July 6, 2010
The winners of the Glyph Comics Awards, designed to “recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year,” were named during a ceremony held May 15 in Philadelphia as part of that weekend’s East Coast Black Age of Comics Con (ECBACC).
The judges for the 2010 competition were David Brothers, Carol Burrell, Brian Cronin and Katie & Dan Merritt. A ballot for the Fan Award for Best Comic is now open here.
Story of the Year
* Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers; Shawn Martinbrough, artist
* The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, writer and artist
* Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist
* War Machine: Iron Heart; Greg Pak, writer, Leonardo Manco, artist
* World of Hurt, Jay Potts, writer and artist
Best Writer
* Joshua Dysart, Unknown Soldier
* Jeremy Love, Bayou
* Greg Pak, War Machine
* Jay Potts, World of Hurt
* Alex Simmons, Archie & Friends
Best Artist
* Chriscross, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance
* Jeremy Love, Bayou
* Shawn Martinbrough, Luke Cage Noir
* Jay Potts, World of Hurt
* Trevor von Eeden, The Original Johnson
Best Male Character
* Black Lightning, Black Lightning Year One; Jen van Meter, writer, Cully Hamner, artist; created by Tony Isabella & Trevor von Eeden
* Isaiah “Pastor” Hurt, World of Hurt; created by Jay Potts, writer and artist
* Jack Johnson; The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, writer and artist; inspired by the life of Jack Johnson
* Luke Cage, Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist; created by Archie Goodwin & John Romita Sr.
* Moses Lwanga, Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist; inspired by the character created by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert
Best Female Character
* Aya, Aya: The Secrets Come Out; created by Marguerite Abouet, writer, Clement Oubrerie, artist
* Lee Wagstaff, Bayou; created by Jeremy Love, writer and artist
* Michonne, The Walking Dead; created by Robert Kirkman, writer, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn, artists
* Misty Knight, Immortal Iron Fist; Duane Swierczynski, writer, Travel Foreman & Tom Palmer, artists; created by Tony Isabella & Arvell Jones
* Nola Thomas, NOLA; created by Chris Gorak & Pierluigi Cothran, writers, Damian Couceiro, artist
Rising Star Award
* Jiba Molei Anderson, The Horsemen
* John Aston, Rachel Rage
* Kerry & Tawanda Johnson, Harambee Hills
* Julian Lytle, Ants
* Jay Potts, World of Hurt
Best Reprint Collection
* Aya: The Secrets Come Out; Drawn & Quarterly
* Bayou Vol. 1; DC/Zuda
* Icon: A Hero’s Welcome; DC/Milestone
* The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the 21st Century; Dark Horse
* Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool; DC/Milestone
Best Cover
* Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1; Brian Stelfreeze, illustrator
* Luke Cage Noir #1; Tim Bradstreet, illustrator
* The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, illustrator
* Unknown Soldier #8; Dave Johnson, illustrator
* Unknown Soldier #10; Dave Johnson, illustrator
Best Comic Strip
* Bayou; Jeremy Love, writer and artist
* Jump Start; Robb Armstrong, writer and artist
* The K Chronicles; Keith Knight, writer and artist
* The Knight Life; Keith Knight, writer and artist
* World of Hurt; Jay Potts, writer and artist
Fan Award for Best Comic
* Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel; Kevin Grevioux, writer, Mat Broome, Sean Parson & Alvaro Lopez, artists
* Black Lightning Year One; Jen Van Meter, writer, Cully Hamner, artist
* Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink; Eric Wallace, writer, Fabrizio Fiorentino, artist
* Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist
* War Machine: Iron Heart; Greg Pak, writer, Leonardo Manco, artist
March 8, 2010
Designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards annually recognize outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience. Further, the Award encourages the artistic expression of the black experience via literature and the graphic arts in biographical, social, and historical treatments by African American authors and illustrators.
- Author Award Winner
“Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal,” written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, is the King Author Book winner. The book is illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, published by Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
- Illustrator Award Winner
“My People,” illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr., is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book was written by Langston Hughes and published by ginee seo books, Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
- Author Honor Book
“Mare’s War” by tanita s. davis and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
- Illustrator Honor Book
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” illustrated by E. B. Lewis, written by Langston Hughes and published by Disney – Jump at the Sun Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group.
- John Steptoe New Talent Author Award
“The Rock and the River,” written by kekla magoon, is the Steptoe winner. The book is published by Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.
- Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement
Walter Dean Myers is the winner of this first-ever Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton. Myers’ books include: “Amiri & Odette: A Love Story,” published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic; “Fallen Angels,” published by Scholastic Press; “Monster,” published by Amistad and HarperTeen, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers; and “Sunrise Over Fallujah,” published by Scholastic Press.
March 1, 2010
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) announced the winners of the 2010 BCALA Literary Awards during the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association in Boston, MA. The awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African American authors published in 2009, including the work of a first novelist, and a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing. The recipients will receive the awards during the 2010 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in Washington, D.C.
