Dr. Julianne Malveaux's book Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Literature (http://www.naacpimageawards.net/42/nominees-and-honorees/literature/). Get your copy today at: http://www.lastwordprod.com/surviving-and-thriving.html.


Congratulations to the Editorial Team: Elliot Branton, Randall Horton, Leola Dublin, Antoinette Brim and De'Lana Dameron.

Guest Blogger: Demetrice Anntia Worley

Dear Friends,

I need your support for my debut poetry book, Tongues in My Mouth. Please place an advance order TODAY!

My book publisher has informed me that because of slow advance orders for my poetry book, he will be forced to move back the publication date for my book by several months UNLESS advance orders are received within the first two weeks of January 2011.

Advance copies of Tongues in My Mouth are only $9 (+2.50 for shipping and handling), and you can order them on-line at www.mainstreetrag.com/store/ComingSoon.php

According to Nikki Giovanni, international poet, “What an opus Demetrice Anntía Worley has created with Tongues in My Mouth. The stark and beautiful truths she explores are ones we ought to know and begin to view. This book needs to be on every desk. Thank you Demetrice Anntía Worley, for your insight. For your bravery. For your soul stirring. Tongues in My Mouth is an important book.”

More detailed information about my book is available at www.demetriceanntiaworley.com and www.mainstreetrag.com/DWorley.html

Without your support, I will not be able to do three book readings in March and April 2011 and the wonderful book launch party I am planning will not occur. Also, please share this information with any of your friends that you think might be interested in buying my book.

Please order your advance copy today and send me a message letting me know you placed your order. When I receive your message I will send you a Tongues in My Mouth 2011 Calendar. In addition, I will have solid advance book order numbers to show my publisher the interest in my poetry.

If you have already ordered a copy, please send me a message and I will send you the Tongues in My Mouth 2011 Calendar, and I will add your order to the number of advance orders placed.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Peace and Love,

Demetrice Anntia Worley

Antoinette Brim & Marquis Hunt to facilitate "For Colored Girls" Community Conversation

Poet, author and educator Antoinette Brim and Musician and Mind Coach Marquis Hunt will facilitate a community conversation about Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf and Tyler Perry's film adaptation, For Colored Girls.

Read the original play. Copies are available at Pyramid Art, Books and Framing. Watch the movie adaptation. And then, bring a friend to the conversation. The conversation will be held at 6:00 PM on December 16th at Pyramid Art, Books and Framing on 1001 Wright Ave, Suite C. in Little Rock, AR.

Part 2 of 2: Tara Betts & Antoinette Brim discuss their work, influences, and obligations as poets in the world for ZORA

Antoinette: I am so pleased with how forthcoming you are answering this question. I had been hesitant to ask it, knowing that this is a topic you have most likely been asked to speak on over and over. We are in a unique time in this country’s history as it pertains to race. Some are touting this as the post racial/racialism age, yet racism seems to be mutating into new and more challenging strains. So, issues of racial identity and existential crisis seem to be more important than ever. Do you see this affecting the course of poetry, particularly black poetry? Should it be? Is there such a thing as black poetry? Read more at: http://www.torchpoetry.org/blog

ZORA: a Lit Blog from TORCH: The Arc & Psalm of Tara Betts and Antoinette Brim: Part 1 of 2

I first met Antoinette Brim in the summer of 2006 at the Cave Canem Retreat in Greensburg, PA; it was my first summer at Cave Canem, and I was still a little hazy about my “place” in what I imagined to be a “Contemporary African American Literary Canon” in the making. My memory of being there that s.....
Read more at: http://torchpoetry.org/blog

Recently, on a shopping trip to Toys R Us, I (Antoinette Brim) came across a display of Barbies in the Basic Black series. Each doll was clothed in a little black dress inspired by legendary designer, Diane Von Furstenberg. In the front row of the display, there were three different black Barbies in three skin colors and three different hair textures in three different black dresses. My dear friend was immediately drawn to the doll known as "Goddess." She picked up the doll and said softly, “I have never seen a Barbie my color and with my hair.”

Educators, poets, artists and now co-editors, Antoinette Brim, Lita Hooper and Demetrice Worley will be compiling an anthology of poetry, fiction, non-fiction (essays), and ten-minute plays surrounding the notion of beauty as it relates to black girls and women. Use Deidre, Goddess and/or Mbilia (the three black Barbies) as your muses. However, while the three black Barbies are the catalyst for this project, they need not be represented directly in your work. Consider how the standard of beauty impacts the way girls groom, envision, present, value and devalue themselves and each other. Consider how the larger community judges black beauty. Consider how the media depicts the black body. Visual Artists interested in submitting artwork for the anthology cover, should also submit.

The submission deadline is February 28, 2011. This call is open to all races and genders. Presently, a publisher is being sought.

Please e-mail poetry submissions to: threeblackbarbiespoetry@gmail.com

Please e-mail fiction submissions to: threeblackbarbiesfiction@gmail.com

Please e-mail essays and ten minute play submissions to: threeblackbarbiesessays.plays@gmail.com

Please e-mail cover art submissions to: threeblackbarbiescoverart@gmail.com

Antoinette Brim guest hosts Literary Nation Talk Radio on Thursday, 8/12/10

Antoinette Brim will guest host Literary Nation Talk Radio on 8/12 at noon CST on FM 88.3 here in Little Rock. You can stream it online at http://wwwkabf.org/. Scheduled guests include the following:

A summer day in 1970 changed Patrice Gaines’ life forever. She was in a Charlotte, N.C. jail, charged with possession with intent to distribute heroin and possession of a needle and syringe. Her mother, unable to bring Patrice’s two-year-old daughter Andrea inside to visit her, directed Patrice to look out the window when she returned to her cell. Staring out a narrow opening, Gaines saw her grandfather in front of the jail holding her daughter while her mother pointed to the third floor window. Her daughter looked all about."She is searching for me and she can’t find me,” Gaines thought, as tears trickled down her cheeks. In that moment, she vowed to do all she could to change her life. Thus began a long and arduous journey, which Gaines chronicles in her autobiography, Laughing In The Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color— A Journey from Prison to Power. Learn more at: http://www.patricegaines.com/index.htm

Local youth, Rischalle and Rischaye Ellington, will discuss their experiences at the University of Arkansas Medical Systems Summer Math Enrichment Program.

Dr. Dwight D. Watson is an Associate Professor of History at Texas State University-San Marcos. His specializations include African American History and the Civil Rights Movement. He is the author of Black Bayou: African-American Life and Civil Rights in Houston and Race and the Houston Police Department: A Change Did Come. He is interested in how race and law impact United State History. His hobbies are cooking, fly fishing, woodworking and reading. Learn more at: http://www.txstate.edu/history/people/faculty/watson.html