Kibkabe Araya's Blog, page 36
May 9, 2019
Best-selling author Ann Patchett breathes digital detox lifestyle: Could it help your literary goals?
Plush Design Studio / Pexels
Award-winning novelist and indie bookstore owner Ann Patchett is on a media tour for her first children’s book Lambslide, but when she stopped at ABC’s Strahan & Sara, she described her lifestyle—a lifestyle that might benefit other writers and readers.
On Thursday’s telecast, host Michael Strahan posed the question of the day for the show’s guests and audience in the studio and at home: “Have you ever looked at social media and it’s made you jealous of something or what someone else doing or having?”
Gleaming, Ann—whose best-selling novels include Commonwealth and State of Wonder—seemed like she couldn’t wait to answer the question.
“I’m so glad you asked me this question because I have never once in my life looked at social media. I don’t have a cellphone. I’ve never sent a text. I don’t watch television. I’ve never seen this show.”
What? Though it’s a good idea to watch a TV show you will be on to promote your work, it’s so astonishing that someone well-known doesn’t have a smartphone or social media that Ann added she felt like she was surrounded by smartphone-addicted zombies when in public. Then Michael called her a “unicorn.” A segment for a book with the mention of zombies and unicorns is literary in nature. It even ended with Ann inviting Michael to sell his book, Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life, at her indie bookstore, Nashville’s Parnassus Books. Authors supporting authors with guaranteed book sales.
A digital detox is defined as a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world. Ann probably uses a computer for writing her novels and submitting them via email and cloud programs to her publisher, but living the partial digital detox life may spark creativity simply based on the time take-back component.
The average American dedicates 30% of leisure time to perusing the web, according to Digital Detox, while 67% of cellphone owners find themselves checking their device even when it’s not ringing or vibrating. The access to this information is deriving from a website, but that’s another philosophical conversation. (What are other ways to get publicity without a digital screen? By pigeon? Or snail mail the press release and pamphlets? Then that contributes to our paper overconsumption…)
How would time away from constant digital consumption affect your writing and reading goals?
May 6, 2019
The literary women of the Met Gala
Tonight’s 2019 Met Gala focused on “Camp: Notes on Fashion” with over-the-top glam with sequins and glitter, but some of the celebrities who arrived on the pink carpet know the written word. Though gala favorite and imprint manager Sarah Jessica Parker was absent this year due to her traveling schedule, here are some of the celebrities with books on their résumés.
Lupita Nyong’o
The Academy Award-winning Black Panther star recently announced she would be an author with the debut of her children’s book Sulwe about a young girl with the “skin the color of midnight” trying to overcome self-esteem and beauty issues in the face of colorism.
View this post on Instagram
@lupitanyongo Credit: Getty #metgala #met #metgala2019 #gala #themetgala
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 6:22pm PDT
Serena Williams
The tennis superstar told her story through 2010’s My Life: Queen of the Court and 2009’s On the Line with having numerous more titles dedicated to her.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 2:50pm PDT
Gabrielle Union
We’re Going to Need More Wine topped the 2017 memoirs that describes the actress’s rise to stardom from her humble beginnings from Northern California and Omaha, Nebraska to Hollywood.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by WHEREISTHEBUZZ (@whereisthebuzztv) on May 6, 2019 at 6:49pm PDT
Mindy Kaling
The Mindy Project star has a series of comedic memoirs Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and Why Not Me? She also starred in the Disney film version of Madeleine L’Engle‘s fantasy sci-fi novel A Wrinkle in Time alongside celebrity bookwomen Reese Witherspoon, the queen of adapting books into film and TV, and Oprah, the queen of transformative book clubs.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 3:38pm PDT
Janet Mock
The multiracial transgender activist has detailed her journey into becoming a woman through her memoirs, Surpassing Certainty and Redefining Realness.