The winner in the Fiction category is Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young (Goldman House).
The two Fiction Honor Book winners are Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) and Carried by Six by Allen Ballard (Seaford Press).
Buying Time is a captivating, suspenseful thriller focused on greed, murder and corruption in the viatical industry. Waverly Sloan, a disbarred attorney about to lose it all, ventures into a very lucrative career redeeming life insurance policies for the terminally ill. He soon discovers however that the life-threatening dangers of this new career outweigh the financial gains. The well developed subplots of domestic violence and pedophilia heightens the suspense of the novel and also generates constant juggling of the suspects list. Samuels-Young, a corporate attorney in Southern California, is the author of three previous mysteries.
Sag Harbor is a humorous coming of age tale where Colson Whitehead provides readers with an inside view of what it means to be black and affluent, but mainly what it means to be a teenage boy. Whitehead clearly captures 1980s popular culture as well as tapping into the African American vernacular and oral traditions. Colson Whitehead is an award winning author and lives in Brooklyn.
Carried by Six is a gripping page-turner, where Obie Bullock, leader of the Men of Africa United (MauMau) has waged a war against the drug dealers who have taken over his urban Philadelphia neighborhood. Tired of being terrorized by the dealers and having the young men of the neighborhood either being “carried by six” pallbearers to their graves or “judged by twelve” and sentenced to a prison term, Obie fights to keep his family safe and himself alive while making his neighborhood a better place to live. Author Allen Ballard, a Philadelphia native, now lives in Albany, NY where he teaches history and Africana Studies at the State University of Albany.
The winner in the Nonfiction category is The Breakthrough by Gwen Ifill (Doubleday).
An Honor Book winner for Nonfiction was also selected: Freedom Struggles by Adriane Lentz-Smith (Harvard University Press).
The Breakthrough explores the political leadership of the Black community starting with the Civil Rights Movement and progressing to the contemporary and what Ifill calls “The Age of Obama.” Not until the appearance of President Barack Obama on the national political scene did political leadership become so hotly contested within the Black community. Ifill describes this power struggle between two generations of Black leadership as “sandpaper politics” where change is often abrasive but necessary. The Breakthrough provides intriguing and insightful profiles of Black leaders engaged in national politics as well as rising stars at the local and state levels. Gwen Ifill is moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and senior correspondent of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Through the experiences of the 200,000 black soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, Freedom Struggles uses moving stories and experiences to bring forth a significantly influential but little known aspect of American history. Adriane Lentz-Smith is Assistant Professor of History at Duke University.
The recipient of the First Novelist Award is K.C. Marshall for My Sister’s Veil (XLibris). This debut novel is an inspirational and motivating story about the trials and tribulations of three strong Black women. Their lives are separated yet connected through their friendship and consequential environment. Using their inner strength or spiritual “veil”, the main characters show how their ancestral culture shapes their drive to overcome adversities thus giving them the fortitude to make a difference changing themselves and their circumstances. K.C. Marshall is a free lance writer.
For excellence in scholarship, the BCALA Literary Awards Committee presents the Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation to In Search of Our Roots by Henry Louis Gates (Crown Publishers). Gates has taken his popular PBS television documentary and captured his extensive genealogical research in a compelling book. Nineteen famous and unknown African Americans allow us to follow their incredible journey tracing family sagas through slavery and back to Africa. This is a book of enormous importance that will inspire others to take this courageous journey to explore their family roots.
Members of the BCALA Literary Awards Jury are: Joel W. White, Chair, Durham (NC) County Library; Virginia Dowsing Toliver, Vice Chair, Washington University in St. Louis; Gladys Smiley Bell, Hampton University; Karen B. Douglas, Duke University Law Library; Makiba Foster, Washington University in St. Louis; Carolyn Garnes, Library Consultant, Atlanta, GA; and Ernestine Hawkins, East Cleveland Public Library.
February 27, 2010
The 2010 NAACP Image Awards is the nation’s premier event celebrating the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts (motion picture, television, recording, and literature), as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.
Literature Categories
Winners are highlighted in bold.
Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
“Basketball Jones” – E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday)
“Before I Forget” – Leonard Pitts, Jr. (Agate Bolden)
“Life is Short But Wide” – J. California Cooper (Doubleday)
“The Book of Night Women” – Marlon James (Riverhead Books)
“The Long Fall” – Walter Mosley (Riverhead Books)
Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction
“Brain Surgeon: A Doctor’s Inspiring Encounters With Mortality and Miracles” – Keith Black, MD with Arnold Mann (Grand Central Publishing)
“Family Affair: What It Means to be African American Today” – Gil L. Robertson, IV (Agate Bolden)
“Freedom in My Heart: Voices From the United States National Slavery Museum” – Cynthia Jacobs Carter (National Geographic Books)
“In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past” – Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Crown)
“Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” – Al Gore (Rodale Inc.)
Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
“3rd Generation Country” – BeNeca Ward (Xlibris Corporation)
“A Question of Freedom” – R. Dwayne Betts (Avery Books)
“Black Water Rising” – Attica Locke (Harper)
“Kiss the Sky: A Novel” – Farai Chideya (Atria Books)
“Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange” – Amanda Smyth (Three Rivers Press)
Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography
“Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud” – Dr. Cornel West (SmileyBooks)
“Michelle Obama” – Deborah Willis (W. W. Norton)
“POPS: A Life of Louis” – Terry Teachout (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
“Shooting Stars” – LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger (The Penguin Press)
“Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne” – James Gavin (Atria Books)
Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional
“Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man” – Steve Harvey (Amistad)
“The Conversation: How Black Men & Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships” – Hill Harper (Gotham Books)
“Down to Business” – Clara Villarosa with Alicia Villarosa (Avery Books)
“Start Where You Are” – Chris Gardner (Amistad)
“Your Money or Your Life” – Alvin Hall (Atria Books)
Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
“Bicycles” – Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow)
“Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry” – Camille Dungy (The University of Georgia Press)
“Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem” – Mitchell L. H. Douglas (Red Hen Press)
“Mixology: National Poetry Series” – Adrian Matejka (Penguin Group)
“Roses and Revolutions: The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall” – Melba Joyce Boyd (Wayne State University Press)
Outstanding Literary Work – Children
“Child of the Civil Rights Movement” – Paula Young Shelton (Random House Children’s Books)
“Negro Speaks of Rivers” – Langston Hughes (Author), E.B. Lewis (Illustrator) (Disney-Jump at the Sun/Disney Book Group)
“Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change” – Michelle Cook (Author), A.G. Ford, Bryan Collier, Charlotte Riley- Webb, Cozbi Cabrera , Diane Dillon, E.B. Lewis, Eric Velasquez , Frank Morrison, James Ransome, Leo Dillon, Pat Cummings , R. Gregory Christie, Shadra Strickland (Illustrators), Marian Wright Edelman (Introduction) (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
“Peeny Butter Fudge” – Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
“Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Toeshoe Trouble” – Whoopi Goldberg with Deborah Underwood (authors), Maryn Roos (Illustrator) (Disney-Jump at the Sun/Disney Book Group)
Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens
“Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice” – Phillip Hoose (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group/Farrar Straus and Giroux)
“Just Another Hero” – Sharon Draper (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
“Mare’s War” – Tanita S. Davis (Random House Children’s Books)
“Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady” – David Bergen Brophy (Collins-An Imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books)
“Rock and the River” – Kekla Magoon (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
October 3, 2009
2009 Winners are in bold.
Fiction
- Eric Jerome Dickey – Dying For Revenge
- Donna Grant & Virginia Deberry – What Doesn’t Kill You
- Renee Daniel Flagler – In Her Mind
- Sister Souljah - Midnight (A Gangsta Love Story)
Science Fiction
- Brandon Massey, Tananarive Due & L.A. Banks – The Ancestors
- LA Banks – The Thirteenth (Vampire Huntress Legends)
- LA Banks – Undead On Arrival
- Brandon Massey – Don’t Ever Tell
Magazine – Non Literary
- O (Oprah) Magazine
- The Network Journal
- Black Enterprise
- Ebony/Jet
Magazine – Literary
- Booking Matters
- Mosaic Literary Magazine
- Romantic Times Magazine
Mystery
- Walter Mosley – The Long Fall
- Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due & Steve Barnes – In the Night of the Heat: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel
- Pamela Samuels Young – Murder On The Down Low
- Brenda Hampton – The Dirty Truth
Romance
- Jacqueline D. Moore – Serving Justice
- Victoria Wells – When Love Comes Around
- Cheris Hodges – More Than He Can Handle
- Brenda Jackson – Temperatures Rising
Christian Fiction
- Kendra Norman Bellamy – The Lyon’s Den
- Victoria Christopher Murray – Lady Jasmine
- Tiffany L. Warren – The Bishop’s Daughter
- Patricia Haley - Chosen
Street Fiction
- Mike Sanders – Thirsty
- Wahida Clark & Kiki Swanson – Sleeping With The Enemy
- Nikki Turner – Ghetto Superstar
- Dutch – Thug Politics
Erotica
- Zane – Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2
- Allison Hobbs – Big Juicy Lips: Double Dippin’ 2
- Pynk - Erotic City
- Fiona Zedde – Hungry For It
Biography/Memoir
- Dr. Keith Black – Brain Surgeon: A Doctor’s Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles
- Faith Evans – Keep The Faith (A Memoir)
- Jennifer Baszile – The Black Girl Next Door: A Memoir
- Asha Bandele – Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother’s Story
Non-Fiction
- Sandy Denton – Let’s Talk About PEP
