Brooklyn Festival Showcases Emerging Authors
by Leah Mullen
Perhaps the most overlooked and under acknowledged heroines and heroes of the past decade have been the increasing number of Black self-published authors that have added a new dimension to a publishing industry once ruled by the mainstream houses.
Not only are African Americas making books and operating independent bookstores despite the proliferation of the big chains, we're also creating events that showcase burgeoning literary talent.
Labor Day weekend of this year marked the First Annual Black Books and Family Festival, a two day event sponsored by Reverend Herbert Daughtry's House of the Lord Church and Paedia World/Educational Promotions.
Long time activist Daughtry, who has himself authored several books, the most recent being Dear 2 Pac: Letters to a Son, said in a telephone interview that the idea for a Brooklyn based festival focusing on literature was first broached to him by his publisher, Dr. Sam Chekwas of Seaburn Publishing.
Daughtry said he liked the idea, further he could see the "potential for creating a renaissance in Brooklyn." Also the timing of the event is key. The reverend hopes that in future years those that come from all over the world to attend the West Indian Day Parade will put the book fair on their itinerary.
The festival opened on Saturday, September 1 at the House of The Lord Church in Brooklyn. Reverend Daughtry made opening remarks followed by Dr. Chekwas who told the story of his first book, which only sold a disappointing 2,000 copies. "I was hurt," he said. "It was such a good book!"
So according to Chekwas, the book fair is an opportunity for relatively unknown writers to gain recognition. "We're here to lend our voices to ourselves, to make a resounding sound," he said.
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Following the brief introductions was Saturday's main event, a panel consisting of professionals from different parts of the publishing industry including Max Taylor, production manager for A & B Books; Paul Robeson, Jr, author of The Undiscovered Paul Robeson; columnist and author of a forthcoming biography on Puff Daddy, Peter Noel; novelist Gloria Mallette, author of Shades of Jade; self-help and romance writer Ellie Conrad, author of the forthcoming title If Common Sense is So Common Why Isn't Everybody Using It?; and motivational workshop leader, Walt Goodridge, author of Turn Your Passion Into Profit. Moderating the panel was agent, Cliff Benton of the Audacity Literary Consortium.
At one point the panel got hot when Ramadhan Nanji who was sitting in the audience challenged the panelists to write stories that appeal to him, a 20 something year old Black man living in New York City. Speaking after the discussion Nanji who is also the author of the soon to be released When Day Meets Night said he liked the panel discussion but felt that it was an example of how people use age and region to separate themselves. "It was good that we came together but who was the youngest person on the panel?" he said. "It was diverse but not really diverse."
On Sunday, do it yourself publishers came out in force setting up shop on Atlantic Avenue between Bond and Nevins right in front of the House of the Lord Church. While the authors aren't household names as of yet, a few had promoted and sold their books at levels that would be respectable even for a large company with big budgets and staffs. The vendors included Antonne M. Jones, author of The Family and Nmutaka Okongwu, who was selling his work, The Ekuke Syndrome.
The selling portion of the fair is an aspect Daughtry felt was very important for the children to see. "It's meaningful for our youth to browse through the books of the world," he said. "To see vendors buying and trading in books, it's inspiring for young people."
Whether the increasing number of self-published African American authors actually is a good thing has been debated among industry insiders with the main issue being the literary integrity of the self published entrepreneur, or anyone really that's writing what's considered commercial fiction these days. This discussion has even reached the virtual pages of Africana.com.
Still it can't be denied that Black books are feeding Black families.
Nikiel N. Hannah said he was able to quit his day job with a major newspaper and support himself with income earned from his well-reviewed novel, Concrete Eyes. When asked whether there was room for more authors to bring their work to the marketplace considering how popular self-publishing has become, Hannah responded affirmatively. "It's a vast market," he said. "I feel that the African American voice has yet to be tapped."
Organizers say that this year's fair is just the beginning of much more to come. At the close of the panel discussion on Saturday Tyra Mason, president of Seaburn Publishing announced the creation of Black Book News, a literary magazine that she says will be the "national voice for the Black Writer."