View this post on Instagram
Janet Mock Credit: Getty #metgala #met #metgala2019 #gala #themetgala
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 4:51pm PDT
Ashley Graham
The plus-size supermodel and fashion expert turned author released A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like in 2017.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 3:17pm PDT
Lena Dunham
The co-creator and co-writer of the HBO drama also wrote her memoir Not That Kind of Girl. She shut down her popular e-zine Lenny Letter last year known for providing a digital platform for female writers and their works.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Guardian and Observer Fashion (@guardianfashion) on May 6, 2019 at 4:26pm PDT
Emma Roberts
The niece of Julia Roberts has grown from childhood actress to literary lover with her booky blog, Belletrist.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 5:33pm PDT
The Literary Women of the Met Gala
Tonight’s 2019 Met Gala focused on “Camp: Notes on Fashion” with over-the-top glam with sequins and glitter, but some of the celebrities who arrived on the pink carpet know the written word. Though gala favorite and imprint manager Sarah Jessica Parker was absent this year due to her traveling schedule, here are some of the celebrities with books on their résumés.
Lupita Nyong’o
The Academy Award-winning Black Panther star recently announced she would be an author with the debut of her children’s book Sulwe about a young girl with the “skin the color of midnight” trying to overcome self-esteem and beauty issues in the face of colorism.
View this post on Instagram
@lupitanyongo Credit: Getty #metgala #met #metgala2019 #gala #themetgala
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 6:22pm PDT
Serena Williams
The tennis superstar told her story through 2010’s My Life: Queen of the Court and 2009’s On the Line with having numerous more titles dedicated to her.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 2:50pm PDT
Gabrielle Union
We’re Going to Need More Wine topped the 2017 memoirs that describes the actress’s rise to stardom from her humble beginnings from Northern California and Omaha, Nebraska to Hollywood.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by WHEREISTHEBUZZ (@whereisthebuzztv) on May 6, 2019 at 6:49pm PDT
Mindy Kaling
The Mindy Project star has a series of comedic memoirs Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and Why Not Me? She also starred in the Disney film version of Madeleine L’Engle‘s fantasy sci-fi novel A Wrinkle in Time alongside celebrity bookwomen Reese Witherspoon, the queen of adapting books into film and TV, and Oprah, the queen of transformative book clubs.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 3:38pm PDT
Janet Mock
The multiracial transgender activist has detailed her journey into becoming a woman through her memoirs, Surpassing Certainty and Redefining Realness.
View this post on Instagram
Janet Mock Credit: Getty #metgala #met #metgala2019 #gala #themetgala
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 4:51pm PDT
Ashley Graham
The plus-size supermodel and fashion expert turned author released A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like in 2017.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 3:17pm PDT
Lena Dunham
The co-creator and co-writer of the HBO drama also wrote her memoir Not That Kind of Girl. She shut down her popular e-zine Lenny Letter last year known for providing a digital platform for female writers and their works.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Guardian and Observer Fashion (@guardianfashion) on May 6, 2019 at 4:26pm PDT
Emma Roberts
The niece of Julia Roberts has grown from childhood actress to literary lover with her booky blog, Belletrist.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Met Gala (@themetgalaofficial) on May 6, 2019 at 5:33pm PDT
May 2, 2019
Jenna Bush Hager picks ‘A Woman Is No Man’ for Today Show book club
Jenna Bush Hager / Instagram
Jenna Bush Hager has selected A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum for the Today Show book club’s May read. This will be the third book since the book club started in March with The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin.
“This book moved me like a book I haven’t read in a long time. It really moved me,” Hager announced Wednesday on the morning program. “It made me think about how women’s places have changed across all cultures, but it also taught me about things I didn’t know. So it’s a mystery, it’s a family saga, it’s a romance in ways, it’s dedication to family, and it’s also thematically about what books can do, what reading can do for families.”
Hager describes the suspenseful novel surrounding three generations of a Palestinian family, mostly focusing on the women, who are torn between their culture and how they want to live.
May 1, 2019
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine picks ‘From Scratch’ for May book
Reese Witherspoon / Hello Sunshine
I only knew that after five years of widowhood, I had a story inside that gnawed at me. And that, if I didn’t commit it to the page, I would suffer another kind of grief..And I wanted to share all that through a prism of food, with the island of Sicily as a central character. Strange as it may sound, I also wanted to write about lentils.
Reese Witherspoon’s book club, Hello Sunshine, has chosen From Scratch: A Memoir of of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by actress Tembi Locke as its May selection along with publishing a personal essay from the author.
The memoir centers around the author’s grief of losing her Sicilian chef husband to cancer while returning to his homeland to feel his roots. She finds comfort at her mother-in-law’s dining table with a family that didn’t accept her at first as an African-American woman living in Los Angeles as an actress. But now as family and raising an adopted daughter, she narrates her journey through heartbreak and restoration.
