Kibkabe Araya's Blog, page 9

From the Editor: Tia Williams’ ‘Seven Days in June’ Is She Lit Book Club’s March Pick

The she lit book club will be reading Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, the best-selling romance that catapulted the longtime Black “chick lit” author to prominence, especially when celebrity book club queen Reese Witherspoon chose the book for her June 2021 selection. The Black romance novel follows two best-selling authors who reunite on the New York literati circuit years after a high school fling left them with unforgettable scars. It’s a sophisticated romance still accompanied by a happily ever after. You can read more of our book review here. You can RSVP here. I’ve been following Tia Williams’ work since 2010 when I was on the hunt for Black “chick lit” for my own personal literary project. Reading famous novels by Sex and the City‘s Candace Bushnell, The Devil Wears Prada‘s Lauren Weisberger, and Bergdorf Blondes’ Plum Sykes, I found myself indulging in beach reads with characters who didn’t look like me. So, I thought there had to be characters who look like me by authors who look like me. In my search mostly across Amazon.com already becoming the main source for books at the time, I discovered several Black “chick lit” authors, including some I’m still discovering […]

‘Ashes of Gold’ Author J. Elle Shares How She Crafted ‘Wings of Ebony’ Fantasy YA Series With Black Duality in Mind

Fantasy young adult author J. Elle is marking the end of her Wings of Ebony duology about a Black teen girl from Houston who’s on a mission to understand her bloodline in the magical land of Ghizon. Ashes of Gold, published by Denene Millner Books and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, came out last month continuing the story of Rue, raised in Houston with her younger sister by their late mother, who must follow her destiny in her father’s homeland of Ghizon and save her magic-possessing people from destruction. But readers don’t have to wait long to read more of J. Elle’s work. Her middle grade fantasy YA duology, A Taste of Magic, will be published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books this summer. The first book in the series will introduce us to 12-year-old Kyana, a Black girl who’s recently learned she’s a witch and becomes a student at the Park Row Magic Academy hidden behind a beauty shop. Once she realizes redistricting and gentrification will close the shop, she fights to keep it open. J. Elle talks to she lit about anticipating the debut of her middle grade duology, owning the “inner city fantasy” subgenre in the increasingly diverse […]

Book Review: ‘Linden Hills’ by Gloria Naylor

Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read more book reviews like this on my blog shelit.com. Read more on this she lit book club selection Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor explores the rise of a Black suburb and how the residents sacrifice so much to live at the lowest elevation to flaunt their wealth. The community of Linden Hills was created by Luther Nedeed’s “double great-grandfather” who has the same name. The rumor around town is the original Luther Nedeed sold his wife and six children into slavery to get the money to buy the hilly land that nearby White residents found unlivable. But the original Luther Nedeed set out to build a community that lasted generations with the current Luther Nedeed approving all the residents with a contract. If the residents fail to live up to the terms in the contract, then they’re asked to leave the elusive Linden Hills. But residents keep coming to the master-planned community the moment they amass enough money. They also try to get closer to Nedeed’s grand cabin and the funeral parlor he owns. If their home is closer to the man who pulls the strings in town, […]

Karyn Parsons’ Sweet Blackberry Promotes Lesser-Known Stories for Black History Month

Actress and author Karyn Parsons is sharing the stories this February her literary nonprofit Sweet Blackberry produces to educate kids on Black history. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star discussed how her books and animated films are narrating the stories of Henry Box Brown and Garrett Morgan this week on the third hour of ABC’s Good Morning America. Henry Box Brown was an enslaved man in 1848 when he mailed himself to freedom from slaveholding Virginia to the free city of Philadelphia in a box. “I was so fascinated by this story, and also by the fact that I’ve never heard of it and my friends hadn’t heard it,” Karyn tells Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes on GMA3: What You Need To Know. “I really wanted to bring this story and others that I started to discover, which my mom brought to me as well, to kids. And I wanted it to do it in the form of books and animated films. So, that’s how Sweet Blackberry started.” The Journey of Henry Box Brown is narrated in verse by Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Alfre Woodard. The story was Sweet Blackberry’s first animated film in 2005. The daughter […]

Book Review: ‘Carefree Black Girls’ by Zeba Blay

Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture by Carefree Black Girls Zeba Blay My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read more book reviews like this on my blog shelit.com Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture by Zeba Blay examines how a viral hashtag focused on Black females living their truths forces the author to revisit periods of pop culture history where the notion of being a carefree Black girl actually comes with some hard truths. Yet the culture that Black women pour talents and their creativity into, the culture that emulates Black women, steals from Black women, needs Black women, is the same culture that belittles Black women, excludes Black women, ignores Black women. Culture critic Zeba Blay coined the phrase #carefreeblackgirl in 2013 as “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online.” She studies how the hashtag evolved in the chapter “Free of Cares,” starting with a phrase of the early twentieth century: “I’m free, white, and 21!” This phrase became a Hollywood catchphrase between the 1920s and 1940s with Black journalists at the time criticizing the phrase as perpetuating White supremacy since […]

