Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 49

Black Comic Book Festival 2015

Today was AMAZING! I’ll probably have to blog tomorrow but for now I’m going to try to embed some of the photos folks posted on Twitter…

#BlackComicFestNYC panel on the publishing industry: John Jennings, @zettaelliott, Tim Fielder, & @BlackjackAD. pic.twitter.com/rAVBM95wzY

— Mel (@melissablemur) January 17, 2015

Tim Fielder, @JIJennings @zettaelliott, and Alex Simmons talking self publishing @SchomburgCenter #blackcomicfestnyc pic.twitter.com/hrSOmrgTEU

— Jonathan W. Gray (@elmcitytree) January 17, 2015

.@zettaelliott is my new favorite person in the world. #BlackComicFestNYC pic.twitter.com/EGzmApGgPf

— Jordan M Calhoun (@jordanmcalhoun) January 17, 2015

.@zettaelliott & @JIJennings talking about her 'freaks & geeks' trilogy @SchomburgCenter #blackcomicfestnyc pic.twitter.com/qzbIYJDrkc

— Jonathan W. Gray (@elmcitytree) January 17, 2015

about my rights

I’m looking for a way to quote June Jordan in my unfinished essay that’s due this month. I searched for a poem I thought I’d read—“Breathing Room”—but realized I had misremembered it. Living Room is Jordan’s 1985 collection that includes the poem “Moving Towards Home:”

…I need to speak about home

I need to speak about living room

where the land is not bullied and beaten into

a tombstone

I need to speak about living room

where the talk will take place in my language

I need to speak about living room

where my children will grow without horror

I need to speak about living room where the men

of my family between the ages of six and sixty-five

are not

marched into a roundup that leads to the grave

I need to talk about living room

where I can sit without grief without wailing aloud

for my loved ones

where I must not ask where is Abu Fadi

because he will be there beside me

I need to talk about living room

because I need to talk about home

I was born a Black woman

and now

I am become a Palestinian

against the relentless laughter of evil

there is less and less living room

and where are my loved ones?

It is time to make our way home.

I usually feel safe at home and I spend a lot of time here. But on Monday the handyman who lives with his family in the basement of my building blindsided me in the nearby bodega with a kiss to the cheek. I was horrified—and disgusted—and yet I didn’t hit him or curse him out. I recovered enough to accept his thanks for the end-of-year tip I slid under his door over the holidays. Then I walked out of the store fuming, furious, and fed up. Almost a year ago this same Black man did something else inappropriate and unwanted; once again, I was shocked and simply avoided him for a long while. He was *in* my apartment at the time—in my bedroom plastering the wall. And even though I knew the answer, I wondered why he felt he had the right to put his hands on me. I’m friendly with everyone in my building—my neighbors, the doormen, the porter, the Super. And NO ONE has ever touched me. I’m not to blame, I know that, but I keep thinking that maybe if I’d said something then—maybe if I’d reported it to the management company or threatened to—he wouldn’t have felt he could walk up without warning and put his lips on me this week. I’m getting upset again as I type this and I hope I can channel this rage into The Return, but male entitlement isn’t fictional and far more serious assaults against women take place every minute of every day in this world. And I hate to admit it, but I guess I’ve been lucky. I’m 42 and I can only think of one other time when I had to deal with something like this. When a white guy in college grabbed my ass on the dance floor my freshman year, my football player friends took care of it for me. They demanded an apology, I got it, and then I went home. I was one of just two or three Black girls at my college and I’m sure that had something to do with why *I* was assaulted by that white guy. And the male friends who menaced him into an apology were white, too—and they would never have assaulted a woman that way. I think. Which is why they were my friends. I don’t have many men in my life these days and that’s a deliberate decision that lowers my stress levels. Occasionally I see friends posting warnings on their Facebook feed: “Make one more sexist comment and you WILL be deleted.” I don’t have those kinds of comments in my feed because I don’t have those kinds of men in my online community. And I guess I should be glad that this incident has upset me so much—if this happened to me more often, I’d be “used to it.” I work almost exclusively with women and the few men I encounter on school visits are exceedingly polite because I’m their guest. And they’re professional—and decent. And there are almost always kids around; maybe they know there would be consequences if they disrespected me. I haven’t yet decided whether I want to write a letter and inform the co-op board. As usual, I’m partly worried about “making trouble” for this handyman: he’s Black and the board is all-white. I don’t owe him anything and the next day I did tell him—in front of his boss—not to ever touch me again. But now I don’t want to be anywhere near him and THIS IS MY HOME. This is the space where I’m supposed to feel safe and at ease. When you’re a woman, where is your living room if not at home?

