28 Days

Cathy Ann Johnson describes herself as “a visual, digital, designer, front end developer, in position to roll up my sleeves and dive in fearlessly.” Today, we are pleased to present this talented visionary that does it all! The Journey My path to children’s book development came early. I was in high school and working at a restaurant. [ Read the full article… ]

One of the things we at The Brown Bookshelf love most is being able to bring awareness to talented authors and illustrators creating books for children before they blow all the way up. I’m not sure if this feature is happening in time to stake that claim regarding author Rita Lorraine Hubbard, seeing that her first [ Read the full article… ]

It’s not too often that our YA spotlight features the author of a graphic novel. Though I believe we’ll begin to see more of them (we hope). Today’s spotlight is Ngozi Ukazu, author of the popular Check Please, series.  The series began as an online graphic novel and became one of the most funded webcomics [ Read the full article… ]

Today, we welcome Alicia D. Williams to The Brown Bookshelf. An oral storyteller in the African-American tradition, she is also a kindergarten teacher who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Genesis Begins Again is her debut novel. And check out that cover — it’s stunning! We’re honoured to have you and Genesis here, Alicia! The Journey: [ Read the full article… ]

As a fellow African-American cartoonist, I have always enjoyed, and sometimes even been a little envious of, the work of Keith Knight. Mainly because he’s just plain funny! I am both proud and happy to have followed his work for years on his comic strips The K Chronicles (2007 Harvey Kurtzman Award winner  for Best [ Read the full article… ]

The elusive secret to writing is that there is no secret. Ashley Woodfolk’s outlook on how she fits writing into her life is one that speaks so much truth that I may make it a tattoo. I’m pleased to present this year’s YA authors because YA has become the new battlefield for ownership. With so [ Read the full article… ]

A GOOD KIND OF TROUBLE has a soft, ice-cream colored cover that just begs to be consumed, but at its heart, the story minces bitter with sweet as Shay tries to find her way in a world where simply being Black requires bravery. It’s the debut middle grade novel for Lisa Moore Ramée, our next [ Read the full article… ]

Colorful. Credible. Necessary. These are the words that describe my feelings about Francie Latour’s debut picture book, Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings. “Colorful” because both the text and the artwork are equally vivid and evocative. “Credible” because of the many nuanced details in this culture-rich story, written about a Haitian-American by a Haitian-American. “Necessary” because children’s books centered in Haitian [ Read the full article… ]