Locke, according to her Simon & Schuster biography, has appeared in over 40 television shows and films, including NCIS: LA, Animal Kingdom and Dumb and Dumber To. She also delivered a TEDx talk on being a cancer caregiver. She lives in Los Angeles and summers in Sicily with her daughter.
April 30, 2019
Free Black Women’s Library holds launch party in Los Angeles
Free Black Women’s Library celebrated its Los Angeles launch Saturday night at the Hilltop Coffee & Kitchen in the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood with the performances by eight black female poets.
The featured local poets were Amoni Thompson-Jones, bridgette bianca, Camari Carter, Iman Milner, Jessica Gallion aka YELLAWOMAN, Nadia Hunter Bey, Shakira Peterson, and Shonda Buchanan.
The party started with a networking hour for attendees to bond over literary happenings in the coffeehouse that’s quickly becoming a haven for similar events. A live artist, Brittney Price, painted a piece she later donated to the cause. Quotes were pasted on the glass from black women writers such as bell hooks, Octavia Butler, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Ntozake Shange. Bouquets of flowers sat on the tables with most attendees sitting in seats in front of the window that provided a backdrop of the sunset with painted skies for the poets as they recited their melodies.
As each poet spilled her soul to the crowd, applause naturally erupted. The poems magnified the black woman experience from different perspectives. For example, bridgette bianca and Camari Carter mentioned the death of six adopted black children killed by their white lesbian mothers where one drove their SUV over the cliff in Mendocino County, a story forgotten in the constantly ticking news cycle. YELLAWOMAN lyrically spoke about her experience as a light-skinned woman with Louisiana roots while Shonda Buchanan played a drum and chanted a song before her poetry to honor her African-American and American-Indian roots.
The library’s goal is to compensate black women for their artistry while collecting #300BlackWomenBooks, or 300 books authored by black women, by June. Donations will be accepted at subsequent events and this address: 5350 Wilshire Blvd P.O. Box #36618 Los Angeles, CA 90036.
The original branch of the library was created in 2015 by Ola Ronke Akinmowo in Brooklyn, New York, the same year and place where Well-Read Black Girl began. The idea is to provide “a free, feminist pop-up library and book swap with Black women writers at the center,” as its mission states.
Asha Grant, the director of the Free Black Women’s Library LA, was the mistress of ceremonies at the launch party. She said she recently moved back to the LA area and wanted to bring Akinmowo’s mission here.
The next event has not been announced yet but Grant said it will involve interactive journaling with sitting on pillows, a more relaxed atmosphere compared to the party.
Free Black Women’s Library Holds Launch Party in Los Angeles
Free Black Women’s Library celebrated its Los Angeles launch Saturday night at the Hilltop Coffee & Kitchen in the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood with the performances by eight black female poets.
The featured local poets were Amoni Thompson-Jones, bridgette bianca, Camari Carter, Iman Milner, Jessica Gallion aka YELLAWOMAN, Nadia Hunter Bey, Shakira Peterson, and Shonda Buchanan.
The party started with a networking hour for attendees to bond over literary happenings in the coffeehouse that’s quickly becoming a haven for similar events. A live artist, Brittney Price, painted a piece she later donated to the cause. Quotes were pasted on the glass from black women writers such as bell hooks, Octavia Butler, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Ntozake Shange. Bouquets of flowers sat on the tables with most attendees sitting in seats in front of the window that provided a backdrop of the sunset with painted skies for the poets as they recited their melodies.
As each poet spilled her soul to the crowd, applause naturally erupted. The poems magnified the black woman experience from different perspectives. For example, bridgette bianca and Camari Carter mentioned the death of six adopted black children killed by their white lesbian mothers where one drove their SUV over the cliff in Mendocino County, a story forgotten in the constantly ticking news cycle. YELLAWOMAN lyrically spoke about her experience as a light-skinned woman with Louisiana roots while Shonda Buchanan played a drum and chanted a song before her poetry to honor her African-American and American-Indian roots.
The library’s goal is to compensate black women for their artistry while collecting #300BlackWomenBooks, or 300 books authored by black women, by June. Donations will be accepted at subsequent events and this address: 5350 Wilshire Blvd P.O. Box #36618 Los Angeles, CA 90036.
