Bernice L. McFadden's Blog, page 5

The Book of Harlan is now out in the world..if you'd like an early, AUTOGRAPHED Copy...

Yes!..The Book of Harlan is out in the world. It hasn't been officially released, but there are review copies circulating.

Last week, I autographed a limited amount of copies, so if you'd like to purchase one, Akashic Books will happily oblige!



In the meantime, here's a little teaser to wet your palate!












Bernice L. McFadden

When your words are set to music...well, it's a special kind of feeling...

Wow...It's All Well and Good Magazine put the opening passages from my novel: Gathering of Waters - to music...accompanied by some pretty awe-inspiring images. It's beautiful and it has left me...full...






I am Money Money Mississippi from It's All Well + Good Magazine on Vimeo.


Bernice L. McFadden

New Year, New Look, New Books!!!

New Year, New Look, New Books! 
What had happened was.....I spent the holidays in Bali, Indonesia.  The experience was sobering, spiritually nourishing and inspiring. I came back with a new outlook on life; as I suspected I would. Back in dreary New York City, I felt the need to keep the momentum going..so on the night of the blizzard, as I sat in my bedroom surfing the internet and pondering my life. I came across a quote by Coco Chanel that didn't just speak to me - it SCREAMED at me:
"A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life"
And that as they say, is that! This event coincided with the 16th anniversary of the publication of my first novel: SUGAR .
I know it's cliche - but it feels as if it was just yesterday thatSUGAR burst into the literary world. 
It's hard to believe that in just a few months I will publish my 9th novel!
My newest novel: The Book of Harlan, pays homage to ancestors from both sides of my family tree as well as those historical figures who carved a path so that I could pave a road for the descendants. 
In fact, that's my grandfather's face on the book cover!
The novel opens with the courtship of Harlan's parents and his 1917 birth in Macon, Georgia. After his prominent minister grandfather dies, Harlan and his parents move to Harlem, where he becomes a musician. Soon, Harlan and his best friend, trumpeter Lizard Robbins, are lured across the Atlantic Ocean to perform at a popular cabaret in the Parisian enclave of Montmartre-affectionately referred to as "The Harlem of Paris" by Black American musicians.As you know, word of mouth is the most powerful tool we authors have - so please spread the book love!
The Book of Harlanby Bernice L. McFadden by Akashic BooksHardcover List Price: $29.95Our Price: $23.43Buy Now

I'm also excited to announce the pending publications of some favorite authors who we've not heard from for far too long:

Lazaretto: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone by HarperKindle Edition ~ Release Date: 2016-04-12 Buy NowBy Diane McKinney-Whetsone
Solemnby Kalisha Buckhanon by St. Martin's PressHardcover ~ Release Date: 2016-05-03 List Price:$25.99Our Price: $17.43Buy NowCrushby Nicole Bailey Williams by Brown Girls PublishingKindle Edition ~ Release Date: 2016-02-09 Buy NowThe Birds of Opulence (Kentucky Voices)by Crystal Wilkinson by University Press of KentuckyHardcover List Price:$24.95Our Price: $21.25Buy Now

I've linked these books to Amazon.com, but I encourage you to support your independent bookstore wherever and whenever possible.
I do hope you'll take the time to forward, FB and Tweet this newsletter. It's easy -- all the social network buttons are at the top of the newsletter -- 1-Click sharing -- you can't get any easier than that!
Until next time!
Peace and Light,Bernice

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Bernice L. McFadden

Would you please spread the #BookLove...?

Today, The Book of Harlan goes to print! Here is the final cover. I love it...i love even more that my grandfather's image graces the jacket..still more that the story pays homage to ancestors from both sides of my family tree as well as those historical figures who carved a path so that I could pave a road for the descendants. 


As you know, word of mouth is the most powerful tool we artist have - so please spread the ‪#‎BookLove‬....







The Book of Harlan will be available May 3rd, 2016. You can pre-order everywhere books are sold. May I suggest you pre-order from the Black owned and operated: Hue Man Bookstore http://www.huemanbookstore.com










Bernice L. McFadden

Ben Ali Lumumba son of Harlem, USA writes about WRITING..

