OK, guys, after giving it some thought, I'm trusting in the collective good sense of humor of my CR friends. I'm sure that most of you are aware that very few books by African American authors are read widely in the larger community. Well, Goodreads author Carleen Brice has come up with a creative idea for expanding the audience for African American literature. December has been designated as National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month.

You can read all about it at: [http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com/]

Be sure to watch the video - it is truly funny! And remember, you don't have to be Black to buy a book by a Black author and give it to someone Not Black!

Sheesh -- lost that post. Just to say I loved the humor in your post and that on the site. I know I've done my own version of this with older people in my own family by buying books authored by such writers as Morrison and Angelou -- and see no reason it shouldn't extend to authors less well-known in wider circles. I already noted several titles to add to the never-ending lists I'm compiling and bookmarked the site for further reading as well as Brice's own site to check out.

Thanks, Mina.

Hey that was a great reading list and very cute video. I never would have thought to look on my shelves and see what coloured skin the writers have...but in the spirit of joining in...I did just now. I don't know there seems to be all kinds of writers and no lack of black writers. I'm a huge hip hop and rap fan and have several books on music and music history. A quick look just sitting here at my desk looking at the shelves in the hallway I see authors: Hamilton Nolan, Zadie Smith, 50 Cent, George Eliot Clarke, Ernest J. Gaines, VIBE Magazine History of Hip Hop, Percival Everett, Walter Mosley, Obama, Russell Simmons, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Magic Johnson, John Amaechi...

Here is an excerpt of a review by M. Lane about poet Clarke...

Clarke does not write as if he feared being rejected by an audience imagined distrustful of educated reference. Instead he uses the full range of the cultural resources available to him as a Canadian, a Maritimer, a descendant of the Black Refugees of 1812. The art, music, literature, religion, and history of Europe, North America, and Africa are native to him. His being at home in this larger world reminds the reader of the respected, if unfashionable, poetry of A.G. Bailey and Ralph Gustafson. Like them Clarke possesses a sense of history as continuous and present in his own context. But, and here again he reminds me of A.G. Bailey, Clarke also possesses a rich sense of what the Canadian found in Canada — of Indian history, of nature — as well as what the Canadian brought. Not even the arctic tundra was barren. The emptiness of a field is in the eye of the beholder. For Clarke, to whom erased villages, abandoned homesteads, and lost nations are present in history, the "boulder-barren, stone-strewn soil" of Canada, like its language, is not naked. Consider, for example, Clarke's "Musquodoboit Road Church":

micmac windpoems sing
Spring's resurrection,
foretold by the sharp, fused fragrance
of jubilee roses,
and the appearance of shiny, new
blue cars of waves,
cruising the beaches.
knowing this sensual verse
we ensure fertility.
we prepare a path through the wilderness.
we prepare the Easter Sunrise Service;
blue-grass banjo jamborees,
sepia saints in ivory robes, and the flash
of fish, flapping and flopping,
the hooked close of a gossamer line
predatory poetry.

we prepare the way of the Lord.

http://www.athabascau.ca/writers/geclark...

And here is an interesting essay...I think you might find really cool Wilhelmina...called "MUST ALL BLACKNESS BE AMERICAN?: LOCATING CANADA IN BORDEN'S "TIGHTROPE TIME," OR NATIONALIZING GILROY'S THE BLACK ATLANTIC". Scroll down the page linked to find review...

I'm glad that you enjoyed the site, Dottie and Candy!

Candy, the problem isn't in your bookshelves, but in the bookshelves in the stores. Unless someone is specifically looking for African American literature, they probably wouldn't think to go to that section of the bookstore, yet there are books of all kinds all shelved together there. If you are looking for literary fiction, you have to climb through every other genre to find it and you can easily miss some real gems. I'm glad that you both saw some books on Carleen's site that you found interesting.

Candy, the article was very thought provoking. African Canadians are a diverse and interesting group. My favorite African Canadian author is
Nalo Hopkinson - she writes terrific SF/fantasy with a Caribbean twist.

Interesting site and post. I can't remember when I've not read books by black authors whether they are European, American, African or Caribbean but I hadn't heard of any specifically Black Canadians - it's a good idea, though, just as international literature is for broadening the minds of all of us - I'll consider it for future birthday pressies.