- Cheryl Lacey Donovan – The Ministry of Motherhood
- Marvelyn Brown & Courtney Martin – The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive
- Adilah Barnes – On My Own Terms
Children’s /Young AdultBooks
- Dream Jordan – Hot Girl
- Victoria Christopher Murray – The Divine Divas: India
- Mo’Nique and Sherri Mcgee Mccovey – Beacon Hills High: A Novel
- Nikki Carter – Step To This: So For Real Series
Poetry
- Nikki Giovanni – Bicycles
- Maya Angelou – Letters To My Daughter
- Ani Rumaer – Daydreams & Shadows
Self-Help
- Steve Harvey – Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man: A Foolproof Guide To Getting & Keeping A Man
- Kericka Fields – He’s Gone…Your Back
- Shaun Robinson – Exactly As I Am: Celebrated Women Share Candid Advice with Today’s Girls on What It Takes to Believe in Yourself
- Sophfronia Scott – Doing Business By The Book
Cookbooks
- G. Garvin – Dining In
- Bryant Terry – Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy and Creative African American Cuisine
- Patrick & Gina Neely – Down Home with the Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook
- Patti LaBelle – Recipes For The Good Life
Humorist Award of the Year (Stand Up Comic)
- Sherri Sheppard
- Kevin Hart
- Steve Harvey
- Mike Epps
Comedy Book Author of the Year
- Patti S. Webster – It Happened In Church
- Keenan Ivory Wayans – 101 Ways to Know You’re a Golddigger
- Steve Harvey – Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man
- Deidre Berry – The Next Best Thing
Break-out Author Of The Year
- Ebonee Monique – Suicide Diaries
- Deborah S. Jones – Glory
- Lorraine Elzia – Mistress Memoirs
- S. D. Denny – The Bakers Dozen
Short stories/Anthologies
- Allyson M. Deese, Linda R. Herman, and Tinisha Nicole Johnson – Somebody Prayed For Me
- Gil L. Robertson – Family Affair: What It Means to be African American Today
- Elissa Gabrielle (editor) – The Soul of a Man: A Triumph of My Soul Anthology
- Noire – From The Streets To The Sheets
Comic Strip
- Keith Knight – The K Chronicles
- Ray Billingsley – Curtis
- Robb Armstrong – Jump Start
- Jerry Craft – Mama’s Boyz
Author of the Year - Female
- Victoria Christopher Murray – Lady Jasmine
- Kimberla Lawson Roby – The Best Of Everything
- Linda Herman – Consequences
- Connie Briscoe – Sisters & Husbands
Author Of the Year – Male
- Eric Jerome Dickey – Dying For Revenge
- Walter Mosley – The Right Mistake: The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow
- E. Lynn Harris – Basketball Jones
- Carl Weber – Up To No Good
Self-published Author of the Year
- Tamika Newhouse – The Ultimate No No
- Renee Daniel Flagler – In Her Mind
- Faith Murphy Knight – Desperate Dating 10 Mistakes that will keep you single
Independent Publishing House of the Year
- Concrete Rose
- The Cartel Publications
- Peace In The Storm
- Xpress Yourself Publishing
Publishing House of the Year
- Dafina/Kensington
- Random House
- Kimani Press
- HarperCollins
Book Club of the Year
- OOSA
- African Americans On The Move
- AALBC
- Sugar & Spice
Television Writer of the Year
- Tyler Perry – House Of Payne
- Shonda Rhimes – Grey’s Anatomy
- Mara Brock Akil – The Game
- Ali LeRoi – Everybody Hates Chris
HISTORICAL
- Toni Morrison – A Mercy
- Cynthia Jacobs Carter – Freedom In My Heart: Voices From The United States National Slavery Museum
- James McBride – Song Yet Sung
- Brenna Clark – Stand The Storm
See 2009 5th Annual African American Literary Awards Show Winners.
September 27, 2009
LEE & LOW BOOKS, award-winning publisher of children’s books, is pleased to announce the tenth annual NEW VOICES AWARD. The Award will be given for a children’s picture book manuscript by a writer of color. The Award winner receives a cash grant of $1000 and our standard publication contract, including our basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash grant of $500.
Established in 2000, the New Voices Award encourages writers of color to submit their work to a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent. Past New Voices Award submissions that we have published include The Blue Roses, winner of the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People; Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist selection; and Bird, an ALA Notable Children’s Book.
For more information, see http://www.leeandlow.com/p/new_voices_award.mhtml
August 18, 2009
Sharon M. Draper is a professional educator as well as an accomplished writer. She has been honored as the National Teacher of the Year, is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Literary Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author. She was selected as Ohio’s Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, Ohio Teacher of the Year, and was chosen as a NCNW Excellence in Teaching Award winner. She is a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award winner, and was the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence for the Taft Museum. She is a YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, and is the recipient of the Dean’s Award from Howard University School of Education, the Pepperdine University Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Marva Collins Education Excellence Award, and the Governor’s Educational Leadership Award.