Back to my essay. “I can’t breathe…”

see you Saturday!

I hope you’ll join us in Harlem on Saturday for the 3rd Annual Black Comic Book Festival at the Schomburg. I’ll be on the publishing panel at 11:45am but will arrive early to I can catch the film that starts at 10:15am. There will be lots of vendors, I’ll have a few books to sell, and there are sure to be at least a few cosplayers dressed as their favorite Black comics characters! John Jennings and Jerry Craft have worked hard to make this event happen, and if you’re on the west coast, there will be another fantastic comics event on MLK Day in San Francisco. Here’s the full schedule for January 17:

10:00 am – 7 pm Doors open to the public (Free Admission)

(Langston Hughes Auditorium)

10:15 – 11:45 am

Screening: “Brave New Souls: Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers of the 21st Century” A film by Brandon Easton (Running time 1:02)

12:00 – 1:15 pm PANEL #1

PUBLISHER’S PANEL:

Moderated by John Jennings: Artist / Educator / Publisher (Kid Code)

Zetta Elliott: Author / Educator / Publisher (The Deep)

Alex Simmons: Author / Educator / Publisher (Blackjack)

Tim Fielder: Animator / Educator / Publisher (Matty’s Rocket)

2:00 – 2:30 pm Tribute #1 pm

Tribute to Morrie Turner and Brumsic Brandon

Moderated by Tara Nakashima Donahue

2:30- 3 pm Tribute #2 pm

Honoring Mshindo Kuumba

Moderated by Jerry Craft

3:15 – 4:45 pm PANEL #2

CONTROLLING OUR IMAGES:

Moderated by Regine Sawyer: Author / Publisher (Lockett Down Productions)

Mshindo Kuumba: Art Director / 2D Lead Artist / Visual Artist

Grey Williamson: Artist / Author

Robert Garrett: Writer / Publisher (Xmoor Studios)

Alithia Martinez: Artist / Author

5:00 – 6:00 PM PANEL #3

COMICS and BEYOND:

Moderated by Jerry Craft: Author/Artist/Publisher (Mama’s Boyz)

Aren Craft: Author (The Offenders-Middle Grade Novel)

Jennifer Crute: Artist / Designer / Fine Artist (Jennifer’s Journal)

Jamar Nicholas: Artist / Educator (Leon: Protector of the Playground)

Chuck Collins: Artist / Animator / Voice Actor (Bounce)

(American Negro Theater)

2 pm – 3:00 pm

Youth Workshop: “Creating Your Own Comic Books” with Alex Simmons

first ten days

Words seem to have left me. I didn’t write a thing over the holidays, and so I am using the subzero temperatures as the excuse I need to stay indoors and get this essay done. So far I’ve only got one angry paragraph about the Daniel Handler incident and a commitment to this opening line: “I can’t breathe.” I hoped 2015 would be different—insert page break, please—but we seem to have picked up right where we left off. A white man allegedly bombed the NAACP office in Colorado but the US media isn’t covering that act of terrorism (have you seen Selma yet?); they’re too consumed with the other act of terrorism in Paris, leaving many to ask—yet again—whose lives matter. I was anxious about teaching my diverse speculative fiction class at Pine Manor College, but I think it went well. Only three students registered but we had about 13 people in the end, and everyone seemed interested and invested in examining the power dynamics behind the writing and publication of spec fic. I miss teaching and so I’m glad I’ll be heading back into schools this month; I have 5 school visits booked so far, and I’ll be on the publishing panel at the Schomburg’s 3rd Annual Black Comic Book Fair on January 17. Several friends are coming in from out of town and I know we will gather afterward to break bread and analyze the field. It’s always good to be around creative people who also view the world through a critical lens. Last night Dr. Ebony Thomas (@Ebonyteach) filled my inbox with Twitter notifications by sharing my list of 2014 African American MG & YA Novels. We didn’t reach 40 books for the year and yet YALSA suggests 3000 YA novels are published annually in the US. You do the math. But somehow when I publicize this depressing fact, it becomes a bit more bearable. Because I know I’m not the only one who’s pissed off, and I’m also not the only one working to create alternatives to the traditional publishing process. I was really impressed by how earnest and engaged the MFA students at Pine Manor College were; when people are confronted with injustice, often the first response is to look away or clam up, but these writers were more ready to fight than flee. Later that evening I gave a reading from A Wish After Midnight and enjoyed hearing work by the program’s full-time faculty, Robert Lopez and Laura Williams McCaffrey. A couple of Canadian students came up afterward and we compared the prospects for writers here in the US and in the Great White North. Then I was called upstairs to sign copies of my books, which apparently sold out in a flash. It was COLD in Boston, but everyone involved with the Solstice program was warm and welcoming; Anne-Marie Oomen cooked dinner for the faculty and loaned me a sweater when she saw me shivering in the lounge, and the way things ran so smoothly was clearly due to the amazing organizational skills of Meg Kearney and Tanya Whiton. We’re only ten days into the new year and it’s clear there are challenges ahead, but as the Buddhist proverb reminds us, “the obstacle is the path.” Sometimes we just have to focus on moving forward…

