Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 111

for our daughters

Yesterday I was interviewed for an upcoming film, For Our Daughters.  When the producer, Eric McKay, asked me to participate—I tried to get out of it!  I've never been in a film, and after watching the above clip with its reference to the matriarchy MYTH, I was pretty sure my opinion as a black feminist wouldn't really be valued.  But Eric persisted, and I finally agreed, and the lovely Deloris McCullough offered us some space in the beautiful youth wing of the BPL's central branch.  I seem t...

The UK Publishing Equalities Charter

During our panel at the Harlem Book Fair, I talked about the UK Publishing Equalities Charter, which is our best chance (I think) for reversing the widespread inequity in the US publishing industry.  I was hoping to interview Shelina Permalloo, Development Manager at DIPNET, but someone beat me to it so I'm going to share this link instead.  Go there to read the entire interview, and read below to get a sense of how this charter would work:

How did DIPNET get started?

DIPNET was established in...

summer pix

Friday started out strong: I ran some errands and then got to Penn Station in time to meet Edi (right) and Doret (center)—two of my favorite bloggers and longtime online friends!  They were in town for the National Diversity in Libraries Conference at Princeton University; visit Amy's SLJ blog to learn more.  This was our first time meeting in person, but as we talked about books over lunch at Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too in Harlem, I felt like we'd known each other forever…next stop: Hue-Man...

hands ON!

Yesterday was my workshop at the Studio Museum in Harlem—it was expertly-organized with lots of employees in red Target t-shirts on hand to make sure everything flowed smoothly.  But what impressed me most were the parents who showed up in force, determined to expose their children to books and art.  In some ways it seems like a no-brainer: we're stuck in an endless heat wave; you've got little ones who need to be kept cool AND entertained….so why not come out to the local air-conditioned...

week's end

This has been quite a week–teaching in the evening, grading in the daytime, sleeping on the train, and in between worrying about my students.  How do you *really* prepare someone for college?  I hope I wasn't too full of gloom and doom, but I did want to be honest and tell them the things no one told me before I ventured off to the snowy-white eastern townships of Quebec.  I arrived at that school, took one look around, and KNEW I had made a mistake.  I grabbed a journal and a pen, marched...

marching on…

Three interviews, two job offers, no job…yet I'm teaching a one-week writing course for first-year college students, and was gratified last night when one student said, "I wish you could teach at MY school, Miss!"  Don't know what the universe has in store for me, but it feels good to be back in the classroom, to be teaching the texts that I love, to hopefully be making an impact on these bright students who have so many questions, doubts, and expectations about college.  Ah, but there's...

join us in Harlem

network

One thing I love about the internet is that it allows you to build community *without* shmoozing in public.  I'm not especially good in social situations, and I wouldn't even dream of attending kidlit "drinks night," which happens every so often here in NYC.  It might be a great way to connect with other writers and editors, but it's not my scene.  I don't attend SCBWI conferences, either—so maybe I'm to blame for my limited success as a published author?  Orlando Patterson recently...

The Bluest Eye

Let me start with a couple of confessions: The Bluest Eye is not my favorite book.  Beloved was the first Toni Morrison novel I ever read, and with the exception of Song of Solomon, nothing else she has written even comes close to that masterpiece (for me, anyway).  So the second thing I need to admit is that when Claudia from The Bottom of Heaven invited me to join this blogger roundtable, I wanted to decline.  Reading The Bluest Eye is sort of like digging in an unhealed wound—pulling off t...

lost in translation

Ok, I've finished reading Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and strongly urge you to go get your copy NOW!  This isn't a new novel; it was first published in Japan in 1996, and is now a series of books, a show on Cartoon Network, and a manga series.  I'm new to manga and anime, so let me start with what I know best—a great novel.  Moribito is the story of Balsa, a child from Kanbal who is orphaned and forced into an arduous, nomadic life because of the treachery and ambition of princes in the ...