Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 120

Conversations Live!

Many thanks to Cyrus Webb for taking the time to chat with me on Blog Talk Radio.  You can listen to our half-hour segment here.

teaching Wish

A friend of mine teaches in a program in Michigan that serves young men who have been suspended from high school.  She was determined to use Wish in her classroom, and today she sent me an update:

By the way, 15 "bad boys" are enthralled with A Wish After Midnight…We are currently reading it!  They keep saying…"Damn, are you sure she doesn't live in Flint?"…THIS BOOK IS FABULOUS AND RIGHT ON TIME WITH HOOKING YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE….

I WANT TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR BOOK...

Bayou

Have you read Bayou yet?  If not, either buy Volume 1 or visit the Zuda website and read the whole thing online!  Then stop by The Bottom of Heaven and join our conversation—we're up to page 174.  What does magic mean to you?  A rabbit pulled out of a hat? A rabbit's foot in your pocket for good luck? or do you think of Brer Rabbit, the trickster figure from African American folklore…

down time

Meant to attend a symposium at NYU today, but got down there and basically turned around and came back home (after picking up some Indian food!).  Need some head space after a fairly full week.  I've just started reading Joseph Bruchac's March Toward the Thunder, and on the 10th page there's a list of Civil War battles: "Shiloh, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg."  Then as I wove my way through Manhattan's grid, I came up the block and saw a similar list of battles...

new interviews

Neesha Meminger has a great two-part interview with Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich over at her blog—stop by and hear the rather profound reasoning behind 8th Grade Super Zero. Below is my interview with sci-fi writer and new publisher, Veronica Henry.  Her anthology, Bloodlines, is available now and boasts contributors from across the African diaspora (and two five-star reviews so far!).  I asked Veronica to share her motivation for sponsoring a short story contest for black writers across...

Pumzi

Nnedi Okorafor just posted this article about a Kenyan sci-fi film on the Carl Brandon Society listserv—if you're interested in sci-fi stories coming out of Africa, check out Pumzi:

PUMZI (the Kiswahili word for breath,) is a dystopian film set in South Africa and Kenya. The story follows an East African woman as she leaves her isolated community 35 years after World War III to plant a seed in the barren earth that has been plagued by drought and deforestation. In her vision of the future...

keep Haiti in your heart

Haiti no longer makes the news every day, but that doesn't mean you can't still donate to the recovery effort and educate yourself about the historical circumstances that produced such desperate poverty.  Here's a brief history of Haiti, in case you need a refresher:

And did you know that Ari's reviewing books about Haiti all this week?  Stop by Reading in Color to learn more.  The mass rape of women and girls in the Congo is another crisis that doesn't make the nightly news.  My fellow...

National Black Writers Conference 2010

There's a great write-up in the NY Times about this week's National Black Writers Conference at nearby Medgar Evers College.  I'm presenting as part of the children's program on Thursday morning, but I'm not sure if it's open to the public; we were expecting 400 students, which would suggest a full house, but now things have changed.  So if you're on campus, do swing by and say hello!  There are tons of amazing authors on panels, giving readings, paying tribute to Amiri Baraka and Toni...

Millie Eckstine

This week I have three 45-minute poetry writing workshops with a group of local 5th graders—the BPL asked me to prepare the kids for an upcoming tribute to Shel Silverstein.  I have to say, until this past weekend, I'd never read any of Silverstein's work!  My friend Kate shared one of his stories with me years ago, but I have to say—I'm not a silly/goofy kind of girl.  And you have to have a strong sense of whimsy to appreciate these poems, so…today I came out of my shell and acted out...

Southern hospitality

I arrived in Baton Rouge, LA about three weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast…it was a turbulent, traumatic time for many of my students at LSU–especially those who had to leave their colleges in New Orleans and start over in a new city with next to nothing.  I had been warned by another faculty member that Louisiana was a whole other world, and it didn't take long to realize he was right!  But one of the things I love about travel is the opportunity to meet new people with...