Black Canadian writers: Austin Clarke and Lawrence Hill.

In Canada these two need no introduction. Clarke's latest, More: A Novel was on the Giller longlist; his earlier novel The Polished Hoe: A Novel won the Giller. Hill's The Book of Negroes (in the US, Someone Knows My Name) won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and is riding high on the Canadian bestseller lists.

Wilhelmina, am I to understand from your post that in the States, bookstores shelve "African American fiction" separately from all the rest? With that kind of literary apartheid going on it would be little wonder they don't get read.

That's exactly what happens, Andrew. If you are, say, Walter Mosley, your mystery books may be shelved in the mystery section, but if you are a new African American mystery writer, your books go into the African American section along with the literary fiction, romance novels, "urban lit", African American poetry, biographies, historical fiction and anything else they might care to throw in. I've even seen cookbooks by African Americans in the African American section instead of the cookbook section. I think that the somewhat twisted logic of the bookstores is to assume that African Americans will be the largest audience for these books, so they'll make it easy for African Americans to locate them! Of course, the real result is to limit the readership of books that would appeal to everyone. The book that Carleen Brice wrote, Orange Mint and Honey: A Novel, would be a great book club book for any group - it is right on the edge between literary fiction and popular fiction and is funny, insightful, and great for discussions without being a difficult read. Unfortunately, most book clubs without Black members are never going to find it!

I've read Austin Clarke, but he doesn't quite knock my socks off, Andrew, but I have a couple of Lawrence Hill book that I hope to read over the holidays. I've heard great things about him.

Wow. That's disgraceful.

... I'm referring to bookstore practices, not your opinion of Austin Clarke. :)

Enjoyed both your post and the site, Mina. VEry cute, but with a message. I remember reading Waiting to Exhale and not realizing that the author was black until some little time after I read it. I've often wondered why the stores have the African American books in one section of the stores--I'm not sure I like that. I've read a lot more nonfiction by black authors than fiction.

These "sections" of stores and of libraries as well tend to bother my sensibilities. I was just reading a similar thread around here not long ago which bemoaned the fact of the Gay-Lesbian sections being hidden away in some far corner or not even a section but a single shelf of books and then largely not books which are what the community wants available for reading.

I can't figure out why our minds live in these little constraining boxes in this day and age. It freaks me out when I really begin to analyze it. I'm seeing this happen in our entertainment offerings as well the past -- I want to say decade but am not sure it's been that long but I'm going with that just the same.

Get over ourselves -- all of us need to get over ourselves and think of humans as humans not some cockeyed "label" which is added to this tiny group or that major group or whatever.

Sigh -- sorry -- I'm ranting and raving here and off topic somewhat as well.

Back to the black authors and some great new explorations to be made.

Hi All, Thank you so much for having this discussion--that's all I'm trying to do is raise awareness and get some issues to the point of discussion. This country is so crazy when it comes to race it's hard to look at racial issues without feeling a little crazy, oneself. For example, on the one hand, African American sections in bookstores are believed to be helpful to black authors in the sense that they help black readers find our books easily. On the other hand, it puts other readers off and makes it seem like our books are "only" for black readers. I don't mean to dis any practice because I do believe booksellers and publishers are trying to sell books. But I also believe that some conventional wisdom in the publishing industry is based on some old assumptions. We'll see if I'm right.

Welcome, Carleen. Great sites you have up and running. It really seems all of this is a bit like a see-saw and we just see things playing out until a slight "tip" in one direction or another cause a massive over-correction. What we need is balance I think -- or -- what? You've got me thinking here, but most of my ideas seem off topic to the books and booksellers quandary.

I am dumbfounded by this practice. I am sure I never seen anything like it here in Canada, or in Brazil as a matter of fact. Do they discriminate also other cultures or traditions? Is there such a thing as a Muslim Authors’ shelf? Or Native American Authors’ shelf?
The anarchist in me would love mix their shelves; I would love to just grab 3 or 4 authors and shelf them properly, by alphabetical order in the section they belong. A little of civil disobedience could be good for the soul!

This isn't practice "across the board" -- it varies from place to place depending upon poilicies set by a particular management or specific governing bodies, Capitu.

