Outskirts Press
Available June 25, 2010 in Paperback

Growing up poor in the small town of Vicksburg, Miss., Alexander Devereaux didn’t have much. But there was no lack of remarkable personalities, each of whom left an indelible imprint on his life. Gar Fish & Long Gravy collects the stories, insight, tragedies, and uproarious wit of an unforgettable cast of characters. Meet Granmama Lia’, whose hard-won wisdom on life, love-and mistresses-is dispensed to in her kitchen to her beloved grandson, sometimes over Johnny Walker Black. There’s Ms. Peaches, who raises chickens in her ramshackle hut yet might be one of the richest people in town. Big Daddy is an imposing hulk, but his massive frame hides a vulnerable past and humiliating secret. Ms. Annie Laurie is a fabulously wealthy white woman who never had children of her own. But her love rains down on young Alexander. And that’s just for starters.

Based on real-life experiences, Gar Fish & Long Gravy is about the mistakes we make, the loves we share, and the stories we tell each other that make us who we are. And it is the touching story of a boy who ultimately breaks free of the poverty and abuse of his extended family, yet never forgets the important lessons he learned along the way. As Grandmama said, “If sense were common, everybody would have it.”

Celebra Hardcover
Available November 2, 2010 in Hardcover

“Story is our medium. It’s how we connect emotionally with our viewers. And it’s how we make sense of our world…When we talk about a ‘big story,’ we’re really talking about what resonates with people, what matters to them…And I think when it comes to our national narrative, what we need to realize is that we’re all contributing to the story, that we can affect where this country is going.”

From top CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien comes a highly personal look at her biggest reporting moments from Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the devastating Haiti earthquake to the historic elections and high profile interviews with everyday Americans. Drawing on her own unique background and consciousness as well as her experiences as a journalist at the front lines of the most provocative issues in today’s society-and particularly from her work as host of the acclaimed series Black in America and Latino in America-O’Brien offers her candid, clear-eyed take on where we are as a country and where we’re going.

What emerges is both an inspiring message of hope and a glimpse into the heart and soul of one of America’s most straight-talking reporters.

The Next Big Story: My Journey Through the Land of Possibilities
by Soledad O’Brien with Rose Marie Arce

Penguin Press HC
Available April 29, 2010 in Hardcover

Into Williams’s childhood home-a one-story ranch house-his father crammed more books than the local library could hold. “Pappy” used some of these volumes to run an academic prep service; the rest he used in his unending pursuit of wisdom. His son’s pursuits were quite different-”money, hoes, and clothes.” The teenage Williams wore Medusa- faced Versace sunglasses and a hefty gold medallion, dumbed down and thugged up his speech, and did whatever else he could to fit into the intoxicating hip-hop culture that surrounded him. Like all his friends, he knew exactly where he was the day Biggie Smalls died, he could recite the lyrics to any Nas or Tupac song, and he kept his woman in line, with force if necessary.

But Pappy, who grew up in the segregated South and hid in closets so he could read Aesop and Plato, had a different destiny in mind for his son. For years, Williams managed to juggle two disparate lifestyles- “keeping it real” in his friends’ eyes and studying for the SATs under his father’s strict tutelage. As college approached and the stakes of the thug lifestyle escalated, the revolving door between Williams’s street life and home life threatened to spin out of control. Ultimately, Williams would have to decide between hip-hop and his future. Would he choose “street dreams” or a radically different dream- the one Martin Luther King spoke of or the one Pappy held out to him now?

Williams is the first of his generation to measure the seductive power of hip-hop against its restrictive worldview, which ultimately leaves those who live it powerless. Losing My Cool portrays the allure and the danger of hip-hop culture like no book has before. Even more remarkably, Williams evokes the subtle salvation that literature offers and recounts with breathtaking clarity a burgeoning bond between father and son.

Louis Gossett Jr. is one of the most respected African American stage and screen actors, who rose to fame with his Emmy-winning role in the television miniseries Roots and Oscar-winning performance in An Officer and a Gentleman. Now he tells the story of his fifty-plus years in the entertainment world — from his early success on the New York stage appearing with Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in A Raisin in the Sun, through his long Hollywood career working alongside countless stars, including Marilyn Monroe and Dennis Quaid. He writes frankly of his struggle to get leading roles and fair pay as a black man in Hollywood, his problems with drugs and alcohol that took years to overcome, and his current work to eradicate racism and violence and give our children a better future.

* Includes revealing stories and reminiscences involving famous performers, including Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Shirley Booth, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve McQueen, Richard Gere, Maggie Smith, Halle Berry, and Gena Rowlands
* Spans half a century of American theater and film history, people, and performances
* Highlights the problem of racism in Hollywood and the challenges faced by African American actors from the 1950s and 1960s onward

An Actor and a Gentleman penetrates the celebrity glitz and glamour to offer an honest, heartfelt portrayal of the African American experience both in Hollywood and the New York theater world, as told by one of the nation’s most enduring and highly esteemed actors.

