Black History Month Online Book Fair

Shamontiel

2/13/2008 12:25 AM UTC

One last thing, Martin, you did a great job of hosting the show, and I want to thank all of the speakers for keeping me entertained. This February session is such a relief to me: I wanted to do something big to celebrate Black History Month, and this is a great way of discussing history and current events in the Black community.

Shamontiel

2/13/2008 12:23 AM UTC

...through. I'm 50/50 on this one: I see both sides although there's only about a small chance that I'll pick up street fiction. It's not because of poor writing; it's for the same reason I don't watch shows like "The Wire." I grew up around too much of the terrible situations that happen with gangs, violence, and I don't want the reminder. HOWEVER, there are plenty of people who love "The Wire" and I believe plenty who love urban fiction for connecting with them.

Shamontiel

2/13/2008 12:22 AM UTC

...contemporary fiction to romance to history to a few urban fiction writers. However, I want to go back to my phone comment on Day 2 of BHM that I can respect the balance. The same way we can talk about kings and queens in Black History, we should be able to talk about slavery in Black history. The same way that we talk about history, romance, sex, parenthood, sisterhood, and so forth in fiction, readers should have the opportunity to read about cheating, the streets, and what so many people go

Shamontiel

2/13/2008 12:21 AM UTC

Also, I enjoyed hearing the back and forth discussion between Nakea, Dwight, Swaggie?, Leroy, and Martin about urban (street) fiction to hear both sides. Leroy pretty much took my points out of my mouth about how he prefers more positive fiction just like positive hip hop (I'm a Talib fan, minus him constantly using the term "cracker") and I love Mos Def and Rakim more than any other hip hop lyricist out). However, I will give any book a chance if the summary gets me from nonfiction to

Shamontiel

2/12/2008 11:29 PM UTC

...novel. There were also some serious situations in "Change for a Twenty" about Greeks and hazing. The father appreciated my forewarning and said he'd read the book first to decide whether his son was mature enough to read it. I didn't have to do that when speaking to college students. There's nothing in there that should shock them, but to someone under 13, yeah, I don't want anybody's parents yelling at me.

Shamontiel

2/12/2008 11:28 PM UTC

Martin asked an interesting question about content labels on books. I wouldn't be opposed to that. For some reason, churches embraced my books (mainly because one character, Seleste, was a virgin in "Change for a Twenty") and they had a book raffle. One young man won "Change for a Twenty" and I immediately wanted to talk to the father of this young man to let him know that just because Seleste wasn't having sex, there was some graphic language and another sex scene within the

Shamontiel

2/12/2008 11:20 PM UTC

I believe (Swaggie?) made a GREAT point about how book covers can make a person put a book back. Initially my first novel "Change for a Twenty" had a D-cupped woman on it with a revealing top, but the book had the theme of abstinence, so I felt my cover deceived readers. I found a photographer who took a great shot of a Chicago el station and changed "Change for a Twenty,"s book cover. There was an extremely big difference in sales comparing both covers.

Shamontiel

2/12/2008 10:51 PM UTC

...killing another child doesn't solve anything, but the messed up part is that there are parents who are depressed who raised children who are depressed (about their circumstances), and the combination of the two can make a parent so far removed from their child that that's when young Black men (or Latino men for that matter) lean on gangs, pimps, and the streets to get a family.

Shamontiel

2/12/2008 10:51 PM UTC

...about the transitions that so many black men go through growing up being constantly accused of being criminals, dumb, and promiscuous. Those three things (on top of just living life as a man) are some of the main factors in why Black men are killing each other. There was a line somewhere in the book that said something like if a young man doesn't care about his own life, why should he care about yours? That's real! I understand what Dwight said about parents teaching their children that killi

Shamontiel

2/12/2008 10:50 PM UTC

Ella, please forgive me for plugging this book again considering it's not part of the BAN Authors, but Swaggie and Dwight are having a significant discussion about black men killing black men, and there are two VERY interesting chapters in a book called "Black Pain: Real Talk For When There's Nowhere to Go But Up" by Terrie M. Williams. Chapter 3 "I Wish It Would Rain: Black Men and Depression" and Chapter 4 "It's a Hard Knock Life: The Young and the Depressed" talk