What bookstores do this? I've never seen literature or other books authored by African-Americans segregated in this way in the many, many bookstores I have visited - primarily in Oakland and Berkeley and San Francisco in California and now in Seattle, Washington, so I wonder if this practice is a regional thing? Many stores have A-A sections, but they seem to have books focused on African-American history, or African-American sociology or the like, which would logically be in that section. But, for example, Toni Morrison and Edward Jones are grouped with general literature.

One thing I have seen several times that amuses me is bookstores during African American history month will have lists or displays of pertinent books, and they willl include Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head, etc. - i.e., African writers not A-A writers. Although I supposed you could say this recognizes cultural continuity or the like, I don't think this is the intent, they have just gathered together or listed books by Black authors in general.

Theresa

Capitu, not to hijack the thread but tangentially related, many years ago I read a novel by a Brazilian author about a woman who began life in slavery in Brazil, was freed and began a family in Brazil and returned to Africa at some point where she made a fortune in business. I have not been able to remember the title or author or even find it by googling words that might fit (surprising what one can find in that way). I think this is a "big book" in Brazilian literature, so I'm hoping it might ring a bell with you?

Theresa

OH!

I didn't get that at all...Wilhelmina...I see now from both Capitu and Andrew also sharing their surprise...it just went right over my head the idea of separating books by skin colour...I didn't realize there was a segregated area in U.S. bookstores!

(I go to little independent bookstores for the most part...and they have such little space and I've never seen a lable for separating literature into African American)

Actually...it might even be against our constitution in Canada..it would totally set off human rights violations.

I ran into a fellow doing promotion for gay rights on the street the other day in Chicago. And he was telling me they were trying to lobby for gays to be proteced from "namecalling" and hate crimes. I was like...aren;'t they already!?

I mean....in Canada you would have major investigation of the like of the llinois Govenor wiretapping if you said anything sexist or gender or skin coloured or religion to anybody at your work office.

I knew a woman who worked in a acasino...she came into my bar...and she was upset. She had said "merry christmas" to a customer in the casino.

The woman complained. The casino visitor wasn't Christian. The casino manager reprimanded the woman at my bar and reminded her the general greeting or parting is "happy holidays".

The woman who worked in the casino had mixed feelings because she meant to be nice...but if you were raised one way in a dominant community of Christians it's easy to forget to be thoughtful to others. So...since there is often a flux in these customs...it is interesting to witness a transition.

We tend to take human rights pretty seriously in Canada at least "on the record".

If someone makes an insenstive or intolerant remark at their work place or school...it is taken very seriously.

It's not uncommon for employers to arrange morale and "sensitivity workshops" subsidized by the government for their employees.

The idea of a book store actually making signage or separating literature so segregated or insensitive is stunning.

p.s. I thought of something else. About religion. I haven't looked at much of anything about this topic in
U.S. bookstores.

But we don't separate religions (or faiths) either. We tend to call an area in a book store a "self help section". In this section you are likely to find a Koran, an Eckhart Tolle book, a book on Tarot, on Wicca, a Bible, "The Four Agreements" , weight loss books, "chicken soup" books, affirmation books, business motivational books, the "Conversations With God" series, all together usually filed alphabetically.

Sometimes depending on space you might find business motivational books ina separate area depending on their theme. If it's all about the moeny for instance they won't be in the self help section per se. "The Art of War" is likely to be found in the business motivational section say rather than just the self help section...but I've seen it make a crossover.

Theresa, the name that comes to my mind is Xica da Silva (or Chica da Silva according to some). But she was a historical figure, and not a fictional character, and she never was in Africa. There are a few bibliographies of her in Portuguese, but I don’t know if they have been translated or fictionalized. There is also a movie about her directed by Caca Diegues.

This is what Wikipediea has to say:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chica_da_Si...

But maybe is the tone of this discussion that is making me think of Xica da Silva. Let me think for a while as another name – or book - may come to my mind.

Thanks, Capitu. I finally found the title, it is The Water House by Antonio Olinto. It is fiction, I don't think it is based on a real life person. It has been a long time since I read it, so I might have some of the plot facts wrong, but I do recall that it was a very good book.

Theresa

Small, independent book stores tend to be less rigid and more responsive to their communities on these kinds of issues. Large chains like Borders and Barnes and Noble definitely have separate African American sections in any locations where they carry a decent number of African American authors. Unless you are specifically looking for a particular African American author, you may not even notice that the books have been separated. If you are browsing (in my opinion, the best reason to go to a book store), you won't run into any new African American authors whom you may have come to love.

