“Books are meat and medicine and flame and flight and flower, steel, stitch, and cloud and clout, and drumbeats in the air.” – Gwendolyn Brooks “I am…a children’s book author who aspires to be a griot.” – Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow These quotes reveal much about today’s honoree, her motivation as an author, and the soulful, healing [ Read the full article… ]
An accomplished middle-grade author with young adult and picture book projects on the way, Lakita Wilson is a name to watch. On her journey to being published, she received SCBWI’s Emerging Voices Award and earned a MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Today, she looks for new [ Read the full article… ]
This summer, we launched Generations Book Club, sharing lists of recommended books twice each month. We appreciated your notes of support and requests to have more selections. Thanks to you, we’re keeping it going throughout the year! On the 15th of each month – except for February which is our annual Black History Month celebration, [ Read the full article… ]
Welcome to the Generation’s Book Club. Today’s list features books that celebrate the inventive genius of Black people—not just characters in books, but also the people who create these stories. We are confident that you will enjoy these selections as much as we do. Should you decide to purchase, we’ve partnered with Brian Lair [ Read the full article… ]
Today kicks off Black Music Month. In our first list for Generations Book Club, we include books that salute our Black National Anthem, explore a middle grader finding his voice and purpose, show an 18-year-old violinist navigating complicated choices about life and love and offer wisdom and experiences on discovering the creativity inside. Please check [ Read the full article… ]
As a child, my grandma would take my brother and me to land in Gibsonia, PA where she grew up. Relatives would come together at Woods Grove, named for her family, for reunions and fun. I heard stories of drinking water from the spring, cooking feasts and dancing into the night. As her words spun [ Read the full article… ]
Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton, Sussex, and raised in an Italian-Trinadadian family. She has an MA in writing for film and TV. Her novel Orangeboy won The Bookseller’s YA Book Prize in 2017, The Watrstons Children’s Book Prize for Older Children 2017, and was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa Children’s Book award. I agree [ Read the full article… ]
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… ]