2014 African American MG & YA Fiction

It’s that time of year again! How many Black-authored middle grade and young adult novels were published in the US in 2014? Let’s find out. If I’ve missed any titles, please leave additions in the comments. Thanks to Edith Campbell for keeping a list of diverse titles on her blog.

1. Fake ID by Lamar Giles; Amistad

2. Beware of Boys (Charley’s Epic Fiascos) by Kelli London; Kensington

3. The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods; Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin)

4. STAT #5: Most Valuable (Stat: Standing Tall and Talented); Amar’e Stoudemire; Scholastic MG

5. When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds; Atheneum Books for Young Readers

6. Catfish by Nina Foxx; Brown Girl Publishing

7. How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson; Dial Books

8. Game World by C. J. Farley; Akashic/Black Sheep

9. Willow by Tonya Cherie Hegamin; Candlewick

10. Promise of Shadows by Justine Ireland; Simon and Schuster

11. A Matter of Souls by Denise Lewis Patrick; Carolrhoda Press

12. Pointe by Brandy Colbert; Putnam Juvenile

13. Truth or Dare (Rumor Central #4) by Reshonda Tate Billingsley; Kensington

14. The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson; Arthur A. Levine

15. Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn; St. Martin’s Griffin

16. Tales From A Not-So-Glam TV Star (Dork Diaries) by Rachel Renée Russell; Aladdin

17. Put Your Diamonds Up (Hollywood High) by NiNi Simone and Amir Abrams; K Teen Press

18. Kinda Like Brothers by Coe Booth; Scholastic MG

19. Knockout Games by Greg Neri; Carolrhoda Books

20. A New Beginning: My Journey with Addy by Denise Lewis Patrick, American Girl MG

21. The Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrick Henry Bass and Jerry Craft; Scholastic

22. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson; Nancy Paulsen Books

23. Dork Diaries 8: Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After by Rachel Renee Russell; Aladdin

24. How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon; Henry Holt and Co.

25. On A Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers; Crown Books for Young Readers

26. The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney; Scholastic Press

27. The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis; Scholastic

28. The Unstoppable Octobia May by Sharon G. Flake

29. Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson; Arthur A. Levine

30. You’re all I Want For Christmas by Earl Sewell, Candid Ferrer and Deidre Berry; Kimani Tru

31. Tales from a Not So Happily Ever After (Dork Diaries) by Rachel Renee Russell; Alladin

32. Make Something of It by Stephanie Perry Moore; Lerner Group

33. Caught Up by Amir Abrams; KTeen

34. The Perfect Place by Theresa E. Harris; Clarion Books

35. Lights, Love & Lip Gloss by Amir Abrams and Ni Ni Simone; K-Teen

36. The Contract by Derek Jeter and Paul Mantell; Jeter Publishing

 

 

Children’s Book Writers Conference

Do you know about Kweli Journal? It’s celebrating its 5th birthday and I recently heard from its founder, Laura Pegram, who let me know she’s planning a tribute to the late Walter Dean Myers at her upcoming children’s book writers conference. She also shared this message on Facebook:

All things considered, we had a sweet year. Three Kweli authors secured literary agents as a direct result of either participating in our Kweli Scholars Program and/or by attending our Annual Writers Conference. This past March, we hosted our first book party at La Casa Azul Bookstore for Wise Latinas, Writers on Higher Education. In July, we expanded our Annual Writers Conference with events throughout the city. Our first NYSCA grant made it possible to bring on three guest editors this year for our Summer, Fall and Winter issues. In October 2014, Kweli was part of BinderCon’s inaugural conference at NYU.