"I went to one them downtown white workshops for a couple of months and got all screwed up with angles of narration, points of view, objectivity, universality, composition, author-intrusion, sentence structure, syntax, first person, second person. I got so screwed up I couldn't unwind myself, for days. I said to hell with all of that! I'm the first second and third person my own damn self. And I will intrude, protrude , obtrude or exclude my point of view any time it suits my disposition, Dig that!"
-- Ben Ali Lumumba son of Harlem, USA
From Cotillion by John Oliver Killens




Bernice L. McFadden

Happy Sweet 16 SUGAR..

There's no audience for this book, they said. Go and read what's selling and re-work the story to fit that genre, they told me. 

Glad I didn't listen to the folks who took the time to write those 75 rejection letters.. 

HAPPY SWEET 16 SUGAR LACEY!













Bernice L. McFadden

New Year. New Book. New Look.

So, after 19 years (maybe 20) I've lost count - I cut off my locs.

I'd been thinking about chopping them off for quite some time -- and by that I mean three years.

So on Saturday, while the blizzard dropped a barrage of snowflakes up and down the east coast, I grabbed a pair of scissors and did what I should have done on December 12th, 2012.

It was time.

I posted pictures on Twitter and FB and was surprised that folk were emotional about the chop. Especially since I was feeling so indifferent. I mean, I'd heard the horror stories -- folks crumbling with grief, sobbing uncontrollably  - having to be medicated. Alright, maybe not medicated, but close.

I haven't suffered any of those emotions. I'm just kind of blah about it.

So now I am left with a TWA (teenie-weenie-afro) and all that comes with managing it -- which is kinda sort of a lot compared to all I DIDN'T have to do with my locs.




#50Forward








Bernice L. McFadden

Black Lives, Black Ink, White paper, White Writers...

In light of the ‪#‎OscarSoWhite‬ controversy, I thought I'd post this...again.

So in 1929, Julia Peterkin won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel: Scarlet Sister Mary which takes places in a Gullah community in South Carolina. So the characters are Black. At the time, the book was praised for its "authentic portrayal of Black life" (clearing throat) -- so it was kind-of-like the predecessor to Kathryn Stockett's: The Help which was published 80 years later to literary fame. 

While The Help didn't receive the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, it did grace the long-lists of many prestigious literary awards and did receive South Africa's  Exclusive Books Boeke Prize.

Any-whoo -- Ethel Barrymore (Yes, of THOSE Barrymore's) acquired the dramatic rights to Scarlet Sister Mary and on November 25th 1930 Ethel Barrymore performed on Broadway (in the lead role) in BLACK FACE. 

The run was short-lived. The show closed on December 1st 1930. 

I came across this excerpt from Suzanne Marrs biography of Eudora Wetly, wherein Langston Hughes points out a 1929 reality that is still true in 2016...








Bernice L. McFadden

What Viola Davis Said..

Once, many, many years ago when I was in high school, I was cast as the lead in the school play. I played St. Francis of Assisi -- it was the most frightening, thrilling and empowering experience of my young life. If I remember correctly, I had gone out for an extra or backstage something or another -- At the time why Sr. Donna Marie ( principal/drama teacher) cast me in that role was beyond my understanding. But as I grew and ventured deeper into the world, deeper into myself - it slowly became obvious that her decision was two-fold. One, she sought to move me out of my comfort zone(I was notoriously shy) by placing me in a situation that I never would have vied for because frankly, I wasn't confident that I had the chops to pull it off. Secondly, I think and more importantly, by casting a Black girl in the role of a factual person - a white man no less, a white saint (well at least that's how he's always been portrayed) she was not only taking a stance but making a bold and direct statement.Oh, I think I should mention that I attended a predominately white, all girls boarding school and when I say predominately white - I mean in all four years I was there, there were never more than six girls of color at any given time. White-white -- snow white - not as white as the 2016 Oscars - but close.Anyway, I walked away from that experience a new person. It raised my confidence level 50 ticks and prepared me for part of what I do today, 30% of which is addressing large audiences.
Another thing that comes to mind when I think about that moment in my life is Viola Davis' speech from the 2015 Emmy Awards: "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity."Sr. Donna Marie gave me the opportunity and I shone..

So maybe it's not my Black Girl Magic that makes folk nervous, maybe it's the fear that my light will cast them into the shadows.


Bernice L. McFadden

Video Book Review of Gathering of Waters.....(this made me smile)

Bernice L. McFadden