In my experience, the only other group which is separately shelved is gay and lesbian literature.

I like your anarchic proposition, Capitu. Next time I go into Borders, I may have to do some rearranging!

Thanks, Mina. I have sent the link to my book club.
By the way, my library also has this practice.

Candy wrote: We tend to take human rights pretty seriously in Canada at least "on the record".

If someone makes an insensitive or intolerant remark at their work place or school...it is taken very seriously.

It's not uncommon for employers to arrange morale and "sensitivity workshops" subsidized by the government for their employees.

The idea of a book store actually making signage or separating literature so segregated or insensitive is stunning.

All of this is true here as well, Candy, but there are reasonings beyond those straightforward ones which are under the law -- as some mentioned the bookstores may think it is advantageous to create a section for African American or African with African-American as a sub section -- to call attention to the selection they have. They may be saying look here if you wish to read black writers or they may be saying that black readers will find black writers here or they may just not be thinking straight -- which is where I would come down, personally. Though I have gone easily in a larger store to that section when I knew I was looking for a particular book by a black author -- so it can work advantageously -- I just wish literature would go on the lit shelves, etc and authors would be authors not "x" color authors, that's all. And yes, the gay-lesbian books sections are a problem of the same ilk, Mina.

It really seems all of this is a bit like a see-saw and we just see things playing out until a slight "tip" in one direction or another cause a massive over-correction.

I agree with you, Dottie - they aren't thinking straight. I think that this is the reason that Carleen has brought this issue to light - so that we can find better ways of doing things. This mode of separating books limits everyone. I hate to think of young African American readers who are just developing their own taste in literature only going to the African American section and missing all of the wonderful authors of all ethnic groups and societies that they can experience. Separate shelving is an idea that needs correcting.

Well, where would a William burroughs novel go?

It seems to me that literature/fiction should all go together.

If a non-fiction book about say, the history of gender or of gay rights is put into a section about history of gender or gender studies or gay lesbian...that makes sense.

Soul On Ice would go into essays or history of african Americans. Or under history in general?

Memoirs with memoirs...regardless of how a person looks. Why not have Magic John's My Life next to George Hamilton's Don't Mind If I Do.

Human usually tend to make things work under the easiest way. I worked in a bookstore, in Vancouver for almost two years...and we basically used Occams Razor approach to sorting books out.

It seems to me a whole bunch of extra details to sort books out on such categories as keeping them separated.

I really have found this so fascinating, thanks for bringing to our attention and that the woman's blog and video had such a fun way to deal with things!

My experience is similar to Theresa's experience. I have never noticed an African American section to a bookstore in the Northwest. Does this mean that in Borders you can't find Toni Morrison in the regular fiction section or Langston Hughes in poetry?

In my local Border's (Ann Arbor, MI, the supposed home of liberals) they have just such a section. Border's was founded by the Borders brothers in Ann Arbor, so I tend to, mistakenly, think of it as an independent--which it was when I first discovered it. I do think that the original reason for the sections was to highlight African-American fiction, but I may be naive.

My first response is going to be a bit of moving books in the shelves as Capitu suggested. I love to do that anyway. When I know authors, I often tend to move their books so that the covers are facing outward, to make them more visible. It's that old 60's personalty creeping out in me, I suppose. But, my next response is to send this site and a note to the Border's main office in Ann Arbor. They are currently fighting for their lives as a business and just might listen. I would recommend that others do the same.

I'm also interested to know Ann and Michael's impressions over on Books on the Nightstand. They are employees of Random House and they may have some insights. I'm going to their goodreads group to post a note.

I just posted a note on Books on the Nightstand and tried to send an email to Border's at the following site:
http://www.borders.com/online/store/Cust...
I got a message that it was temporarily unavailable but will try again later. I suggest that others try to contact their stores that use the same practice. This feels like a business practice that got started in a different time and has just lingered.

I agree, Barbara. I'm sure that bookstore owners really don't want to keep people away from books that they might actually want to purchase! It's just time to rethink things.

Oh, Barbara! My anarchic idea was so much more fun! But I will give it to you that your way is more productive. I too will try and send an email even though I don’t usually shop on USA bookstores.