Actively involved in encouraging and motivating all teachers and their students as well, she has worked all over the United States, as well as in Russia, Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Bermuda, and Guam, spreading the word about the power of accomplished teaching and excellence in education.
Her literary recognition began when, as a challenge from one of her students, she entered and won first prize in a literary contest, for which she was awarded $5000 and the publication of her short story, “One Small Torch.” She has published numerous poems, articles, and short stories in a variety of literary journals. She is the published author of numerous articles, stories, and poems.
Tears of a Tiger has received numerous awards, including the American Library Association/Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award for an outstanding new book, and was also honored as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It was also named as Best of the Best by VOYA and the American Library Association as one of the top 100 books for young adults. Forged by Fire, the sequel to Tears of a Tiger, is the 1997 Coretta Scott King Award winner, as well as the winner of the ALA BEST Book Award and the Parent’s Choice Award and the Indiana Young Hoosier Award.
Darkness Before Dawn, the third book in the trilogy, is an ALA Top Ten Quick Pick, and has received the Children’s Choice Award from the International Reading Association and received the Buckeye Book Award for 2005, and was named an IRA Young Adult Choice for 2003.
Romiette and Julio is also listed as an ALA Best Book and has been selected by the International Reading Association as a 2000 Notable Book for a Global Society, and by the New York Public Library in their Books for the Teen Age.
The Battle of Jericho is the 2004 Coretta Scott King Honor Book, one of the New York Public Library’s Book for the Teen Age, and is one of the 2005 Young Adult Choice Books named by the International Reading Association.
Copper Sun received the 2007 Coretta Scott King Literature award, was named as one of the Top Ten Historical Fiction Books for Youth by Booklist was nominated for the 2007 NAACP Image Award for Literature, and received the Ohioana Award for Young Adult Literature.
November Blues received the 2008 Coretta Scott King Honor Book Literary Award and is honored on the 2008 New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age.
Ms. Draper travels extensively and has been a guest on television and radio programs throughout the country, discussing issues of literature, reading, and education. She is an accomplished public speaker who addresses educational and literary groups of all ages, both nationally and internationally, with entertaining readings of her poetry and novels, as well as enlightening instructional presentations. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and a golden retriever named Honey.
Web site: www.sharondraper.com
- You have been recognized a number of times for your achievements as an educator. Has teaching or your school experience influenced your writing?
I think that being a teacher made me a better writer. But the two are inseparable. I’ve retired, but I’m in schools quite often, so I may as well be teaching. I think I understand kids’ mindset. Kids change, and slang changes, and the way young people look at the world changes a little bit, but basically, if you’re fifteen, you’re too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, your hair’s too curly or too straight — you’re never quite right. If you understand that all fifteen-year-old girls feel like that whether they let you know it or not, then you can start to build a character. The girls will say to me, “That’s just the way I feel!” You know fifteen-year-old boys are worried about whether fifteen-year-old girls will like them. They might know a lot more than we knew at their age, but there’s still that innocence of a child. I think because I was a teacher I can capture that, and kids trust me. They write me letters like, “Dear Sharon, Girl, you is the bomb!” They write to me like they know me because I write like I know them, and they seem to feel it. They ask me questions; they ask me for advice. It’s amazing the things that they write to me. I really appreciate their trust.
- It must be a wonderful feeling to go into a classroom now as an author and to see your books in school libraries. What is the reaction of your educational colleagues?
I’m still blown away when I visit a school library and I see rows and rows of my books. Well-worn, well-used, taped together. I was an avid reader as a kid, and to be that author that kids clamor for now is truly humbling. My colleagues who are teachers and librarians are so very supportive. They make great use of the study materials I provide on my website (sharondraper.com), and they await new titles so they can share them with their students. I can’t ask for anything more. Their support and their sharing of the books with their students means everything to me.
- How do your readers react? Any favorite stories?
I get hundreds of emails and letters from students during the year. They are frank, sometimes funny, and always honest. “I have to do a report on you. Tell me everything you know about yourself. My report is due tomorrow, so please reply quickly.”
Lots of them get very involved in the lives of the characters in the books–they want to know more about them–almost like they are friends by the time they finish them. That’s one reason why I write trilogies. What was just one book, becomes two, and then becomes three–mostly because of letters and inquiries from student readers. One girl asked me for the home phone number of one of the characters in Tears of a Tiger. She wrote me, “That girl has some serious issues, but I think I can help her!”
Many students tell me, “I never liked to read” or “I’ve never read a whole book before” but “I read your book in one night and I couldn’t wait to read the others.” They like the reality and the honesty of the stories and locations and characters. Some of the letters are very touching. Sometimes they tell me that reading one of the books changed their lives. I had a student tell me she called the child abuse hotline in the back of Forged by Fire. She wrote me to thank me for saving her life. Another student wrote that he was depressed and was thinking of taking his life, but after reading Tears of a Tiger, he decided to live. I counseled him to talk to someone he trusted, and he wrote me back that he had. Anther student said she was reading Tears of a Tiger in class and that weekend some of her friends were drinking at a party. She thought about BJ in the book (who doesn’t drink), so she called her mother to come and pick her up. Her friends were killed that night in an automobile accident. It’s an awesome responsibility to have so much response to what I’ve written. That’s why I try so hard to make every single book ring true and honest and why I try to be available to them. I try to answer every single email and every single letter that I receive.
