Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 81

get real

I have to say I was more than a little concerned when I saw the anti-Amazon vitriol on Facebook last week—especially when those angry sentiments were coming from people responsible for reviewing books for children. I wrote my own post about it, but I was thrilled when Debby Dahl Edwardson let me know that she had written an incredibly thoughtful post about Amazon's recent acquisition of Marshall Cavendish titles, including her own acclaimed novel —a National Book Award Finalist that is nonetheless hard to find in your local bookstore:

People can go ahead and say what they please about Amazon but at least they're not killing our books by not selling them. Amazon is very democratic this way: they sell everything. Yes, the move into publishing is a game changer. But then again, maybe the game needed changing.

I couldn't agree more. Right now our team is working on book recommendations for the Birthday Party Pledge site. Should we link each title to Amazon.com? Are consumers likely to find these great multicultural books for kids at their local big chain or indie bookstore? Probably not. I really wish people who are concerned with ethical business practices would have more to say about the institutional racism in traditional publishing that marginalizes so many important voices…

An article in The New York Times reports that math scores (on Department of Education standardized tests) have improved over the past twenty years but reading scores have stayed about the same:

Reading achievement, in contrast, reflects not only the quality of reading instruction in school classrooms, they said, but also factors like whether parents read to children and how much time students read on their own outside school. And many children in the United States are spending less time reading on their own.

Since 1992, reading scores have gone up but not by much; in 2011 only 34% of fourth grade students were proficient at reading:

"I'm disappointed but not surprised by these results," said Sharon Darling, founder of the National Center for Family Literacy, a group based in Kentucky that works to help parents support their children's educational efforts at home.  "Children spend five times as much time outside the classroom as they do in school, and our country has 30 million parents or caregivers who are not good readers themselves, so they pass illiteracy down to their children."

That's not the kind of legacy you want to leave behind. Stay tuned for the official launch of our literacy initiative…

Canada in a box

Happy Holidays! I love Xmas but I refuse to shop for presents; my family is blessed in many ways and I prefer to donate to a good cause rather than buy items my relatives don't truly need. I also enjoy spending Xmas on my own, which also hasn't made me too popular with my family. But as I always like to say, "There's family and there's people you're related to." Yesterday I received a lovely card from my cousin and her four kids; Ship of Souls is dedicated to her eldest boy, Kodie, and he messaged me on Facebook to let me know a package was on its way. Sure enough, it arrived yesterday as well and so this morning—for the first time in years—I sat down to open the presents under my little tree. I *love* that they sent me a kind of Canadian capsule—note the moose cookie (ok, it's probably a reindeer but we have a moose thing in Canada), the Toronto Maple Leaf pencils, the candy that you can't get down here (I don't think). Plus four groovy gel pens, a journal that's *perfect* for a lefty like me (I can't write in books with a spine), and a lovely scarf in my favorite colors…plus the card had numerous penguin stickers and a *fox* stamp (we love foxes! and notice how the post office printed "Santa" and "Père Noël" on it). So I'm feeling very festive right now and will head to the park soon before gluing myself to the laptop for a day of writing. Yesterday I was grading exams on the platform at Union Square and as the train pulled into the station, the woman next to me said, "Excuse me, aren't you the author of…" and she reached into her bag and pulled out a copy of Wish! Sometimes a series of small things can have a big impact…

take the pledge

Did you hear about the stampedes that took place all around the country over the release of $180 "retro" Air Jordans? I was already thinking about launching a new literacy initiative but this news prompted me to act sooner rather than later. According to a recent article in The Root, African American buying power is approaching $1.1 trillion. Target Market News breaks down the consumer data to show that in 2009, African Americans spent $321 million on books—that's a lot of money, but it's clear that a lot more money was spent on other goods and services (including $2.8 billion on non-alcoholic beverages). So how do we get people to invest more money in books? I'd love to poll all those people who lined up for sneakers last night and find out just how many books they have in their home. Because we know that having a home library increases a child's chance of succeeding in school. Buying sneakers is not an investment—buying books IS. But I'm not trying to guilt parents into surrendering their sneakers and video games or any of the other things on which they spend their disposable income. Instead I think we should take a "village" approach. If you know a child who's growing up without books, do something about it when that child's birthday rolls around. If you want to buy toys for your child, then ask your family and friends to buy books so that your child gets the best of both worlds. I'm hoping people will take the Birthday Party Pledge and commit to giving books as gifts for at least ONE year. I've set up a new site and we hope to do an official launch in 2012. Do you think we can convince people to take the pledge?

I'm thoroughly enjoying my low-consumption Christmas and hope you're enjoying the holidays, too!

time for Smugglivus!