The original branch of the library was created in 2015 by Ola Ronke Akinmowo in Brooklyn, New York, the same year and place where Well-Read Black Girl began. The idea is to provide “a free, feminist pop-up library and book swap with Black women writers at the center,” as its mission states.
Asha Grant, the director of the Free Black Women’s Library LA, was the mistress of ceremonies at the launch party. She said she recently moved back to the LA area and wanted to bring Akinmowo’s mission here.
The next event has not been announced yet but Grant said it will involve interactive journaling with sitting on pillows, a more relaxed atmosphere compared to the party.
April 29, 2019
How the introverted black writer girl became visible in ‘Poetic Justice’
Alone, all alone. Nobody, but nobody can make it out here alone.
Poetic Justice brought the modern literary black woman to film in 1993 when John Singleton, the Oscar-nominated director, wrote it and had pop performer Janet Jackson breathe life into the role. The film deserves a spotlight for its innovation at the time with Hollywood reflecting on the works of Singleton, who died at 51 today.
Justice (Janet Jackson), a young black woman living in South Central LA, is reeling from the murder of her fresh-out-of-jail boyfriend at a drive-in theater. Depressed, Justice adjusts to her loneliness and writes poetry in a notebook she carries with her everywhere. At the hair salon where she works as a beautician, she shares her gift of poetry with her boss and her best friend, Iesha (Regina King). When a hair show comes up in Oakland, it turns out Iesha can get them a ride that same weekend with her postman boyfriend who has to drop off packages there. Justice says no, like she’s been voicing since she lost her own boyfriend while her boss and Iesha keep telling her the best way to get over one man is to get another. She decides to ride to the hair show alone, but her car won’t start, so she has to call Iesha for help who arrives with the large white postal truck with Iesha’s boyfriend Chicago and his friend Lucky (Tupac Shakur).
Justice has already met Lucky as the hair salon’s thirsty postman, so she’s not happy to see him. The group then embarks on an adventurous road trip. Annoyed at the situation, Justice ignores Lucky, who becomes bothered by it until they begin cussing each other out on the side of the road. Justice hops out of the truck in the middle of nowhere rural desert California and walks with her stuff on the side of the highway with Iesha trying to convince to jump back in. Eventually Justice does. They then go to a convenient store, a family reunion, and an African festival. During these events, Justice and Lucky bond while Iesha and Chicago deteriorate.
[image error]
Janet Jackson as Justice and Tupac Shakur as Lucky / Columbia Pictures
Along the way, Chicago is abandoned on the side of the road after he punches Iesha, who claims to have slept with someone else after they had another cheating-related altercation at the reunion. By the time they get to Oakland, Lucky sees his rising rapper cousin being wheeled into an ambulance with bullets to the chest. Not only dropping off packages is Lucky’s plan in Oakland, it really is to join his cousin and make music in the rap game. With his cousin dying, Lucky blames Justice for him getting there too late as if he could’ve saved his cousin. Justice is hurt as she’s dropped off at the hotel for the hair show with Iesha. As Lucky comforts his aunt and uncle and convinces them he should inherit his cousin’s music equipment, Justice is at the hair show stoically perfecting hairstyles on models. Days later, Lucky brings his daughter to the hair salon where Justice works and apologizes to her. They realize they’re in love.
What’s lit about this classic film is it told the story of the black girl poet, a character rarely seen on the silver screen, internalizing what she sees and putting pen to paper despite the chaos around her. And she’s a soft-spoken poet where she’s not performing her poetry aloud on a stage—a common place to see poets in real and fictitious worlds when in actuality it might take the average poet a long time to work up to such confidence. Justice lives among ruins left behind by the 1992 LA uprising amid arrests, drug sales, and other inner city troubles. On top of it, Justice lost her mother to alcoholism and lives in a home alone with her cat. She’s trying to come to terms with the loneliness and depression caused by loss. Though she’s a hairstylist, for example, she wears hats to hide the new growth from her box braids. Her appearance alone screams a stereotype of urban black girl with also wearing trapezoidal gold bamboo earrings, but society wouldn’t expect the melodious words coming from her crafted behind the scenes by Maya Angelou. The film still deserves its props more than 25 years later.
How the Introverted Black Writer Girl Became Visible in “Poetic Justice”
Alone, all alone. Nobody, but nobody can make it out here alone.
