Throwback Thursday: Jesmyn Ward

Since this post was published in 2015, Jesmyn Ward has come out with two new titles: The Fire This Time is an anthological response to James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time which addressed race on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. In Ward’s anthology several writers reexamine race in America. Sing, Unburied, Sing is due out [ Read the full article… ]

Throwback Thursday: Justina Ireland

As a follow-up to Tuesday’s Black Kids on Covers post, here’s a look back at one of the authors included as she discusses her first two novels and how music helped her to write them. I wonder what music she wrote to while working on her upcoming Dread Nation! Enjoy this throwback post…   What [ Read the full article… ]

Throwback Thursday: Alice Randall and Caroline Williams

We first featured Alice Randall and Caroline Williams in 2013, after the publication of the joint debut middle grade novel, The Diary of B.B. Bright, Possible Princess, with illustrations by Shadra Strickland. Kirkus offered high praise: “Sweet, sassy and mystical, this novel deftly melds an old-fashioned story of princess preparation with the modern twist of [ Read the full article… ]

Throwback Thursday: Walter Dean Myers

Very recently, a nephew came to live with me.  He’s quiet, stays in his room, and basically comes downstairs to eat and hang out in the backyard.  Most of the time, his earbuds are in, and therefore I believed he didn’t want to have a face-to-face conversation.  One day, he was sitting at the counter [ Read the full article… ]