Well-Read Black Girl, Liveright to Publish Fiction Debuts by Female, Nonbinary Writers

Black women’s book club leader Well-Read Black Girl announced Thursday its partnership with W.W. Norton & Co. imprint Liveright for a series focused on highlighting fiction written by female and nonbinary authors. Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim made the announcement on Instagram about the WRBG x Liveright series that will debut in 2023 under the goal to publish two books a year. The series will acquire agented manuscript submissions for now from writers who identify as female and nonbinary, particularly focusing on writers of color and underrepresented voices, with the help of Liveright editor Gina Iaquinta. “I am deeply aware of the deep structural changes occurring in the publishing industry and public education—and the tide of rising dissent that threatens to silence authors of color and queer, non-binary, trans and disabled writers—it is the perfect time to expand our collective work,” Glory writes in the post. “We need equity and diversity in these vital spaces!” “The word is out! @LiverightPub is collaborating with the fabulous @guidetoglo!” Gina writes in a tweet. “It’s such an honor to be involved in @wellreadblkgirl‘s thrilling new chapter. One million cheers to @CordeliaCalvert @LiverightPub for making this possible.” Glory’s social media post says more […]

From the Editor: Gloria Naylor’s ‘Linden Hills’ Is She Lit Book Club’s February Pick

The she lit book club will be reading Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor, the author best known for the award-winning novel-turned-miniseries The Women of Brewster Place. Her sophomore novel about an affluent Black community whose members are always reaching for wealth but may not know their quests are rooted in hell is lesser known. We will meet virtually on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST. The goal is to hold a virtual book club meeting the last Saturday of the month for members everywhere and hold additional in-person meetings like visiting indie bookstores and attending author events in the Washington, D.C. metro area after the Covid-19 pandemic cools down. Information on our second virtual book club meeting discussing Linden Hills can be found here. Gloria Naylor, who rose to literary fame after winning the National Book Award for The Women of Brewster Place in 1983, used her advance money from the book to travel to Spain and Morocco to start work on her second novel. Linden Hills was first published in 1985 by now-defunct publishing house Ticknor & Fields. Four years earlier, Gloria had started a master’s degree program in African American studies at Yale University with writing Linden Hills as a thesis […]

Michelle Zauner Talks ‘Crying in H Mart’ in HBO Docuseries About Asian Food Culture

Memoirist and Japanese Breakfast frontwoman Michelle Zauner explains her journey to appreciating Korean cuisine with journalist Lisa Ling. HBO Max’s “Take Out with Lisa Ling” is a six-episode docuseries featuring East Asian and South Asian communities across the U.S. and how they keep their cultures alive through food. Michelle, the author of the best-selling and award-winning memoir Crying in H Mart, joined Lisa to discuss being grief-stricken at a Korean grocery chain H Mart location and how that grief inspired her to write about losing her mother. The she lit book review can be found here. In the sixth episode titled “Korean American Dream,” Michelle and Lisa meet at an H Mart in Northern Virginia. “I knew pretty early on that the book was going to begin with: ‘Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart,'” Michelle says. “It’s like this private ritual, where I’m just in my thoughts and thinking about my mom.” Likening her weekly shopping trips to H Mart as her version of “church,” she tells Lisa that she better understood why her mother depended on places like H Mart to connect to her native land. “My relationship to Korean food changed so much because […]

Book Review: ‘Crying in H Mart’ by Michelle Zauner

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read more book reviews like this on my blog shelit.com Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner is a grief memoir detailing the author’s journey in grappling with the death of her mother while suppressing the fear of losing the only tie to her Korean culture in America. What makes this memoir beautiful is the descriptions of the food being used as examples to show readers the depth of Korean culture for the author, who identifies as biracial with a Korean mother and a White American father. Her mother’s cancer prognosis motivates Michelle, a twentysomething musician holding down odd jobs in Philadelphia, to move back home to Oregon to help care for her mother. As the author goes into caretaker mode with her father unable to handle the stress, she finds herself questioning if her mother dies, will her connection to Korean culture die. The main way her mother is able to highlight her Korean culture in America is through food and venturing to Korean grocery stores. That’s why the book starts off with Michelle shopping and eating at H Mart, a Korean supermarket chain, after her […]

Book Review: ‘Bone Black’ by bell hooks

Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by bell hooks My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read more book reviews like this on my blog shelit.com. Bone Black is a she lit book club selection. Bone Black by bell hooks is a raw narrative of a Black girl navigating a world that seems to not be able to accept who she is. bell hooks’ girlhood memoir starts in the countryside of Kentucky where the author is given a keepsake from her late grandmother and sensing the talk around why she gets the beaded purse when she wasn’t her grandmother’s favorite, nor her mother’s favorite. The book opens with a foreword emphasizing how the author’s behavior as a Black girl among six daughters and a son in a poor family came off as rebellious as she pushed against the frustration her family felt for not being able to understand her behavior. She was sent to bed without dinner. She was told to stop crying, to make no sound or she would be whipped more. No one could talk to her and she could talk to no one. She could hear him telling the mama that the girl had too much spirit, that she […]