It's that time of year again—rush over to The Book Smugglers and enjoy lots of great guest posts by authors and book bloggers. Today Doret from The Happy Nappy Bookseller shares her favorite titles of 2011 and the 2012 titles she's looking forward to most. Leave a comment about *your* favorite spec-fic writer of color and you can win the book of your choice!

making waves

…brave as winter roses…

I've been writing down bits of verse lately. Last month I went to the garden and saw a bright yellow rose named Obedience. That's a haiku waiting to happen, right? But I couldn't settle long enough to compose anything. Today in the garden I was contemplating the soft jade moss that grows between the cobblestones when I noticed that some rose bushes still have buds despite the chilly temperatures. Somehow that led to the above simile, though I don't quite know where to place it. I thought of Genna and the sequel to Wish that I haven't yet finished. I'm ready to start Nyla's book, but that's set in the summer. I wrote a grant for a book I want to write about my enslaved ancestors who bought their freedom and moved to Canada in 1820. And I've got an academic book—Magical Blackness—the proposal for which is due in January. So why have I spent the entire day planning yet another book set in the Caribbean? Last week I checked the price of a flight to Nevis and then last night I met Terry Boddie, a Nevisian artist who is part of "AQ/Art Quake," an exhibit in Brooklyn designed to "honor Haiti's history in artistic leadership, and address the impact of the January 12, 2010 earthquake." I was at the gallery to see my friend Gabrielle Civil's performance art/installation—you can watch some of it here—but I knew Terry was part of the exhibit and hoped to have a chance to speak with him. I very rarely meet people from Nevis. At the post office last week a woman revealed herself to be Nevisian but she was "going postal" at the moment so I chose not to introduce myself. She wanted to cash a check and three postal workers turned her away from their window because it was almost closing time and they didn't have enough cash on hand. She walked off muttering to herself (quite loudly) about how it was no wonder the postal service was facing bankruptcy. Then one black male clerk sent another customer after her; she came back to his window and handed him her check and ID but within seconds they started bickering…she claimed her taxes paid his salary; he insisted he paid more taxes than she did and then added, "And I was born here!" Which, understandably, set her off: "MY FATHER WAS BORN ON THE ISLAND WHERE THE FIRST TREASURY SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, WAS BORN! I AM PROUD TO BE WEST INDIAN!"

So am I. But I've got a lot of digging to do and outside of my immediate family, the Caribbean people I encounter generally see buried roots as no roots at all—you're a piece of flotsam adrift in the sea. But last night Terry talked about his connection to Nevis (where he spent the first fifteen years of his life) and how he sometimes uses hair in his work. "Because it's in your DNA," he said, "and your blood." What binds us to a particular place? And what gives us the right to call that place "home"? For me, I had to spend time in Brooklyn; I had to watch the seasons change and become part of the history of this place. I wrote about Brooklyn before I moved here, but I couldn't truly weave a compelling narrative until I knew the city intimately. I need to develop that kind of intimacy with Nevis, and meeting Terry last night gives me hope. To some, I will always be an outsider. But not to all. Maybe people from a small island are too accustomed to being dismissed to be dismissive themselves. Time to test the waters…

the end!

Of course, it's not the end really because I still have exams to mark and final grades to calculate and submit. And my throat is sore—again—which means I'm probably coming down with yet another cold. But today was lovely because I checked my mailbox on the way to work and found a little box from Edi—it was filled with delicious cookies, which I'm still munching on now! One of my students finished her exam and handed me a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers; another gave me a book of poetry. Others gathered around my desk and told me how much the class meant to them. What more could a professor ask for? I've printed out all the touching emails so that I have proof that my courses do have an impact on students. And I've asked about designing a new course for the fall…though it's hard to think that far ahead. For now I think I'd better make a cup of tea and hope this cold doesn't ruin my pre-Christmas-I've-still-got-baking-to-do weekend.

catching the spirit

I can feel myself slipping into dream mode. When I was a child I tried to watch The Hobbit on TV—for some reason I don't remember my older siblings being around, but I remember being so terrified of the scene with the spider that I ran from the room. When I woke at 5am on Saturday, I went to You Tube and tried to find that animated movie; turns out it was made in 1977 so I would have been around 5 years old. Bilbo looks familiar but I didn't remember it being a musical and everything else about the movie was foreign to me. Still, once I'd watched The Hobbit I moved on to the animated Lord of the Rings...and I was sorely tempted to pull out my LOTR trilogy—but that's for Xmas day. Instead I searched for The Phoenix and the Carpet but could only find snippets on You Tube and the full episodes were available on a download site that looked too shady to try. I'm getting ready to write, which means I'm thinking about my childhood and the ways I responded to magic then…and by "magic" I mean anything glowing, glittery,tinkly—Christmas is the season that has it all: ringing bells, shiny ornaments, twinkling lights, and stories that leave you starry-eyed. Of course, the semester hasn't ended yet so I'm trying to keep everything compartmentalized: baking, tree-trimming, grading, reading, shopping, and endless trips to the post office. Now it's off to the park for some exercise. These peanut butter cookies with kisses are *dangerous*….

the ARCs are in!

