“I think every writer always feels like a fraud, almost every writer has imposter syndrome, it’s like you go to the Writers Festivals and you feel like I’m here with all the real writers and I’m the fake writer, please don’t anybody find out.” – A Conversation with Maxine Beneba Clarke, The Westsider Facts, reader. Facts. [ Read the full article… ]
Today begins the Brown Bookshelf’s most-anticipated, and our favorite series of posts of the year, 28 Days Later. Celebrating Black Kidlit creators across the diaspora has been a passion for us, but is also necessary. Books by Black creators continue to be out-paced by books about Black children from people outside of the community. So [ 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… ]
JAY COLES is a young adult and middle grade writer, a composer with ASCAP, and a professional musician residing in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a graduate of Vincennes University and Ball State University and holds degrees in English and Liberal Arts. When he’s not writing diverse books, he’s advocating for them, teaching middle school students, [ Read the full article… ]
A veteran TV writer and producer, the talents of Fracaswell Hyman have brought you shows like Ghostwriter, Gullah Gullah, Island, The Famous Jett Jackson, Taina and Romeo. He never planned on writing children’s television programs, Fracaswell’s dream was to be in front of the camera. The lesson: Dream Big. He did it all. As an [ Read the full article… ]
There have been days where I’ve literally felt like grabbing my favorite snack and watch L.L. McKinney go after folks on Twitter who seem to have made it a part-time job to come for her and her views. I was excited to talk about how much the Twitterverse has changed since she joined the platform [ Read the full article… ]
Doreen Spicer-Dannelly may be a new name in children’s literature, but for a long time she has created wonderful programs for kids. The Proud Family. Her. Jump In! Her again. The Wannabes. You got it. It’s exciting that she’s now a middle-grade author. Her debut, Love Double Dutch, is a fast-paced story of sisterhood, collaboration [ Read the full article… ]
Today we honor new author Baptiste Paul and his forthcoming picture book, The Field, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara, to be released by NorthSouth Books/S&S on March 6, 2018. In his debut title, Paul pays homage to his childhood home (the beautiful island of St. Lucia), his native language (Creole), and the internationally-beloved game of soccer. [ Read the full article… ]
