African American

BlackBoard African-American Bestsellers, Inc. has announced its 2003 Books of the Year. The awards, presented at this year's BookExpo America in Los Angeles and hosted by Cee Cee Michaela of the UPN series Girlfriends, recognize outstanding African-American writers of fiction, nonfiction, and children's books.

On Thursday, May 29, over 300 independent booksellers from around the U.S. converged in Los Angeles for the ABA Education Day, which included ABA's first annual "What Are You Reading Lunch." The day's numerous sessions were packed with prospective, novice, and veteran booksellers alike, each looking to enhance their bookselling skills. According to comments from a number of booksellers, the programming did not disappoint.

Booksellers with an interest in hearing about the newest offerings from publishers of African American, children's, and Latin American/Latino books will have the opportunity at Book Buzz Workshops at BookExpo America on Thursday, May 29, in Los Angeles. The workshops, new this year, are similar in concept to BEA's popular Editor and Bookseller Buzz Forum.

"'I'm Rose Pardue, of Rosemont,' Rose had introduced herself as a girl. It had been her open sesame all over the Black Belt of Alabama. She fixed her once-famous eyes on the girl by her bed." So begins the first story of Mary Ward Brown's new collection, It Wasn't All Dancing and Other Stories, published by the University of Alabama Press (UAP) as part of its Deep South Book series.

Grand opening celebration at the Hue-Man Bookstore in Harlem.

Harlem USA, the 275,000-square-foot entertainment and retail mall on 125th Street in Manhattan -- the center of one of the nation's largest African-American communities -- will soon have an independent bookstore. According to store co-owner Rita Ewing, a writer and attorney, the Hue-Man Bookstore opens for business on July 29, with a grand opening celebration scheduled for August 1.

Before 1989, Dr. Sharon Ames-Dennard -- who in April was named "2002 Working Mother of the Year" by Working Mother magazine -- had never set eyes on a black bookstore. There were none in her rural hometown of Cheapside, Virginia -- population 1,000 -- nor any in the areas of Florida where she attended graduate and undergraduate schools. But an internship in Los Angeles led her to the Aquarius, Eso Won Books, and other black bookstores in the area, where she discovered a new passion.

This year’s African-American programming provided both a larger business vision and tried-and-true ideas to help booksellers maintain their businesses in a changing marketplace. The conference also boasted a variety of authors, both up-and-coming and well-established.

Competing as smarter retailers has become a key strategy for independent booksellers, and the almost 400 independents attending a full day of ABA special educational programming at BookExpo America filled panels and seminars to hear the latest on everything from marketing and inventory control to the "best ideas" in newsletters and staff development. In addition to the panels on business operations and personnel issues, there was an extensive offering of programming on children's bookselling and African-American bookselling.

This year’s African-American Booksellers Conference at BEA will highlight featured authors, prominent figures, and panels geared to helping stores increase profitability. The programming is set for Thursday, May 2, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Emma Rodgers, owner of Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, told BTW that "we think we have a very strong lineup of authors and some very good workshops for booksellers.