On February 8, 2017, Brown Bookshelf member, Tracey Baptiste interviewed Leah Henderson about her upcoming novel, One Shadow on the Wall. Leah discussed the spark that led to the idea, her writing process that led to an agent, an editor and a book soon to be published. Her story was fascinating. Read it here [ Read the full article… ]
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Nicola Yoon on #BlackGirlMagic, How Love Changes Everything, and Showing the Possibilities
Nicola Yoon is the #1 NYT bestselling author of Everything, Everything, which is now a major motion picture, and The Sun Is Also a Star, a National Book Award finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn, and lives in Los [ Read the full article… ]
The “Hole” in KidLit
For years I worked as an anthology editor for McGraw-Hill and other educational publishing houses. My job was choosing literature for elementary schools, pairing fiction with nonfiction, commissioning new pieces to work with published works, and balancing a very long list of authors and illustrators to ensure that we had even numbers between sexes and [ Read the full article… ]
Where Do We Go From Here? Continuing the Conversation With Pat Cummings
Here at the Brown Bookshelf, we’ve spoken often and long on the issues and ideas expressed in the Open Declaration. We do this work to lift up our young readers and show them how they can survive, thrive, and soar in this world. For many of us, the way forward might be clear, for others, [ Read the full article… ]
What’s New with The Brown Bookshelf
The Brown Bookshelf presented at the Texas Library Association conference. Thank you to the Black Caucus of TLA who sponsored our session, Overlooked Books who hosted our signing and amazing librarians like the ones from Houston in the picture who showed us lots of love. Thank you to everyone who supports the work we do. Completing our [ Read the full article… ]
The Brown Bookshelf at TLA
We’ve taken our 10th anniversary celebration on the road. Please join us today at 2:45 p.m. for our Texas Library Association session, Celebrating Diversity: The Brown Bookshelf Salutes Great Books for Kids (Room 303ABC, Ballroom level). The presenters are Gwendolyn Hooks and Kelly Starling Lyons. Here are the session hand-outs which include book lists and resources: BBS Booklist TLA TLA [ Read the full article… ]
Running Into Faith
I seem to keep running into Faith Ringgold. Not literally. I have never driven a car in New York. Her books seem to find their way into my hands and I saw one of her quilts in all its glory. Then I stumbled onto a fascinating article written by her daughter. I attended the American [ Read the full article… ]
Writing Through 45
My left arm for a time before 45 when I could get on Twitter or write a blog post for BBS and talk about books. Yes, that 45 – our current President. He’s changed everything, right down to how I function as an author. Anyone else with me? I hope so. Because some days I [ Read the full article… ]