One ninth-grade student who was interviewing for the school paper asked me what I thought about the powerful effect my books have on kids all over the country. I told her, “The proper answer is ‘It’s very gratifying,’ but the real answer is ‘way cool!”
- Are most of your readers girls?
No, from the emails I receive, I’d say the audience is divided pretty equally between boys and girls, and represent all races.
- Any thoughts on what your readers are reading? Any impressions on what African American boys and girls are reading and the choices that they have for entertainment?
I have found that young African Americans are reading lots more than the news media and the general public gives them credit for. We just need to provide them with quality books that speak to them. I would hope that young Black readers would demand such quality. We so often stoop to the lowest common denominator, like purchasing music which denigrates our women in the name of culture. So I’d hope that these young readers would demand books that reflect who they really are. As I travel around the country and talk to high school students, I’m overwhelmed by their strength and resilience, by their dreams for their future. Books should reflect their struggles and mirror their aspirations, not denigrate them into caricatures of reality. We’ve come too far to settle for less than the best.
I tell them to read all the time. Read for pleasure and read for knowledge. Read to escape from problems and read to learn how to solve them. Read because you can. Our ancestors were beaten and even killed for daring to learn to read. Don’t let their sacrifice be for nothing. Honor them by reading all the time.
- Considering your success as an writer, it seems amazing that you started writing almost on a dare. And that your first story was turned down by 24 publishers. Did you take this “writing thing” as a challenge?
The first short story was written as a challenge, but everything else came from some place deep within me. Writing for me is a very fluid process–I sit down a wait for the words to come. They usually do—in buckets and waves. It’s amazing. I look upon it as a blessing because the words come so easily. Sometimes I can’t even type fast enough to get the words out. When I write, I try to make strong characters that change and develop and learn from their mistakes. I think the layering comes in the story development. The plot is born from the idea, then is crafted by the characters and how they respond to what happens to them. I get up early in the morning and write all day—maybe ten or twelve hours a day. It is truly an act of immersion. It’s a thrilling, exciting process. I think I’ve just finished my twenty-ninth book!
- You also have a couple of “Sassy” books ready to hit the shelves. Sassy represents a change of pace for you: your first series geared toward middle-grade girls. What can you tell us about “Sassy”?
My daughter owns a dance studio, and I’m often there talking to the middle-grade girls who take dance classes. They are avid readers, enthusiastic conversationalists, and lively participants in their world. They have strong opinions about fashions and fads, about family and friends. I wanted to capture their joy of life, so I decided to create a character and write a book that they could embrace with passion. I think readers will love Sassy’s “spark and sparkle.” She’s delightful, yet realistic, with a strong sense of self and a yearning to find her place in the world. She could be anyone’s “little sister.”
I hope that girls as well as boys enjoy reading about Sassy and her adventures. I wanted to show a strong family setting, with busy parents who care for their children, and an extended family of grandparents who complete the circle. The stories are easy enough to be read by children in second or third grade, but have ideas advanced enough for discussion for children in upper elementary grades as well.
| But the Sassy books are not my first books for this age group. I have written six books called The Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs series. These books, in which the main characters are African American boys, are geared to grades 3, 4, and 5 as well. I do lots of presentations at elementary schools and I love talking to, and listening to the children. They ask wonderful questions and are deeply excited about books and reading. When I write, I try to capture their voices and their honesty. Their age doesn’t matter. |
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- What can you tell us about Just Another Hero, and the preceding novels, The Battle for Jericho and November Blues?
| Just Another Hero is Book 3 in the Jericho Trilogy. In Book One, The Battle of Jericho, we meet the characters and discover that making the right decisions is one of the hardest choices faces teens today. They feel so pressured to fit in that they are often willing to even risk their own lives to feel part of the accepted crowd. So Jericho and his friends make terrible decisions, and young readers can talk about those choices. |
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Book Two, November Blues, continues the story by focusing on the girlfriend of one of the young men in the first book. She is left to face her own choices alone, and she struggles through much of the book as a consequence.
When I started Book Three, Just Another Hero, I wanted to tackle the issue of school violence, but I couldn’t write about killing children. I wanted to bring up the issue so young adults can talk about it, without gratuitous bloodshed. I also wanted to discuss the idea of heroism. What is a hero? What makes a hero? We have a tendency to think of heroes as movie stars; I wanted young people to talk about the real heroes in their lives.
- Any plans to do a “grown-up” novel?
I have no plans to write an adult novel. I love writing for teen readers.
- Any favorite books or authors? What’s on your nightstand?