I posed the question over on Books on the Nightstand (a great group with excellent podcasts, btw). Ann, an employee of Random House, posted the following reply and said I could copy it here:

Barbara, thanks for sharing this. I think it's a great idea that Carlene has.

I can't really answer your question with any authority. Stores have been experimenting with this for decades -- not only for African/American,but also for Gay/Lesbian and Christian fiction. Do you separate those sections as a way of helping readers find them more easily, the way that science fiction,romance and mystery have their own sections? Or do you mix it all in? Each has benefits and drawbacks.

I'd say at this point, it's quite likely that stores have tried it both ways and settled on whatever method has resulted in more book sales.

If the store sells books from that category very well, by creating a dedicated section the store can better track sales and refine the selection based on what the customers want. If, for instance, African-American fiction has its own section, and sales continually increase, the store can bring in more titles. They wouldn't necessarily know that if it was folded into the fiction section. On the same note, if sales are not strong enough to warrant enough books to fill a section, they can/will be folded into the general fiction section. It's amazing how computerized inventory and data analysis and physical shelf space can often impact how things are merchandised on the sales floor.

I hope that helps a little bit. Sorry I can't be more clear. Just please don't ask me where to shelve that romantic mystery written by the Christian African-American Lesbian!

I went to Elliott Bay Bookstore on this snowy, cold day in Seattle. EB is probably my favorite bookstore in the world. An indie, but with lots of floorspace and a huge selection, clean and well-lighted, in an old building with well-worn wide-plank floors and brick walls, and lots of interesting nooks and crannies. I go to Queen Anne Books more often because it is walking distance from my home, but Elliott Bay is worth a trip downtown. Powell's in Portland is great, but it is so big that I can find it a bit overwhelming. Elliott Bay is just right.

But I digress. I checked, and EB does not segregate books by A-A authors. They do have an A-A sub-section in the history section, but it has books that focus specifically on A-A issues, rather than books written by Black authors. I asked at the Information Desk just to be sure. I think the question made the fellow there a bit uncomfortable. He said stores may have done that in the past but he had never heard of anyone doing it presently. I asked if perhaps it is a regional practice, but he said he was from the east coast and he had never seen it there either. He was getting a bit tense, so I left him alone at that point ;-)

It could be that we don't see this practice in the NW because it is a marketing practice directed at Black readers and there is not a large A-A population here, but I don't recall ever seeing it when I lived in Oakland or Berkeley either. I will have to check next time I am at Barnes & Noble (which could be a while), just to see what the chains do. Mina, you really made me wonder about this. I did notice that EB had their Native American section (not authors, topic) right next to Archaeology, which irks me because all Indians aren't dead - but perhaps they called it the American Indian section in the past, in which case it is just located there by alphabetic coincidence.

To digress once again, those of you who attended the Seattle convention will recall that we had our meeting in the book readings area to the side of the downstairs cafe - a good space, but a bit dark and dungeony. They have recently remodeled, it still has the great brick arches, but a white/yellow floor and some white/yellow panels and better lighting have really lightened the place up. The menu has been re-done by Tamara Murphy of Brasa (a very good local restaurant.) I had a big bowl of baby Manila clams, cooked with orzo, roasted tomatoes and chorizo, served with baguette to soak up the delicious sauce (yes, I did put my bread to this use, my manners were probably not the best but I did not want to waste that sauce ;-)) Delicious, and only $9.00. My friend had the pork chile and he said it was great.

Theresa, who has some work to do today and has put it off long enough!

Postscript: I did not make it out of EB without damage, since I bought The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. I considered buying Toni Morrison's latest, but it is not out in paperback yet so I decided to wait. Sometimes if I really want a book and it is by a new or not well-known author, I will splurge for the hardback because I want to help out the author, but I don't think that Toni Morrison needs my help. I don't think this purchase would have fulfilled the assignment here anyway, since I would have been buying the book for myself!

I wonder if digital bookstores help with the categorization issue, since you can put something in both African-American and a general literature category. But digital bookstores are not near as fun or easy to browse. I wonder how this will play out if people really do move to digital readers. Searching online is in some ways easier, but you lose a lot as compared to browsing around a physical bookstore.