2015 promises to be another spectacular year for us! The highlight of the year will be our April 23, 2015 program at The Schomburg Center: Words and Images (working title) with NIKKY FINNEY, RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS and PARNESHIA JONES. It would be the first gathering of its kind in celebration of black women and the southern landscape. And it will include a NYC preview of Rachel’s Fall 2015 folio book and exhibition at University of Mississippi Museum. Rachel spent about 2 months photographing black women in Oxford, Mississippi this past summer, in and around the William Faulkner Estate, including photographs within the cabin of Callie Barr Clark (1840 – 1940).

2015 will be one of our best years yet!

LOOKING FORWARD to 2015

Children’s Book Writers Conference

January 21, 2015 5-9PM

Poet’s Den Theater, 309 E 108th Street NY, NY

This will be an excellent opportunity to learn, get inspired and network with others in the community. The evening will include author readings, panel discussions, one-on-one pitch sessions and a reception.

Featured guests include: Tracey Baptiste, Sulay Hernandez, Cheryl Willis Hudson, Charles Johnson, Elisheba Johnson, Cheryl Klein, Daniel José Older, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Danette Vigilante, Stacy Whitman, Leila Gómez Woolley, Sara Woolley and Phoebe Yeh

More information here.

Donate to Kweli here.

 

looking ahead to 2015

I don’t really make resolutions but I do make a list of things I hope to achieve in each new year. I met most of my goals for 2014 and have started thinking about the ways I need to grow in 2015. I’ll be trying a few new things in January—for the first time I’ll be teaching a creative writing class to graduate students at Pine Manor College during their winter residency, and I’ll also be co-facilitating a breakout session at Midwinter ALA in Chicago. If you’re going to be there, too, please let me know! We’re planning a dinner and/or brunch for PoC and allies. Here’s the official press release:

CHICAGO — The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), in collaboration with the Children’s Book Council (CBC), will be hosting a Day of Diversity: Dialogue and Action in Children’s Literature and Library Program on Jan. 30, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

This invitation-only event will bring together leaders in children’s literature and literacy to discuss strategies for ensuring that all children have access to diverse literature and library programming. The Keynote address at the Day of Diversity will be given by Dr. Camila Alire, ALA Past President (2009-2010).

“The importance of ensuring that our children have access to literature that reflects the diversity and common plurality of our world cannot be overstated,” said ALSC President Ellen Riordan. “By bringing librarians, publishers, authors, book sellers, educators and nonprofit leaders together for the Day of Diversity we’ll have a chance to openly discuss strategies in which we can all work together to better serve and support our children.”

“CBC Diversity has been a leader in bringing the conversation about diversity in children’s books and publishing to the forefront over the last three years,” said Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children’s Book Council & Every Child a Reader. “It’s now time to move from talk to action and we are looking forward to seeing what can happen when the various constituencies, all focused on the needs and interests of children, work together. We are grateful to ALSC for spearheading this important move forward.”

Those attending the 2015 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting are invited to learn more about the Day of Diversity and to lend their own voice during the Diversity Matters: Stepping it Up With Action! News You Can Use session. This session will be held from 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. CST on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015 in McCormick Place West W183b. Additionally, ALSC will also be hosting at least two online community forums or webinars in the months following the Day of Diversity; in order to ensure that the Day of Diversity discussion and outcomes are presented to a broader audience.

The Day of Diversity is funded in large part through the Everyone Reads @ your library grant awarded to the Association for Library Service to Children by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Other sponsors include the Chicago Public Library and Friends of ALSC.

About the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)

ALSC, a division of the ALA, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit ALSC’s website at http://www.ala.org/alsc.

About the Children’s Book Council

The Children’s Book Council (CBC) is the nonprofit trade association for children’s book publishers in North America, with members spanning from large international houses to smaller independent presses. The CBC offers children’s publishers the opportunity to work together on issues of importance to the industry at large, including educational programming, literacy advocacy, and collaborations with other national organizations. The CBC is proud to partner with other national organizations on co-sponsored reading lists, educational programming, and literacy initiatives. Please visit www.cbcbooks.org for more information.

About Dollar General Stores

Dollar General Corporation has been delivering value to shoppers for 75 years. Dollar General helps shoppers Save time. Save money. Every day!® by offering products that are frequently used and replenished, such as food, snacks, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, house wares and seasonal items at low everyday prices in convenient neighborhood locations. With more than 11,500 stores in 40 states, Dollar General has more retail locations than any retailer in America. In addition to high quality private brands, Dollar General sells products from America’s most-trusted manufacturers such as Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo. For more information on Dollar General, please visit www.dollargeneral.com.