Currently, I still am a reader. That stack of books by everyone’s bed — I have that same stack: books I’ve read, books I’m going to read, books I need to read, books that people have told me are good books to read. My favorite author right now is Diane McKinney-Whetstone. She’s an African-American author, and if I could write grown-up books, I’d write like her. She just writes beautifully, with quality and with depth. I sent her an e-mail recently and said, “I don’t want to sound like one of the fifteen-year-olds who write to me, but gee, I like your writing!” I really did sound like a kid when I wrote it. I also admire Olympia Vernon, who is a powerful, powerful African-American voice.
- If you were asked to coalesce your work into one sentence, what might that be?
I try to write powerful, meaningful stories for young people and show them I understand the difficulties of growing up, and to let them know I care.
February 19, 2009
Honoring the best in African-American comics (both as contributors and thematically), the nominees for this year’s 2009 Glyph Awards have been announced:
Story of the Year
Bayou, Jeremy Love, writer and artist
Incognegro; Mat Johnson, writer, Warren Pleece, artist
Justice League of America: The Second Coming; Dwayne McDuffie, writer, Ed Benes, artist
Pilot Season: Genius, Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist
Presidential Material: Barack Obama; Jeff Mariotte, writer, Tom Morgan, artist
Best Writer
Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, Genius
Mat Johnson, Incognegro
Jeremy Love, Bayou
Jeff Mariotte, Presidential Material: Barack Obama
Dwayne McDuffie, Justice League of America
Best Artist
Jamal Igle, Supergirl
Jeremy Love, Bayou
Warren Pleece, Incognegro
Afua Richardson, Pilot Season: Genius
Larry Stroman, Black Panther Annual #1
Best Male Character
Black Lightning, Final Crisis: Submit; Grant Morrison, writer, Matthew Clark, Norm Rapmund, Rob Hunter & Don Ho, artists; created by Tony Isabella & Trevor von Eeden
Black Panther, Black Panther Annual #1; Reginald Hudlin, writer, Larry Stroman & Ken Lashley, artists; created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Lwanga Moses, Unknown Soldier; Joshua Dysart, writer, Alberto Ponticelli, artist; inspired by the character created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert
The Spectre, Final Crisis: Revelations; Greg Rucka, writer, Philip Tan, Jeff de los Santos & Jonathan Glapion, artists; inspired by the character created by Jerry Siegel & Bernard Bailey
Zane Pinchback, Incognegro; created by Mat Johnson, writer, and Warren Pleece, artist
Best Female Character
Destiny Ajaye, Pilot Season: Genius; created by Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist
Lee Wagstaff, Bayou; created by Jeremy Love, writer and artist
Storm, X-Men: Worlds Apart; Christopher Yost, writer, Diogenes Neves, artist; created by Len Wein & Dave Cockrum
Vielle, Fungus Grotto; created by Shatia Hamilton, writer and artist
Vixen, Vixen: Return of the Lion; G. Willow Wilson, writer, Cafu, artist; created by Gerry Conway & Bob Oksner
Rising Star Award
Jennifer Crute, Jennifer’s Journal
Damian Duffy & John Jennings, The Hole: Consumer Culture
Charlie Goubile, Blackbird
Starline X. Hodge, Candi
Ashley Woods, Millennia War
Best Reprint Collection
Aya of Yop City, Drawn & Quarterly
Me and the Devil Blues V1, Del Rey
Nat Turner HC, Abrams
Best Cover
Final Crisis: Submit, Matthew Clark & Norm Rapmund, artists; Richard & Tonya Horie, colors
The Hole: Consumer Culture; John Jennings, illustrator
Pilot Season: Genius, Afua Richardson, illustrator
Unknown Soldier #1, Igor Kordey, illustrator
Vixen: Return of the Lion #1; Josh Middleton, illustrator
Best Comic Strip
Bayou, Jeremy Love, writer and artist
Café con Leche; Charlos Gary, writer and artist
Fungus Grotto, Shatia Hamilton, writer and artist
“Jefferson Jacks” from Crankshaft; Tom Batiuk & Tony Isa bella, writers, Chuck Ayers, artist
The K Chronicles, Keith Knight, writer and artist
Fan Award for Best Comic
Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #33-35; Christos Gage, writer, Sean Chen & Sandu Florea, artists
Pilot Season: Genius; Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, writers, Afua Richardson, artist
Presidential Material: Barack Obama; Jeff Mariotte, writer, Tom Morgan, artist
Vixen: Return of the Lion; G. Willow Wilson, writer, Cafu, artist
Young Avengers Presents #1; Ed Brubaker, writer, Paco Medina, artist
The judges for the 2009 competition are: Valerie D’Orazio, president, Friends of Lulu; Mathan Erhardt, writer, Comics Nexus; Ed Mathews, columnist, Pop Image; Tim O’Shea, writer/interviewer, TalkingWithTim.com; and Elayne Riggs, comics reviewer and commentator.
