From Philadelphia, The Brown Bookshelf presents Christine Kendall, author of the debut middle grade novel Riding Chance. Christine grew up in a family of six children where everyone played an instrument. She studied piano and clarinet. Her readers are ecstatic that she decided to pursue writing as a fulltime occupation. Please join me in welcoming [ Read the full article… ]
28 Days Year: 2017
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Day 13: Ibi Zoboi
I first met Ibi Zoboi at a writing conference in New York City. We were passing each other through a crowd, and she said that an editor had mistaken her for me because we both submitted stories set in Haiti. My novel is more of a mashup between Trinidadian and Haitian cultures, but Ibi’s debut, AMERICAN [ Read the full article… ]
Day 12: Margot Lee Shetterly
The world knows Margot Lee Shetterly‘s work. Hidden Figures, the $125 million-grossing movie starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, was based on her New York Times bestselling book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (William Morrow/HC, September 2016). The [ Read the full article… ]
Day 11: Michael H. Cottman
Reading the bio page of Michael Cottman’s website, you can’t help but marvel at all of the ways he has used his gifts to make a difference. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Michael has extensively covered former President Barack Obama, offered political analysis for The Tom Joyner Morning Show, authored books on everything from the Million Man [ Read the full article… ]
DAY 10: LINDA JACKSON
In reading the articles and interviews about Linda Williams Jackson and her novel, Midnight Without a Moon, it is clear that this is no ordinary book about the Civil Rights movement. Even though the backdrop of this novel is the Emmitt Till story, Midnight Without A Moon is about so much more. Born [ Read the full article… ]
Day 9: Sarah Everett
This is a special year for The Brown Bookshelf as we celebrate 10 years of bringing authors and illustrators to booklovers. Today, I’m pleased to feature Sarah Everett. She writes from her home in Canada and released her debut novel Everyone We’ve Been in October 2016. She is currently working on a second young adult [ Read the full article… ]
Day 8: Leah Henderson
Day 8 begins our focus on book creators for older readers, starting with Leah Henderson whose debut middle grade novel One Shadow on the Wall is due out in June. Leah’s adventuresome spirit and love of stories helped her turn a passing encounter into her first novel. I first met Leah at the Kweli Writers Conference in Spring [ Read the full article… ]
Day 7: Jeffery B. Weatherford
As a child, Jeffery B. Weatherford had “large hands.” It was a fact that prompted a prediction from his grandmother: someday Jeffery would do something great with those hands. She was right. Jeffery Weatherford grew up to become a multi-talented fine artist and illustrator, who studied computer graphics and animation at Winston-Salem State University, on a full-ride scholarship. Fresh out of college, [ Read the full article… ]