Wiley
Available May 3, 2010 in Hardcover

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact Malik Shakur at
malik@independentcreativeartists.com
info@damngoodman.com
310-694-4196 / 323-758-1337

LOS ANGELES—Actor and television shopping host Dale Madison was one year old when Berry Gordy formed Motown records. As Motown celebrates 50 years of music-making history, Madison creates a tribute to the music he calls “the soundtrack of his life.” Motown legend and original member of the Supremes Mary Wilson says, “Dreamboy is truly a Dream Come True. You have written a memoir that not only every gay man should read but every person should read.”Ms. Wilson is referring to “DREAMBOY: My Life as a QVC Host and Other Greatest Hits” written by Dale Madison.

As a kid growing up on the gritty streets of Baltimore, Dale Madison idolized the glitz and glamour that the Supremes personified for an era in American music history. So it seemed natural for Madison to shape his memoir as an homage to the group, and in particular to the 1984 Mary Wilson book, “DREAMGIRL: My Life as a Supreme.”

“I had such an emotional attachment to the incredible cultural success of the Supremes in the 1960s” Madison says. “At different points in my life I felt as if I were each one of the Supremes. I can’t tell you how many times my mother caught me singing like Diana Ross whenever I got an ‘A’ on an assignment from school.”

The book explores with candor and charm his Baltimore childhood, his straight and gay relationships, his varied careers, his turbulent four years as a shopping channel host at QVC, and his current work as a bit player in Hollywood movies.

Diva Supreme Mary Wilson says, “We were just doing what we enjoyed doing and hoped that people liked it. I really do appreciate your admiration of us.” and you’ll agree when you read this anthology of greatest hits by Dale Madison.

In an unexpected twist, Madison’s short film of the same name succeeded before the release of the book it was intended to promote. The film “DREAMBOY …” earned four nominations at February’s 2008 San Diego Black Film Festival and won the LGBT film award

A deeply personal memoir of the private Ray Charles – the man behind the legend – by his eldest son.

Ray Charles is an American music legend. A multiple Grammy Award-winning composer, pianist, and singer with an inimitable vocal style and a catalog of hits including “What I Say,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Unchain My Heart,” “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” and “America the Beautiful,” Ray Charles’s music is loved by fans around the world.

Now his eldest son, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., shares an intimate glimpse of the man behind the music, with never-before-told stories. Going beyond the fame, the concerts, and the tours, Ray Jr. opens the doors of his family home and reveals their private lives with fondness and frankness.

He shares his father’s grief and guilt over his little brother’s death at the age of five — as well of moments of personal joy, like watching his father run his hands over the Christmas presents under their tree while singing softly to himself. He tells of how Ray overcame the challenges of being blind, even driving cars, riding a Vespa, and flying his own plane. And, in gripping detail, he reveals how as a six-year-old boy he saved his father’s life one harrowing night.

Ray Jr. writes honestly about the painful facts of the addiction that nearly destroyed his father’s life. His father’s struggles with heroin addiction, his arrests, and how he ultimately kicked the drug cold turkey are presented in unflinching detail. Ray Jr. also shares openly about how, as an adult, he fell victim to the same temptations that plagued his father.

He paints a compassionate portrait of his mother, Della, whose amazing voice as a gospel singer first attracted Ray Charles. Though her husband’s drug use, his womanizing, and the paternity suits leveled against him constantly threatened the stability of the Robinson home, Della exhibited incredible resilience and inner strength.

Told with deep love and fearless candor, You Don’t Know Me is the powerful and poignant story of the Ray Charles the public never saw — the father and husband and fascinating human being who also happened to be one of the greatest musicians of all time.

Harmony
Available June 8, 2010 in Hardcover

A cantankerous man full of swagger with a fearsome talent to match, Jackson was an outspoken iconoclast as a player — a gift that made him friends and enemies of some of the most colorful characters in the game. As large a presence on the field as he was outside the ballpark, Jackson backed up his talk by establishing himself as one of the best sluggers the sport has ever seen.

Yet Jackson’s story is about more than sports prowess. His life reflects a time, between Jackie Robinson and Ken Griffey, Jr., when black ballplayers were accepted but still considered inferior to their white teammates. There were unspoken rules to keep the racial waters still; Jackson not only ignored such conventions, he demolished them — paving the way for true equality for all black players.

From his childhood in a predominantly white neighborhood to heroics at the plate, from relationships with legendary players such as “Catfish” Hunter and Thurman Munson to battles with some of the sport’s most powerful figures, including notoriously cheap Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley and the irascible George Steinbrenner, Reggie Jackson tells the full story of the man who was one of the first black baseball superstars — and one of the greatest players of all time.

William Morrow
Available May 1, 2010 in Hardcover

In following the life of Tyra Banks, this authoritative biography finds the sources of her determination not just to succeed but to aggressively promote positive female role models and debunk biases and stereotypes too-often applied to women. Among the highlights are Banks’ years as youth correspondent for Oprah Winfrey and her extensive philanthropic work, establishing scholarships, charities, and camps, while providing self-help advice for young women.

Greenwood
Available 02/26/10 in Hardcover