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E. Lynn Harris
I Say a Little Prayer
E. LYNN HARRIS is the author of the memoir What Becomes of the Brokenhearted and of eight novels, including A Love of My Own, Just as I Am, and Any Way the Wind Blows, all of which were named Novel of the Year by the Blackboard African American Bestsellers, and If This World Were Mine, winner of the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence. Harris divides his time between Atlanta, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.
• Visit E. Lynn's website at www.elynnharris.com
Amy DuBois Barnett
Get Yours!
AMY DUBOIS BARNETT is an award-winning journalist. As the Editor of Teen People, Amy became the first African American woman to head a major mainstream magazine. The former Editor-in-Chief of Honey magazine, she has also been a weekly pop-culture commentator for CNN. Amy is currently the Deputy Editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar. She lives in New York City with her husband and son.
• Visit Amy's website at www.amyduboisbarnett.com
• Take the "Ain't No Stoppin' You Now" quiz
Kevin Clash
My Life as a Furry Red Monster
KEVIN CLASH has been with Sesame Street for twenty-six years and is coexecutive producer of "Elmo's World." He has won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and six for his work as coexecutive producer of an Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series. He has a daughter, Shannon, and lives in New York City.
• Learn more at kevinclashbook.com
Yolanda Banks
Cooking for Your Man
YOLANDA BANKS lives with her husband, quarterback Tony Banks, and their son, Anthony, in Dallas, Texas. Her poise and kitchen know-how have led to appearances on the Food Network, and her recipes have been published in Black Elegance magazine.
• Read more about Cooking for Your Man
Doreen Baingana
Tropical Fish
DOREEN BAINGANA received an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland and a law degree from Makerere University in Kampala. She lives in Rockville, Maryland.
• Read more about Tropical Fish
Clarence Nero
Three Sides to Every Story
CLARENCE NERO grew up in New Orleans and earned a B.S. degree at Howard University. His first novel, Cheekie: A Child Out of the Desire, won critical acclaim. He is currently a M.F.A. candidate at Louisiana State University and lives in Baton Rouge.
• Read more about Three Sides to Every Story
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Brothers in Arms
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Giant Steps,
as well as Kareem and A Season on the Reservation.
• Read an excerpt from Brothers in Arms
• Read more about Brothers in Arms
George Alexander
Queens
A frequent lecturer on pop culture, GEORGE ALEXANDER is the author of Why We Make Movies, and has written for VH1, Black Enterprise, Daily Variety, and American Legacy. He isÊa graduate of Morehouse College and Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He lives in New York City.
• Read more about Queens
Nicole Bailey-Williams
A Little Piece of Sky
NICOLE BAILEY-WILLIAMS is a high school English teacher
and has written reviews for Black Issues Book Review,
Publishers Weekly, and The Quarterly Review.
She is the co-host of "The Literary Review," a radio
book review show that airs on WDAS in Philadelphia
and its surrounding areas. A graduate of Hampton University,
she received a Master's degree from Temple University.
She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with her husband.
• Read an excerpt from A Little Piece of Sky
Doreen Baingana
Tropical Fish
DOREEN BAINGANA received an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland and a law degree from Makerere University in Kampala. She lives in Rockville, Maryland.
• Read more about Tropical Fish
William H. Banks, Jr.
Beloved Harlem
WILLIAM H. BANKS, JR., is the executive director of the Harlem Writers Guild. His first book, A Love So Fine, was published in 1974 and is widely regarded as the first African American romance novel. He is a professor at New School University and the host of In Our Own Words, the only regularly scheduled television program dedicated exclusively to black writing.
• Learn more about Beloved Harlem
Yolanda Banks
Cooking for Your Man
YOLANDA BANKS lives with her husband, quarterback Tony Banks, and their son, Anthony, in Dallas, Texas. Her poise and kitchen know-how have led to appearances on the Food Network, and her recipes have been published in Black Elegance magazine.
• Read more about Cooking for Your Man
Steven Barboza
The African American Book Of Values
STEVEN BARBOZA is the author of American Jihad and
a professional journalist who has written for many
magazines and newspapers, including the New York
Times, USA Today, the Washington Post,
and Smithsonian. He lives in New York City.
• Read an interview with Steven Barboza
• Learn more about The African American Book of Values
Bertice Berry
When Love Calls, You Better Answer
BERTICE BERRY, Ph.D., is a motivational speaker, sociologist, and former stand-up comedian. She is also the author of four works of nonfiction and three previous novels, including Redemption Song, The Haunting of Hip-Hop and, most recently, Jim and Louella's Homemade Heart-Fix Remedy. She lives in Savannah, Georgia.