Theresa

All of you are great! I am thrilled to see you following up on what Carleen started. The answer from the Random House was very interesting, Barbara. It does seem that if they are tracking the sales of African American literature by computer, it wouldn't matter where the books were actually sitting. And, of course, they have no idea which books might have even better sales if they were shelved along with the rest of the fiction. Maybe I would make a poor businessperson, but I would really like to see that "romantic mystery written by the Christian African-American Lesbian" just shelved with the rest of the mysteries.

You are right, Theresa, Toni Morrison is not in dire need, but when her book comes in at your library or comes out in paperback, be sure to read it. I thought that it was very good. Meanwhile, you might want to try a writer from Carleen's list!

Wilhelmina,
Glad you found my response to be of interest. I do just want to clarify that though I work for Random House, my response was simply my opinion based on my 20+ years of working with bookstores.

I can address the computer thing, though. The books are coded to a category so that when the staff unpacks the boxes and receives them, they know where to shelve them. So you can have "fiction" or you can have "African American fiction", but you can't usually have both (in most computer systems that I know of, anyway). So if they are coded as Fiction, it could be anything from Danielle Steel to Ian McEwan to E. Lynn Harris to Toni Morrison. When the booksellers check how sales are doing, they run the report for the section -- if fiction is doing well, it's not usually evident what specific part of fiction is doing well unless there is much anecdotal evidence from the people on the floor selling the books. One can check sales patterns of specific authors but again, unless they are coded to a specific section, it's not necessarily going to be evident that it's an African American author or a Christian fiction author, etc.

Not saying it's the right way to do it, but I suspect it is part of the reason why it is done that way in stores that separate them out.

I think they ought to get a better program. It seems so odd to set up a bookstore a certain way because a programmer didn't put in subsets.

Well let me be clear here -- I am speaking very generally. I don't know which stores do this and which stores don't. And I'm not even certain that this is why. My assumptions based on what I know about bookstore computer inventory systems and the way receiving works.

Just assumptions. Just my take on it, personally, not as an employee of anyone.

I'm a consultant for an IT company; my specialty happens to be inventory management. I implement warehouse management systems and inventory systems all across Canada.

It's true that how products are categorized and coded has significant effects on how they're shelved, but ... all those categories and codes are the result of human decisions. Where the software makes odd decisions, it's almost always the consequence of someone's inadequate understanding of how to use the codes and categories to drive the result they want.

I find it very difficult to believe that the systems used by large booksellers in the US are not able to track sales category separately from shelf location. You need to be able to track sales regardless of where you shelve the product -- one obvious reason is to determine how shelf location affects sales.

We might excuse segregating "African American fiction" as part of an effort to promote it, but this doesn't explain how cookbooks, self-help, literature, and genre fiction by authors who happen to be black end up shelved together by some booksellers. There is no sensible business reason to track the sales of books with black authors, regardless of content, separately from other categories -- particularly if established African American authors get shelved with fiction and literature. Behind this, regardless of the motive, is the assumption that the author's race is more significant than the content of his or her book -- that is, a cookbook and a novel are the same entity if the author is black. Categorizing products in this way provides no meaningful data.

Where these bookshelf ghettoes exist, it's the consequence of human decisions, not the machinations of a computer system.

Well said, Andrew!

Thank you, Ann, for bringing in the book world's perspective.

I asked about this on Border's web site, gave them the link to Carleen's site and got the following reply:

Dear Barbara,

Thank you for contacting Borders regarding our African-American Literature section. We appreciate your feedback and will consider your comments as we define our business strategies going forward. I would like to offer you a little background on why we have our African-American Literature titles pulled together into a single, cohesive section.

The publishing industry has received an overwhelming customer response to books written by and/or about African-Americans. Some cite the success of Terry McMillan's "Waiting to Exhale," as the pivotal book that caused publishers to acquire and distribute books that spoke to the African American community. While other African-American authors notably had great success, the commercial success of "Waiting to Exhale" brought on a welcomed influx of new and emerging African-American authors.

Borders responded to this trend by pulling these books together into one section to provide our customers with an enhanced shopping experience, which celebrates the expansion of African American titles and provides ease of shopping. Feedback over the years has shown us that the majority of our customers appreciate having these titles pulled together in one section. These customers find they have a better browsing experience because they know they will find the books they want to read. If we did not have this section shelved together, our loyal customers would not have located many of the great books that they've discovered.