The ballot for the Fan Award for Best Comic is now open at the website for the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC), www.ecbacc.com/wordpress, and will remain open through March 31, 2009. Write-in selections can be e-mailed to GCA Committee Chair Rich Watson at rich.watson@gmail.com. IMPORTANT: Write-in selections are ONLY for choices not on the online ballot. ANY WRITE-IN SELECTIONS FOR CHOICES ALREADY ON THE ONLINE BALLOT WILL NOT BE COUNTED AND WILL BE DISCARDED.
The 2009 GCA ceremony will be held May 15, 2009, in the Skyline Room of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Park Central branch, as part of ECBACC, which will take place at the Crown Plaza Philadelphia Center City, May 16, 2009.
February 14, 2009
The NAACP Image Awards is the NAACP’s premier event celebrating the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts (motion picture, television, recording, and literature), as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.
Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
“Blood Colony: A Novel” – Tananarive Due (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
“Going Down South: A Novel” – Bonnie J. Glover (Random House/One World/Ballentine)
“In the Night of the Heat: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel” – Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes (Atria Books/ Simon & Schuster)
“Just Too Good to Be True” – E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday)
“Song Yet Sung” – James McBride (Riverhead Books)
Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction
“Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom” – Cornel West (Smiley Books)
“Letter to My Daughter” – Maya Angelou (Random House)
“Moving to Higher Ground” – Wynton Marsalis, Geoffrey Ward (Random House)
“The Sea is So Wide And My Boat Is So Small” – Marian Wright Edelman (Hyperion)
“There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile: Lessons on the Road From Dreams to Destiny” – Rickey Minor (Gotham Books)
Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
“Barack, Race, and the Media: Drawing My Own Conclusion” – David Glenn Brown (David G. Brown Studios)
“The Beautiful Struggle” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel and Grau)
“Homeroom Heroes: Freshman Edition” – Michael B. Jordan, Rahfeal Gordan (RahGor Publishing)
“No Way Home” – Carlos Acosta (Scribner)
“War of the Blood In My Veins” – Dashaun “Jiwe” Morris (Scribner)
Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Auto-Biography
“21 Nights” – Prince (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
“Baldwin’s Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin” – Herb Boyd (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
“The Black List” – Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Elvis Mitchell (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
“The Legs Are The Last To Go” – Diahann Carroll (Amistad)
“Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration” – Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler, Richard A. Long (Doubleday)
Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional
“32 Ways To Be A Champion In Business” – Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Crown Business)
“The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life” – Kevin Powell (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster)
“Dining In” – G. Garvin (Meredith Books)
“Good is not Enough and Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals” – Keith R. Wyche (Portfolio/Centennial)
“Tapping the Power Within: A Path To Self-Empowerment For Women” – Iyanla Vanzant (Smiley Books)
Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
“Hardheaded Weather” – Cornelius Eady (Marian Wood Books)
“Hip Hop Speaks To Children: A Celebration of “Poetry With A Beat” – Nikki Giovanni (Source Books/Jabberwocky)
“Honoring the Ancestors” – James Cherry (Third World Press)
“Things I Must Have Known” – A B Spellman (Coffee House Press)
“Warhorses” – Yusef Komunyakaa (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Outstanding Literary Work – Children
“Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem” – Maya Angelou (illustrators – Lou Fancher & Steven Johnson) (Schwartz & Wade)
“Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope” – Nikki Grimes, (illustrator – Bryan Collier) (Simon & Schuster)
“Say a Little Prayer” – Dionne Warwick, David Freeman Wooley, Tonya Bolden, (illustrator – Soud) (Running Press)
“We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball” – Kadir Nelson (Disney Publishing)
“You Can Do It!” – Tony Dungy, (illustrator – Amy June Bates) (Simon & Schuster)
Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens
“Beacon Hills High” – Mo’Nique Hicks, Sherri McGee McCovey (Amistad)
“Joseph” – Shelia P. Moses (Simon & Schuster)
“Letters To A Young Sister: Define Your Destiny” – Hill Harper (Gotham Books)
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s American Heroes: Robert Smalls, The Boat Thief” – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., (illustrator Patrick Faricy) (Disney Hyperion)
“Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic” – Whoopi Goldberg, Deborah Underwood, (illustrator – Maryn Roos) (Disney Publishing)
February 2, 2009
Title: 2009 Maryland Writer’s Conference and Literary Awards
Location: Morgan State University
Click here for more information
Description: This is not a “How To Write a Book” Conference, this is a “How To SELL A Book” Conference!
This One-Day Conference will give you all you need to know to start: Selling More Books, Getting Media Exposure For Your Book, Running Your Own Publishing House, Marketing & Promotions, Using Technology To Sell Books and much more right away! Whether you are an aspiring author, a multi-book author already signed to a major publisher, or an independent publisher, The 2009 MD Writer’s Conference will give you the answers you’ve been searching for to take your literary business to higher levels.
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-04-04
End Time: 16:00