• Read an interview with Bertice Berry
• Learn more about When Love Calls, You Better Answer
Todd Boyd
Young Black Rich & Famous
TODD BOYD, Ph.D., is the author of five books, including The New H.N.I.C.: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop and Am I Black Enough for You?: Popular Culture from the Hood and Beyond, and has published numerous articles and essays. He is a popular media commentator, having appeared on NBC, CNN, CBS, ESPN, HBO, A&E's Biography, Politically Incorrect, and NPR, among others. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and is currently Professor of Critical Studies at USC School of Cinema-Television. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
• Read an interview with Todd Boyd
• Learn more about Young Black Rich & Famous
Connie Briscoe
Can't Get Enough
CONNIE BRISCOE is the author of the New York Times bestseller Big Girls Don't Cry, as well as A Long Way From Home, Sisters & Lovers, a Blackboard bestseller, and P.G. County. She lives in Ellicot City, Maryland.
• Read an excerpt from Can't Get Enough
• Learn more about Can't Get Enough
Cris Burks
Neecey's Lullaby
Cris Burks received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Chicago's Columbia College, where she taught fiction writing for several years. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in many publications, including the anthology Gumbo, and she is also the author of the novel, SilkyDreamGirl. She lives in Sacramento, California.
• Read more about Neecey's Lullaby
Charlotte Burley & Lyah Beth LeFlore
Cosmopolitan Girls
CHARLOTTE BURLEY is an award-winning associate producer at the SciFi Channel,
former associate producer of hit television series New York Undercover,
and producer of Grown Ups.
Rebecca Carroll
Uncle Tom or New Negro?
REBECCA CARROLL is the author of several books, including Saving the Race: Conversations on Du Bois from a Collective Memoir of Souls and the award-winning Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America. She lives in New York City with her husband, the sociologist Christopher Bonastia, and their son Kofi.
• Read more about Uncle Tom or New Negro?
Veronica Chambers
The Joy of Doing Things Badly
VERONICA CHAMBERS is the author of When Did You Stop Loving Me and Mama's Girl. She was formerly the culture writer for Newsweek, a senior associate editor at Premiere, and an executive editor at Savoy. Her writing has appeared in many magazines, including Glamour, Vogue, Esquire, New York Times Magazine, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She lives in California with her husband.
Visit Veronica at www.VeronicaChambers.com. To receive her Joy newsletter, send an e-mail to joyofdoingthingsbadly@yahoo.com, with I want some JOY! in the subject line. For college lectures and Joy workshops, please contact Veronica's lecture agents at www.soapboxinc.com.
• Read more about The Joy of Doing Things Badly
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Hottentot Venus
BARBARA CHASE-RIBOUD is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and the author of four
historical novels, the bestselling Sally Hemmings, Valide: A Novel of a Harem,
Echoes of Lions (about the same Amistad mutiny), and The President's
Daughter. She is a winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and received a
knighthood in arts and letters from the French government in 1996. Chase-Riboud
is also a renowned sculptor whose award-winning monuments grace Lower Manhattan.
Born and raised in Philadelphia of Canadian American descent, she was educated at
Yale University and is the recipient of numerous fellowships and honorary degrees.
She divides her time between Paris, Rome, and the United States.
• Read an essay by Barbara Chase-Riboud
• Read more about Hottentot Venus
Kevin Clash
My Life as a Furry Red Monster
KEVIN CLASH has been with Sesame Street for twenty-six years and is coexecutive producer of "Elmo's World." He has won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and six for his work as coexecutive producer of an Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series. He has a daughter, Shannon, and lives in New York City.
• Learn more at kevinclashbook.com
J. California Cooper
Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns
J. CALIFORNIA COOPER is the author of the novels Family and In Search of Satisfaction, and of several short-story collections: Homemade Love, the winner of the 1989 American Book Award; A Piece of Mine; The Future Has a Past; Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime; The Matter Is Life; and Some Soul to Keep. She is also the author of seventeen plays and has been honored as Black Playwright of the Year. She lives in northern California.
