Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 118

meet Adebe D.A.

Since April is National Poetry Month, it's fitting that I should introduce you to a fellow Canadian writer, Adebe D.A. Her first book of poetry, ex nihilo, comes out this month and she graciously agreed to share some of her insights and experiences with us.

1.  Tell us a little bit about your childhood, in particular the kind of books you read (at home and in school) and your family's attitude toward literature/storytelling/the arts.
Since I was a kid, I've been inspired by life as it...

get over it?

Today is the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.  I've already written about Timothy McVeigh on this blog (see my post on Teens & Terrorism), and over at The Huffington Post.  Tonight MSNBC is releasing taped interviews with McVeigh in which he insists, among other things, that parents and grandparents mourning the loss of their children ought to just "get over it."  Nineteen of the 168 victims were children…and yesterday former President Bill Clinton expressed the fear many of us ...

official pardon

One of the advantages of looking up Canadian books that feature black protagonists is that I found out about Viola Desmond—a Nova Scotian woman who dared to sit in the whites-only section of a movie theatre in 1946.  She was jailed and fined for "tax evasion," and died more than 40 years ago, but she recently received an official pardon from the province's black lieutenant-governor, Mayann Francis.  You can read more about the pardon and apology here.  I think it's interesting that Desmond...

be who you are

That's my mantra, generally.  I also keep this quote by e.e. cummings on my wall:

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting.

Sometimes the battle isn't just against conformity, it's against pressure to serve as someone else's mascot—Neesha pointed me to this article in The Nation about Obama's decision to check "Black" on his census form. It's an o...

TBD

Even though it's marked on my calendar, I completely forgot that today was the Teen Book Drop!  For complete details, swing by readergirlz…and don't forget to "drop" a book somewhere in your community AND buy books to fulfill the wishes of Navajo and Apache students in Arizona and New Mexico.

give & get

There's a mega-giveaway going on over at Cleverly Inked—you could win one of several gift packs filled with YOUR choice of books and all kinds of swag…

There's also a fundraising effort underway by the Build the Dream team—if you'd like to support the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in D.C., stop by their "micro-site" to learn more about all the ways you can help.

tea time

I had planned to go shopping yesterday so that I could show up at my book talk wearing something spring-y and cute…but I was tired yesterday, so I dug through my closet and wore whatever I found there.  I hate shopping, but when you're giving a talk to teachers, you want to look artsy yet respectable.  I arrived early, had some mint tea (which was being served by a member of the Twinings family!), and then played a new board game with Susan, a librarian.  Mingling isn't what I do best, so...

free speech

I didn't wake up with a migraine today, but I am a little under the weather…I'm not used to talking much—are all writers like that?  I'm used to spending most of my time alone, in my head, though I love hanging out with friends.  Trouble is, I usually need time to "recover" from my limited social outings, and this weekend I had to be "on" all the time.  But it was *so* worth it!  I remember my sister once suggested that I join a runners group, and I replied, "Why would I do that?  I don't...

Empire state of mind…

This was a full weekend!  On Saturday I took the train up to Albany for the Empire State Book Festival, and the next day Lyn and I drove down to Philly for the Mt. Airy Book Festival.  On Saturday we had a large crowd—more than 50 people!  And all copies of Wish were sold, I think.  In Philly, we had a much smaller turnout but it was still a lovely, sunny day and I got to spend time with my friend, Marie–and Neesha, Lyn, and Gbemi!  Many thanks to all the folks who worked so hard to make...

Crown Heights Oral History Project

A while back I had the opportunity to meet with the lovely young women who are part of the Crown Heights Oral History Project.  Yesterday three teens were shot in Crown Heights, so it's heartening to see these teens honoring the community's elders under the guidance of coordinator, Alex Kelly:

About Our Project

WHAT? We will record over 60 conversations between us and people who have lived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn for over 15 years. We plan to donate these interviews to Brooklyn Historical...