Poetic Justice brought the modern literary black woman to film in 1993 when John Singleton, the Oscar-nominated director, wrote it and had pop performer Janet Jackson breathe life into the role. The film deserves a spotlight for its innovation at the time with Hollywood reflecting on the works of Singleton, who died at 51 today.
Justice (Janet Jackson), a young black woman living in South Central LA, is reeling from the murder of her fresh-out-of-jail boyfriend at a drive-in theater. Depressed, Justice adjusts to her loneliness and writes poetry in a notebook she carries with her everywhere. At the hair salon where she works as a beautician, she shares her gift of poetry with her boss and her best friend, Iesha (Regina King). When a hair show comes up in Oakland, it turns out Iesha can get them a ride that same weekend with her postman boyfriend who has to drop off packages there. Justice says no, like she’s been voicing since she lost her own boyfriend while her boss and Iesha keep telling her the best way to get over one man is to get another. She decides to ride to the hair show alone, but her car won’t start, so she has to call Iesha for help who arrives with the large white postal truck with Iesha’s boyfriend Chicago and his friend Lucky (Tupac Shakur).
Justice has already met Lucky as the hair salon’s thirsty postman, so she’s not happy to see him. The group then embarks on an adventurous road trip. Annoyed at the situation, Justice ignores Lucky, who becomes bothered by it until they begin cussing each other out on the side of the road. Justice hops out of the truck in the middle of nowhere rural desert California and walks with her stuff on the side of the highway with Iesha trying to convince to jump back in. Eventually Justice does. They then go to a convenient store, a family reunion, and an African festival. During these events, Justice and Lucky bond while Iesha and Chicago deteriorate.
[image error]
Janet Jackson as Justice and Tupac Shakur as Lucky / Columbia Pictures
Along the way, Chicago is abandoned on the side of the road after he punches Iesha, who claims to have slept with someone else after they had another cheating-related altercation at the reunion. By the time they get to Oakland, Lucky sees his rising rapper cousin being wheeled into an ambulance with bullets to the chest. Not only dropping off packages is Lucky’s plan in Oakland, it really is to join his cousin and make music in the rap game. With his cousin dying, Lucky blames Justice for him getting there too late as if he could’ve saved his cousin. Justice is hurt as she’s dropped off at the hotel for the hair show with Iesha. As Lucky comforts his aunt and uncle and convinces them he should inherit his cousin’s music equipment, Justice is at the hair show stoically perfecting hairstyles on models. Days later, Lucky brings his daughter to the hair salon where Justice works and apologizes to her. They realize they’re in love.
What’s lit about this classic film is it told the story of the black girl poet, a character rarely seen on the silver screen, internalizing what she sees and putting pen to paper despite the chaos around her. And she’s a soft-spoken poet where she’s not performing her poetry aloud on a stage—a common place to see poets in real and fictitious worlds when in actuality it might take the average poet a long time to work up to such confidence. Justice lives among ruins left behind by the 1992 LA uprising amid arrests, drug sales, and other inner city troubles. On top of it, Justice lost her mother to alcoholism and lives in a home alone with her cat. She’s trying to come to terms with the loneliness and depression caused by loss. Though she’s a hairstylist, for example, she wears hats to hide the new growth from her box braids. Her appearance alone screams a stereotype of urban black girl with also wearing trapezoidal gold bamboo earrings, but society wouldn’t expect the melodious words coming from her crafted behind the scenes by Maya Angelou. The film still deserves its props more than 25 years later.
April 10, 2019
‘Younger’ to premiere in June
Younger, the literary TV series with precisive appeal to the 18 to 49 demographic, announced this week it will premiere June 12 for its sixth season on TV Land.
That’s a Wednesday at 10pm EDT and PDT/9pm CDT. After the end of the fifth season last year, the series announced it would move to Paramount Network, but earlier this month TV Land said Younger will stay on its channel.
The series revolves around Liza (Sutton Foster), a 40-something stay-at-home mom who lowered her age to 26 and tweaked her resume to get a gig at a major publishing house. She eventually works with Kelsey (Hilary Duff), an actual 26-year-old, on their own imprint coined Millennial. Masquerading as a millennial brings the drama but also puts a spotlight on the hyper-glamorized world of publishing.
The series has such a following that a story line led to a novel by one of the characters called Marriage Vacation, under the make-believe Millennial imprint, that was released last year.