• Learn more about Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns
Michael Cunningham
Queens
MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM is the originator and photographer of Crowns and the photographer of Spirit of Harlem. He is the executive director of Urban Shutterbugs, a photography and mentoring program for inner-city youth. His works have been featured in museums across the country. Visit his Web site at www.mcphotog.com
• Learn more about Queens
Norma Jean Darden and Carole Darden
Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine
NORMA JEAN and CAROLE DARDEN are graduates of Sarah Lawrence College. Norma Jean
owns Spoonbread Catering as well as two New York restaurants, Miss Maude's and
Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too. Carole is a real estate agent and mother. Both
authors live in New York City. Spoonbread & Strawberry Wine has been
featured in Essence, O, The Oprah Magazine, and in Martha Stewart Living, as well as on the television program Martha Stewart Living.
• Read more about Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine
Lynne Duke
Mandela, Mobutu, and Me
LYNNE DUKE, a staff writer for The Washington Post since 1987, served as the newspaper's Johannesburg bureau chief from 1995 to 1999. Her memoir chronicles the life of an African American woman foreign correspondent covering events shaking central and southern Africa such as the dawn of democracy in South Africa and in descent into war in Congo-Zaire.
• Read more about Mandela, Mobutu, and Me
David Anthony Durham
Pride of Carthage
DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM earned an MFA from the University of Maryland and is the author of two widely praised novels, Gabriel's Story and Walk Through Darkness. Durham lives in Massachusetts with his wife and children.
• Read an excerpt from Pride of Carthage
Grace F. Edwards
The Viaduct
GRACE F. EDWARDS has written four books in the Mali Anderson mystery series,
including If I Should Die, No Time to Die, and Do or Die.
She received a 1999 Honor Book citation from the Black Caucus of the American
Library Association for the series' second installment, A Toast Before Dying.
Born in Harlem, Edwards currently resides in Brooklyn.
• Read an interview with Grace F. Edwards
• Read more about The Viaduct
Marita Golden
After
MARITA GOLDEN is the author of works of both fiction and nonfiction. Her books include Migrations of the Heart, Saving Our Sons, and most recently, Don't Play in the Sun. She is the founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, an organization that supports African American writers. She lives in Mitchellville, Maryland.
• Read more about After
• Please visit Martia at www.maritagolden.com
E. Lynn Harris
I Say a Little Prayer
E. LYNN HARRIS is the author of the memoir What Becomes of the Brokenhearted and of eight novels, including A Love of My Own, Just as I Am, and Any Way the Wind Blows, all of which were named Novel of the Year by the Blackboard African American Bestsellers, and If This World Were Mine, winner of the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence. Harris divides his time between Atlanta, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.
• Visit the website at www.elynnharris.com
• Read more about I Say a Little Prayer
John Head
Standing in the Shadows
JOHN HEAD is a former mental health reporter and features writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and a former reporter for USA TODAY and the Detroit Free Press. His first book, We Are the Land's: The Biography of a Homeplace, was named best memoir by the Georgia Writers Association in 1999.
• Read an interview with John Head
• Read an excerpt from Standing in the Shadows
• Read more about Standing in the Shadows
Geneva Holliday
Fever
GENEVA HOLLIDAY is the alter ego of an acclaimed literary writer who has penned five national bestsellers and been honored with the Zora Neale Hurston Society Award, the Black Caucus ALA Literary Award, the Black Writers Alliance Award, the Gold Pen Award, and the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award.
• Read more about Fever
Chester Higgins
Echo of the Spirit
CHESTER HIGGINS has been on the staff of The New York Times since 1975. His photographs have also appeared in Artnews, Newsweek, Fortune, Essence, and a number of other magazines and have been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and on several PBS and ABC television programs. He has had one-man shows at the International Center of Photography, the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of African Art, and the Schomburg Center and is the author of Elder Grace, Feeling the Spirit, Sometime Ago, The Drums of Life, and Black Woman. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
• See some sample photos from Echo of the Spirit
• Read more about Echo of the Spirit
Brian Keith Jackson
The Queen of Harlem
BRIAN KEITH JACKSON has received fellowships from Art
Matters, the Jerome Foundation, and the Millay Colony
for the Arts. The View From Here won the American Library
Association Literary Award for First Fiction from the
Black Caucus of America. Jackson lives in Harlem.
• Read an excerpt from Queen of Harlem
• Preview the Reading Group Guide
Norma Jarrett
Sweet Magnolia
NORMA L. JARRETT is the author of Sunday Brunch and is an honors graduate of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. A native of New Jersey, she now lives in Houston, where she works at a local university and is an active member of Pastor Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.