Ultimately, we want to serve our customers and provide the best shopping experience possible. We assure you that our intention behind pulling these titles together is for ease of shopping and is something we've been told is an added customer service. As a retailer, we do not seek to make statements of any kind-political, social, religious, etc.-we want to make the widest variety of materials available to our customers and present them in a way that the majority of our customers find easy to shop. We are constantly defining and re-defining our business strategies and will consider your feedback in that process. We hope you can understand the challenge of balancing the needs of all of our customers and communities.

Thank you again for contacting us. Please let us know if you have any other questions.


Sincerely,

Michael
Borders Customer Care
http://www.borders.com

What an interesting response, Barbara. Michael says:

The publishing industry has received an overwhelming customer response to books written by and/or about African-Americans. Some cite the success of Terry McMillan's "Waiting to Exhale," as the pivotal book that caused publishers to acquire and distribute books that spoke to the African American community.

and

These customers find they have a better browsing experience because they know they will find the books they want to read.

I don't think that he even recognized that he just concluded that (1)Black people come in looking only for books about or by African Americans, and (2) he just eliminated the likelihood that browsers who are not African American would, if they came across a book by an African American author, not be interested in it or purchase it. I don't think that he means any harm at all, he just wants to sell books, but I think that he's reducing his sales by separating books in this manner. In addition, the reading habits of two groups has been stereotyped. This is old-think; time to think again.

Carleen has an article in the Washington Post today about the issues we've been discussing here:

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/19/AR2008121902624.html?sid=ST2008121903161&s_pos=]

Looks like the word is spreading!

Mina, I love your term old-think. It's spot-on.

But it's incredibly disturbing that Carleen had a writer's book with such discouraging warnings for authors and that her friend's 11th book was rejected despite the fact the publisher acknowledged it was beautifully written. What a disgrace. Hopefully another publisher will have better sense and more integrity. Eeks, it's so disheartening that the quality of writing is only an after-thought for publishers.

Carleen,
I've been following your campaign to gain black related fiction a wider audience. It got me thinking about such matters. For example, I look at my CD collection and I would say it's about 75 percent blues, classic soul, 70s funk, zydeco or West African. In other words, mostly music with African American roots. (putting aside the fact that all rock n roll has black roots) But that's not the case on my bookshelf. Why is that?
I look at my fiction books and I have everything from Ha Jin to Hemmingway. I'm currently reading The Known World, by Edward P Jones, a black author who won the Pulitzer Prize.
For me it's not a matter of race, but a matter of gender.
I don't read much, if any, genre fiction. I don't read mysteries or SciFi. I read mostly nonfiction history or literary fiction. A book is a big investment in my time, and I don't have time for escapism. I have the boob tube for that.
The fact is that it's hard for me to find good literary fiction that appeals to me as a male reader. The publishing world is increasingly dominated by women and they are catering to female audiences because they are the ones buying fiction.
So the subject matter of The Known World would appeal to me whether or not Edward P. Jones was black or white.
Water for Elephants, another historical fiction book that I enjoyed reading also appealed to me because of the subject matter. I don't think I would have cared one bit of the author was black or white. Male or female.
It's so hard for me to find novels I would like that I've turned more toward nonfiction history books with a strong narrative form during the last 5 years.
Hope this gives you some food for thought.
Stew

Back when this thread was initiated I checked out the link to Carleen's blog and saw her other blog "Pajama Gardener" listed. I realized I had visited that blog in the past, following a link from my cousin-who-loves-tango blog. Apparently they're friends. Small world sometimes, even on the wide wide world of the web. Said cousin is visiting now which is what made me think of it again.

Stew:

Maybe you would like some of the following books:

Bombingham by Anthony Grooms;

Erasure by Percival Everett;

Apex Hides the Hurt A Novel or The Intuitionist A Novel by Colson Whitehead;

anything by Walter Mosley;

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill;

There Are No Elders by Austin Clarke

Zulu Heart A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America by Steven Barnes

There are many other books by African American, African Canadian, and African British authors that you might enjoy.

Since this article and thread...now I see the section in Borders and Barnes and Noble. I've gone around to look at them and still can't believe it...but there they are. Thanks to Wilhelmina and Carleen.

And just think of all of the neat books you might have missed, tucked away in a "special" section, Candy!