This is our second day of December rain but I'm still trying to feel festive—right now I'm baking cookies for my students and last night I hung my wreath on the front door. I also got a special delivery today—advance reader copies of my next novel! So far I've been presented with two covers and neither one fully captured the essence of Ship of Souls. It's an urban ghost story so the cover needs to be gritty yet magical…they're still working on it. In the meantime, this plain cover doesn't thrill me but I'll now be able to share the book with family and friends. If you're an educator or librarian or book blogger and you're already on my list, you should be getting your ARC in the next week or so (directly from the publisher). If we haven't met but you'd like to check the book out, just leave me a comment.

Amazon made a big announcement this week and the reactions have been interesting. If you like my writing and want to check out Ship of Souls, you should know that some booksellers are vowing never to sell any book published by Amazon. I respect the right of others to stand up for what they believe is right—I just wish we could generate as much outrage over the racism that excludes so many unique voices from the traditional publishing industry. I also can't help but wonder how many of those indie booksellers stock children's books by black authors. How many stock books by Lee & Low—can you find Bird in those stores? And how many are open to self-published authors? I want a publishing industry where readers and writers have options. When one door closes, you're not completely shut out because you can always try another. As I said in my acknowledgments:

I want to thank my agent, Faith Childs, who read the manuscript and responded with enthusiasm and encouragement. I also thank her for persisting in an industry where doors and minds are so often closed to writers like me.

Lastly I thank the AmazonEncore team for keeping their door open.

AQ/Art Quake

My good friend Gabrielle will be performing at this opening reception, and what better gift for the holidays than original art!

AQ/Art Quake Exhibit Opening Reception

Join Haiti Cultural Exchange on Friday, December 16th at the Five Myles Gallery at 6:00 PM for the latest event in our AQ/Art Quake collaboration!

AQ/ArtQuake is a group of 10 internationally known artists who have contributed to a portfolio of original contemporary prints available for collection. ArtQuake honors Haiti's history in artistic leadership and addresses the impact of the January 12, 2010 earthquake on the nation's visual art community. Read an essay by André Juste that captures the essence of the mission of the ArtQuake portfolio here.

The portfolios of ten original prints will be available for sale. Proceeds to benefit artists of Kolektif Atis Jakmèl (KOLAJ).   This collaboration has already raised and distributed $1,700.

Participating artists include:

Aurora de Armendi * Terry Boddie * Vladimir Cybil Charlier

Marlie Decopain * Scherezade Garcia * Klode Garoute * Rejin Leys
Cathy Mooses * Juana Valdes * Didier William

This evening will also feature a performance by Gabrielle Civil!

Gabrielle Civil is a black woman poet, conceptual and performance artist, originally from Detroit, MI. Over the last ten years, she has premiered over twenty original performance art works in the United States (Minneapolis, Chicago, NY), The Gambia, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Performance art from her 2008-2009 Fulbright project "In and Out of Place: Making Black Feminist Performance Art in Mexico" included "Muño (fantasía de la negrita)" (premiered at the Performagia Festival in Tlaxcala, Mexico) and "In and Out of Place" (premiered at Museo ex Teresa arte actual). Civil recently collaborated with Haitian artist Vladimir Cybil Charlier-Juste on the artist book Tourist Art and is a delegate for Ayiti Resurrect, a grass-roots organization helping to address "the psychological and spiritual healing of the survivors of the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti." Swallow the Fish, her critical/creative text on race, body and performance art, is currently in circulation for publication. She teaches at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. The aim of all her work is to open up space.

When: Friday, December 16th: 6-9 PM

Where: Five Myles Gallery (Google Map)

 558 St. John's Place

Brooklyn, NY 11238

Admission: Free. Please RSVP to regine@haiticulturalx.org

Come join us for HCX's last event of the year!

*We will have Haitian cremas, rhum punch, and paté*

gifts that keep on giving

If you don't already follow the Crunk Feminist Collective, you should! I've just started my holiday baking (check out my guest post over at Crazy Quilts) so I especially appreciated this recent post on feminist gift-giving practices:

This holiday I would like to actively engage in a more feminist practice of gift giving. I want to give presents that affect the people I love the way these presents have affected me. I don't want to just give presents: I want to give lasting memories.  Also, the less people I oppress, the better.

Some ideas I came up with:

Support local craft fairs and purchase hand made items by local [women] artists
Print one of your favorite photographs in black & white and frame it
A CD of all of the top ten songs on the radio the year your loved one was born
Spread the feminist love by giving a young adult a book written by a woman of color feminist author
Make a book of coupons with redeemable actions: hugs, chores, homemade dinners, back rubs, quickies, etc.
Compile a cookbook of your families' most cherished recipes and include a brief bio of every cook
Make a homemade calendar full of your favorite family photographs that highlights all the birthdays
Seeds, pots, and soil so that they can plant their favorite flowers or start their own vegetable garden
For the new parents: children's books that feature people of color
Dance classes
An autographed copy of your loved ones favorite book
Write their autobiography
Interview family members and ask them to share their favorite holiday memories, make a compilation and give everyone a copy
Make jars full of dry (organic) ingredients of their favorite cookies