• Read an excerpt from Sweet Magnolia
• Read more about Sweet Magnolia
Kenji Jasper
The House On Childress Street
KENJI JASPER is the author of the novels Dark, Dakota Grand, and Seeking Salamanca Mitchell, and has served as a commentator for NPR. His writings have appeared in Essence, The Source, XXL, Vibe, and many other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
• Read more about The House on Childress Street
Mable John
Sanctified Blues
MABLE JOHN was the first female recording artist for Motown, the lead "Raelette" for Ray Charles from 1968–1976, and a successful solo artist for Stax/Volt. She's now an ordained minister with a doctorate in counseling.
• Read more about Sanctified Blues
William July II
Confessions of an Ex-Bachelor
A speaker and motivator who has been extensively featured in national print and
broadcast media, WILLIAM JULY II is the author of Brothers, Lust, and Love,
as well as Understanding the Tin Man and The Hidden Lover. He lives
in Austin, Texas, with his wife.
• Read more about Confessions of an Ex-Bachelor
Dennis Kimbro
What Keeps Me Standing
DENNIS P. KIMBRO, PH.D., is the author of Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice, Daily Motivations for African-American Success, and What Makes the Great. A tireless educator, public speaker, and business consultant, he has written for many newspapers and magazines and has made many appearances ranging from the "Today" show to a PBS special. Dr. Kimbro is a professor at Clark Atlanta University School of Business. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three daughters.
• Read an excerpt of What Keeps Me Standing
J. L. King
On The Down Low
J. L. KING is an HIV/STD prevention activist, educator, and author. His
expertise has been cited in national publications such as the New York
Times and Essence, and his television appearances have ranged from The
News Hour with Jim Lehrer to Black Entertainment Television. The father
of three, he lives in Chicago.
• Read an excerpt from On The Down Low
• Read more about On The Down Low
Lyah Beth LeFlore
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
LYAH BETH LAFLORE is the coauthor of Cosmopolitan Girls. Having been a television producer and entertainment executive for over a decade, sheÕs an insider's insider. Sean Combs, Biggie, Gerald Levert, Toni Braxton, and Mary J. Blige are among the numerous entertainers with whom she has developed professional and personal ties. She was an associate producer of the hit FOX television series New York Undercover, and producer of UPN's Grown Ups. She has worked at Uptown Entertainment and Alan Haymon Entertainment. Lyah lives in Los Angeles.
• Read more about Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
Craig Marberry
Cuttin' Up
CRAIG MARBERRY is the writer of Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats and Spirit of Harlem: A Portrait of America's Most Exciting Neighborhood, both collaborations with photographer Michael Cunningham. A graduate of Morehouse College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Marberry has written for the Washington Post and Essence magazine. His collection of oral histories in Crowns has been adapted into an award-winning play written by Regina Taylor. Marberry, a Chicago native, lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.
• Read an excerpt from Cuttin' Up
• Learn more about Cuttin' Up
Ritta McLaughlin
Every Friday Night
RITTA McLAUGHLIN is the vice president of an investment banking firm in New York City, where she lives.
• Read an excerpt from Every Friday Night
• Read more about Every Friday Night
Brenda Rhodes Miller
The Laying On of Hands
BRENDA RHODES MILLER is the author of The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts and executive director of the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and Jack and Jill. She and her husband, who is a Baptist pastor, live in Washington, D.C.
• Read an excerpt from The Laying On of Hands
• Read more about The Laying On of Hands
Anika Nailah
Free
ANIKA NAILAH is the director of Books of Hope, a program that encourages young people to write and self-publish their own books. Her stories have appeared in several African American newspapers, including Reunion and Flare. She lives in Massachusetts.
• Learn more about Free
• Take a look at the Reading Group Guide
Heather Neff
Haarlem
HEATHER NEFF, Ph.D., is a professor of literatures in the African diaspora at Eastern Michigan University and holds a doctorate from the University of Zurich. She is the author of three previous novels, Accident of Birth, Blackgammon, and Wisdom, which was named an Honor Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
• Read an interview with Heather Neff
• Read more about Haarlem
Jill Nelson
Finding Martha's Vineyard
JILL NELSON is the author of the bestselling Volunteer Slavery, the novel Sexual Healing, Straight, No Chaser, an acclaimed collection of essays, and is the editor of the anthology Police Brutality. She lives in New York City and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
• Read an interview with Jill Nelson
• Read more about Finding Martha's Vineyard
Clarence Nero
Three Sides to Every Story
CLARENCE NERO grew up in New Orleans and earned a B.S. degree at Howard University. His first novel, Cheekie: A Child Out of the Desire, won critical acclaim. He is currently a M.F.A. candidate at Louisiana State University and lives in Baton Rouge.
