Comments on: 28 Days Later – 2009

By: Is there too much white noise …or not enough? «

Is there too much white noise …or not enough? « — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:52:01 +0000

[...] it recently is Denene’s Miller’s article, which Varian mentioned in yesterday’s blog post. Denene’s article was a shot in the arm to those of us in the trenches of the YA for African [...]

By: Laurel Handfield

Laurel Handfield — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:46:05 +0000

I’ve spoken to several authors about this very thing. I would love to see those of us who do not write the ever popular urban fiction rise to the top. Unfortunately, this is what pubs want to see because that’s what our kids are reading. But if you think about the cycle, the kids are reading it because those are the very books that traditional pubs are churning out as well as promoting heavily.

This is precisely why sites like this are needed.

With that said, I do have hope that the tides will change but like all things, it’ll take time.

-Laurel

By: Paula

Paula — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:45:29 +0000

Denene and I spoke back in March about the state of YA as it relates to African Americans. Having an article in PW about it, is a start. Opening submissions here, is a start. What I relate to the most is the morale among some of us in the trenches. I figure several things could happen 1) one day FINALLY books featuring us outside of the urban jungle will get their due and those of us on the early side of the trend, will benefit or 2) it will finally get its due and we’ll be like old school hip hop artists who miss out on the pay day but maybe get a nod of homage from the new kids on the block.

Heck Dana Davidson may be feeling like #2 right now!

Let’s just keep the faith that no matter the end result, these books will eventually get their due and get the push they need from publishing.