diverse protagonists. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-02 09:00:39 UTC ]
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Mariane Féged, director of Spanish markets at Bookwire, highlights three titles that have been especially popular on the service. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Japan and JAXA, the country’s space administration, have spent decades trying to make it possible to beam solar energy from space. In 2015, the nation made a breakthrough when JAXA scientists successfully beamed 1.8 kilowatts of power, enough energy to power an electric kettle, more than 50... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-28 21:43:38 UTC ]
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In her No. 1 best-selling picture book, “A Day With No Words,” the debut author shows an average day in the life of a boy who has autism. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-05-25 09:00:12 UTC ]
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Editors and literary agents on the mechanics—and the emotions—behind the publishing business, what makes a bestseller, and how book bidding wars can cloud expectations. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In this exclusive cover reveal, PW takes a look at Ways to Build Dreams, the latest installment in the bestselling A Ryan Hart Story series, by Newbery Honor- and Coretta Scott King Award-winner Renée Watson. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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These must-read short stories on audio will help you break out of reading slumps and give you a taste of an author's style, like Some People Have Real Problems by Brit Bennett. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-05-17 10:36:00 UTC ]
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Celebrated rapper Chuck D continues his social activism as a visual artist, releasing a set of graphic journals via Enemy Books, a new imprint launched in partnership with Akashic Books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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