• Read more about Three Sides to Every Story
Helen Oyeyemi
The Icarus Girl
HELEN OYEYEMI was born in Nigeria in 1984 and has lived in London from the age of four. She completed The Icarus Girl just before her nineteenth birthday, while studying for her A-levels. She is now a student of social and political sciences at Cambridge University. She has written two plays, Juniper's Whitening and Victimese. The Icarus Girl is her first novel, and she is at work on her second.
• Read an excerpt from The Icarus Girl
• Read more about The Icarus Girl
Scott Poulson-Bryant
Hung
SCOTT POULSON-BRYANT was a founding editor of the premiere urban magazine Vibe. Before the launch of Vibe, he worked at Spin, where his groundbreaking column "Dream America" made him the first African American columnist of a major music monthly. He is the coauthor of What's Your Hi-Fi IQ? and has written articles and reviews for Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, The New York Times, The Source, Essence, New York magazine, and London's The Guardian and The Face. He is currently senior editor of the quarterly fashion/lifestyle magazine America, and resides in New York City and Miami, Florida.
• Read an excerpt from Hung
• Read more about Hung
Jenyne M. Raines
Beautylicious!
JENYNE RAINES is the former associate beauty editor at Essence and has over
ten years experience writing about black beauty and style. Her articles have
appeared in InStyle, Vibe, Heart & Soul, Mode, Girl, and Weight Watchers.
Raines has also contributed to three books: SoulStyle: Black Women Defining
Fashion, Tenderheaded: A Comb-bending Collection of Hair Stories, and Essence
Total Makeover. She has consulted for leading beauty companies, including
Revlon, Clairol, Black Opal, and PhytoSpecific.
• Read an excerpt from Beautylicious!
• Read more about Beautylicious!
Nancy Rawles
Crawfish Dreams
NANCY RAWLES is a novelist and playwright who grew up in Los Angeles and began her career as a professional writer in Chicago. Her first novel, Love Like Gumbo, was awarded the 1998 American Book Award and Washington State's Governor's Writers Award, and her plays have been produced in Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Seattle. She lives and teaches creative writing in Seattle, Washington.
• Enjoy a recipe from Nancy Rawles, author of Crawfish Dreams.
Alexander Smalls
Grace the Table
The creator of southern revival cooking, ALEXANDER SMALLS is the owner of Smalls & Co., a catering business with a clientele that includes celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, and Toni Morrison; and is the former owner of New York's celebrated Cafe Beulah. A pilot for his show "#1," which he will co-host with Merrell Shindler, debuts on FineLiving.com in the fall of 2004. A classically trained baritone, Smalls lives in New York City.
• Read an excerpt from Grace the Table
• Read more about Grace the Table
Tavis Smiley
What I Know for Sure
TAVIS SMILEY is the host of the Tavis Smiley show on PBS and The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI (Public Radio International). He is the author of the bestsellers Hard Left, Doing What's Right, How to Make Black America Better, and Keeping the Faith. This spring, his efforts to promote the publication of The Covenant with Black America helped to make it a number-one New York Times bestseller. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
• Visit Tavis Smiley's website at www.tavistalks.com
• Learn more about What I Know for Sure
Ian Smith
The Blackbird Papers
IAN SMITH, M.D., has been an award-winning medical correspondent for NBC News and a contributor to the Today show. He is a
medical columnist for Men's Health magazine and a commentator for NPR's Tavis Smiley show and for the nationally syndicated
TV talk show The View. He lives in New York City.
• Read a letter from Ian Smith
• Read an excerpt from The Blackbird Papers
• Read more about The Blackbird papers
Stephanie Stokes Oliver
Seven Soulful Secrets
STEPHANIE STOKES OLIVER is the president of SSO Communications
and the editor-in-chief of the African American women's
website, NiaOnline. Oliver started her journalism
career at Glamour and then moved to Essence,
where she eventually became the editor of the magazine.
In 1994, she left Essence to help launch Heart
& Soul as its founding editor-in-chief. The
author of Daily Cornbread: 365 Secrets for a Healthy Mind, Body & Spirit, Oliver lives in Montclair, New
Jersey.