Looking Back at 2014!

This photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

the story of Christmas

I love Christmas and each year I look forward to reviving those traditions that make me feel festive—and creative. For the past three years I’ve written straight through the holidays. Last year I wrote Fox & Crow, which is now available online (you can try ordering it from your favorite bookstore in a couple of days). It was inspired, in part, by the PBS special “Christmas in Yellowstone.” I fell in love with the red fox in that Nature special and was thrilled when Babs Webb recreated the hunting scene for the first illustration in our book. I used to say that almost everything I wrote could be traced back to PBS, but Fox & Crow: A Christmas Tale was also inspired by two videos that were posted by friends on Facebook. One showed a little fox approaching two hunters or soldiers for help getting a jar off his head, and the other showed a crow using the lid of a jar to sled down a snowy rooftop. To bring the animals together I thought about Aesop’s famous fable and imagined their rivalry continuing in a contemporary North American suburb; Babs lives in Colorado so her illustrations reflect that landscape. Fox and Crow fear humans and generally hold them in contempt, but on Christmas Eve, the two creatures encounter members of a family that has been touched by illness. Here’s the summary:

Fox and Crow are old friends who enjoy trying to outsmart one another. One winter evening, mischievous Crow plays a trick that leaves Fox with his head stuck in an empty jar! Instead of helping her friend, Crow flies off to have an adventure in town. Humbled by his embarrassing predicament, Fox must also leave the safety of the forest to search for help. Both creatures know from experience that humans can be wasteful and cruel, but on this special night, Fox and Crow see humans in a new light after they each bring joy to members of a family whose holiday spirit has been dimmed by illness.

Inspired by actual events, Fox & Crow: A Christmas Tale is a contemporary take on Aesop’s beloved fable.

Babs and I discussed how to represent the family in terms of race, and we decided to make them interracial. I don’t think I ever saw a mixed-race family like my own in the books I read as a child, so I’m happy to have one represented so beautifully in my Christmas book. I’m re-reading Dickens’ A Christmas Carol now; every Christmas Eve I watch the 1951 black and white film version starring Alistair Sim. Every Christmas I watch The Fellowship of the Ring, though this year I may go see the final installment of The Hobbit instead. There will be egg nog. My Xmas baking has begun. All I need now is a little bit of snow…

Illustration by Babs Webb

claiming space

Thousands of New Yorkers hit the streets on Saturday for a massive protest march against police brutality. I wanted to be there with them, but we had other, equally important work to do in Bed-Stuy. Ibi Zoboi organized a fantastic reading by four Black women writers, and the young members of her Brooklyn Blossoms Book Club represented the younger generation by reading from Brown Girl Dreaming and asking their own thoughtful questions to kick off the Q&A. The room was packed and on the gallery walls hung the beautiful black and white photographs of Black girls from throughout the diaspora taken by Delphine Fawundu. Before the event began at noon we had a chance to see some of the talented young people who performed for Restoration’s holiday show; Tonya, Renee, and I said a few words to them about the importance of literacy, and I got to hand out some of my books to eager young readers. Before the reading began there was time to catch up with fellow authors Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Lyn Miller-Lachmann; we talked about the challenge of earning a living as an artist, and then Jackie arrived and we took our places. I recently wrote a guest post over at Madhuri Blaylock’s blog about the relative silence around Black women’s victimization; the specific challenges we face rarely get the attention they deserve, but yesterday the voices of Black women and girls were heard loud and clear. You can find a terrific write-up over at Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s blog. There are some fantastic photos of the day, too, but I can’t seem to upload any right now so check out the great shots Lyn took or visit the event page on Facebook to see the photos taken by Melissa Blemur. I met Melissa on Twitter a few months ago along with two Canadian expats, Heather and Hazel, and it was great to finally meet them on Saturday! My butter tarts were a hit, I sold half of my books, and went home feeling grateful for the chance to share my work with readers and future writers. I read from An Angel for Mariqua for the first time and think it was well-received. Yesterday I dropped off ten copies for the kids Xmas party at Rikers this week. I hope all the dolls and books bring some comfort and hope to kids who miss their mothers all year round but especially around the holidays. We are here. We’re claiming space and insisting that our stories are told…