Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 117
April 28, 2010
Ezra Jack Keats Awards 2010
Tonight's award ceremony was a lot of fun! Congrats to the two winners: Taeeun Yoo and Tonya Cherie Hegamin. And thanks to the other authors and illustrators who posed for pictures and my (in)famous short films…
Cheryl Willis Hudson, Shadra Strickland, and Javaka Steptoe
Tonya Cherie Hegamin with Dr. Brenda Greene
Tae signing her beautiful book, Only A Witch Can Fly
the signature shot…
woman's work
Thanks to Claudia for posting this link on Facebook: Pop Culture Shock blog shared this link about Nicole Mitchell, a Chicago jazz musician and composer who has written a tribute to Octavia Butler….
Also, a lot of people have defined her, as well as jazz musician Sun Ra, as "Afrofuturists"–people who took this idea of "intergalactic" music–music that reached back into ancient times and then reached forward and beyond what had ever been done before. That's a concept I've also embraced as a...
April 27, 2010
April 26, 2010
news
Another rainy day…I'm just back from giving a talk to Dr. Brenda Greene's class at Medgar Evers College—I really appreciated their warm welcome on a cold, wet night! Earlier today Cheryl Hudson kindly sent me an email with details about PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. You can find the entire schedule here. I'm planning to attend Thursday evening's event:
THURSDAY, APRIL 29
7 p.m. A Gathering of Voices
Participants: David Almond, Francisco X. Stork, Janne Teller, and Ed...
April 25, 2010
same old, same old
When I heard Nightline was hosting a "special report" on black women and marriage, I *knew* I would not be tuning in…I'm too through with this topic, especially when the so-called experts are actually Steve Harvey and Jimi Izrael. But Melissa Lacewell-Harris said it best:
Despite its role as a news program, Nightline failed to call on any sociologists, psychologists, historians or therapists who could have contributed context, statistics or analysis about the "marriage crisis" among African...
April 23, 2010
loyalty & betrayal
Whoa…I just read something extraordinary: "We are not your weapons—we are women." I found this article on the Crunk Feminist Collective's blog, and had to keep reading when the journalist admitted she was raped in Haiti after vowing to refute news reports that Haitian men were brutalizing women in that country. Her impulse was to protect the image of "brothers" who are so often maligned…but how do you defend behavior that is indefensible? I was already thinking about misplaced loyalty...
April 22, 2010
It's Earth Day!
Show DIRT some love today—without it, our planet and our future are lost…if you liked Food, Inc., then you need to see DIRT! The Movie…where else, but on PBS!
April 21, 2010
focus, people
Privilege is "tricksy," and so it's not always easy to identify just when and how it's operating. If you want a recent example, stop by Debbie Reese's blog, American Indians in Children's Literature. Debbie discovered a 2008 interview in which author Neil Gaiman made some rather careless remarks; he responded to her post, and admitted that he misspoke. He didn't exactly apologize, but he made it clear that that was not what he intended to say. We all fumble with words now and then, so I s...
April 20, 2010
guess what?
We just sold the foreign rights to Wish…in Turkey! I suppose it's more accurate to say that Amazon's subrights agent made the deal, but the Turkish publisher did contact me first…we also heard from an agency in South Korea, but so far that hasn't panned out. It's exciting, but also a little nerve-wracking—how do you know the translation's accurate? What kind of cover will they design? If publishers here in the US screw up covers, what are the chances they'll get it right overseas? ...