• Read an excerpt from Seven Soulful Secrets
Robin D. Stone
No Secrets No Lies
ROBIN D. STONE is a former Executive Editor of Essence magazine and the founding
Editor-in-Chief of Essence.com. She was also an editor for the New York Times,
the Boston Globe, the Detroit Free Press, and Family Circle, and has written for
numerous publications, including Essence and Glamour. As a 2002-03 Kaiser Media Fellow,
she researched the impact of sexual abuse, with a focus on Black families. A Detroit
native, she lives in New York City with her husband and their son.
• Read an excerpt from No Secrets No Lies
• Learn more about No Secrets No Lies
Greg Tate
Everything But The Burden
A cultural critic for The Village Voice, GREG TATE is also the author of Flyboy in the Buttermilk and contributes regularly to national publications such as Rolling Stone, VIBE, and the New York Times. In addition, he helped found the Black Rock Coalition, produced two albums on his own label, and composed a libretto that was performed at the Apollo Theater. He lives in New York City.
• Read an excerpt of Everything But The Burden
• Learn more about Everything But The Burden
Kristen Clark Taylor
Black Fathers
KRISTIN CLARK TAYLOR is the author of Black Mothers: Songs of Praise and
Celebration and The First to Speak: A Woman of Color Inside the White House,
a memoir of her experiences as the first African American woman to hold the
post of White House director of media relations. She was a member of USA Today's
original creation and launch team and worked as an editorial board member,
columnist, and writer at the newspaper for its first five years of publication.
A former corporate public relations executive, she is now an author, civic leader,
lecturer and communications consultant. She lives in Virginia with her husband
and two children and is currently at work on her fourth book.
• Read an excerpt from Black Fathers
• Read more about Black Fathers
Desmond Tutu
God Has a Dream
DESMOND TUTU, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, retired as Archbishop
of Cape Town, South Africa in 1996. President Nelson Mandela then named him as
chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the organization charged
with bringing to light the atrocities of apartheid in South Africa and achieving
reconciliation with the former oppressors. He is active as a lecturer throughout
the world, and most recently he was a visiting scholar-in-residence at the
University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Archbishop Tutu serves as a member
of the Board of Directors of the Victims Trust Fund of the International Criminal
Court, The Hague.
• Read an interview with Desmond Tutu
• Read an excerpt from God Has a Dream
• Read more about God Has a Dream
La Vita M. Weaver
Fit For God
LA VITA M. WEAVER is an ordained minister, fitness trainer, and speaker. She
appears regularly on Trinity Broadcast Network's TotaLee Fit program of
aerobics and praise. She lives in Capitol Heights, Maryland.
• Read an excerpt from Fit For God
• Learn more about Fit For God
Alonzo Westbrook
Hip Hoptionary
ALONZO WESTBROOK is a writer and former General Assignment
Reporter for ABC and CBS affiliates in Charlotte NC,
Dayton OH, and Macon GA. He lives in New York.
• Read an excerpt from Hip Hoptionary
Van Whitfield
Dad Interrupted
VAN WHITFIELD is the author of Beeperless Remote, Something's Wrong with Your Scale!, and Guys in Suits.
The award-winning author writes BET's hit profile show, Turn-Style, and it currently writing the authorized biography
of former Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry.
• Read an excerpt from Dad Interrupted
• Read more about Dad Interrupted
• Visit Van Whitfield on the Web at www.vanwhitfield.com
Jena Renee Williams
Kinki Kreations
Dubbed "the Michael Jordan of braiding," JENA RENEE WILLIAMS opened Kinki Kreations Braiding Salon in 1996 and Kiddie Kreations, a children's salon, four years later. A master barber, braider, stylist, and dreadlock expert, whose clients have included Oprah Winfrey and Teddy Pendergrass, Williams lives in Philadelphia.
• Read an interview with Jena Renee Williams
• Read more about Kinki Kreations
Wendy Williams
Drama Is Her Middle Name
WENDY WILLIAMS is the host of The Wendy Williams Experience (WBLS 107.5 FM in NYC), which airs weekdays in the coveted 2 p.m.Ð7 p.m. drive-time slot, and has been named "Radio Personality of the Year" by Billboard. She is the author of The Wendy Williams Experience and Wendy's Got the Heat, which debuted at #9 on the New York Times Best Seller List.
• Read more about Drama Is Her Middle Name
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