Holiday gratitude

I was very fortunate to be invited to participate in a bunch of book events around the country this year. Those invitations were extra special because I didn't have a new book out in 2011. I'm hoping to remedy that situation soon (stay tuned). In the meantime I want to thank the event promoters, book clubs and readers who were so kind to me this year.

Thank you:

Me and Angela Reid of Imani Book Club in Atlanta.

Curtis Bunn and the National Book Club Conference. This was my first year participating and I hope I get to do it again in the future! Imagine readers so serious about books and authors they pay airfare, hotel and conference fees PLUS many of them have to pay for baggage for the books they bring with them for authors to sign or the ones they buy at the conference and take back home! An author's wish come true!

Deborah Burton-Johnson and the United California African American Book Clubs Fall Into Fiction. I so enjoyed participating in this 5th annual conference that brings book clubs from northern and southern California together! From the minute I stepped off the plane, I was treated so warmly by Deborah and her group.

BlogHer '11 in San Diego and BlogHer Writers '11 in New York. This group offers great conferences for writers and bloggers. If you get a chance next year, check out one of their conferences. And if you can't go, they host virtual conferences on their site. A liveblog of my panel "How to Pitch a Book" is archived here. A liveblog of my panel on "How to Turn a Book or Two Into a Career" is archived here.

Gwen Richardson and the National Black Book Festival in Houston. One of the great side benefits of these kind of events is you not only get to mingle with readers, but you get to meet other writers. At this event I got to meet Tananarive Due and Jacqueline Luckett.

Kim Riley, me, Keith Johnson (in back). R.M. Johnson & Bernice McFadden (in front).

Kim Riley and the Kansas City Book Lovers and Book Clubs Conference. The Kansas City Library supports their local book clubs with this event that brings in authors for a weekend of books and fun. And Kim and her volunteers were lovely hosts! This was the 3rd year and over 250 registered!

Lorene Cary and the Art Sanctuary Celebration of Black Writing in Philadelphia. What an honor to be invited by an author I so respect and admire! I participated in the tribute to J. California Cooper (along with Tina McElroy Ansa and Tananarive Due) in an event I will remember the rest of my life.

Denver Public Library. I kicked off the Scribes, Scholars & Storytellers series at the Blair-Caldwell Library.

Community College of Aurora. I participated in the National Day on Writing and met with a great group of students!

Me, Rosalyn Story, Deborah Burton-Johnson, Donna Grant & Virginia DeBerry

Academy for Life Long Learning. I taught a class on banned books and race to a very engaged group.

Pillars Book Club. Some of their members flew from Texas and Louisiana to have dinner with me in Denver!

With the lovely members of the Pillars Book Club.

Ivy League Book Club. Online book chat.

The Reading Cove Book Club. Skype book chat. Audio of our discussion is podcasted here.

I am honored and grateful to have participated in each of the above events and for the opportunity to meet readers and other authors--many of whom I now consider friends.

Thank you all for a great year! Happy Holidays!

Coast to Coast

July 28 I head to San Diego for the National Association of Black Journalists' conference. I appear on a panel on July 29 with Andrea King Collier, Robin D. Stone and Victoria Rowell. After four (I hope) lovely days on the left coast and a few days back home I head east for BlogHer 2010 where I'll be on two panels one on publishing and one on creativity. Maybe even more than the panels, I'm looking forward to hooking up with writer friends while in New York. (I'm looking at you Stacy Patton, Denene Millner, Tayari Jones, Donna Hill and Bernice McFadden.)

If you're going to be at NABJ or BlogHer and want to hook up, let me know!

Look for pictures soon. But before I hit the road, I need to get some work done. So back to it.

Events!

2010 is going to be busy! I've got lots of events in the Denver area this spring, including a signing at the Highlands Ranch Library on January 14th and a signing at Costco in Aurora on February 6th. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hi! Please check my website for more details.

Also, if you're in Denver, you should know that Heidi Durrow and Donna Grant and Virginia DeBerry are coming to the Tattered Cover Colfax. Heidi will be here March 11 with her debut novel The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and the Dynamic Duo Donna & Virginia will be here March 12 to promote their latest, Uptown. Mark your calendars!

Denver Botanic Gardens

Went to the Denver Botanic Gardens yesterday. Here are more photos.

The African American Literary Awards Show

Here's G. Garvin, chef & cookbook author, either presenting or accepting an award (he did both).

Deborah Gregory, author of the Cheetah Girls series, dressed in...cheetah fabric, presenting an award to Finesse Mitchell, formerly of SNL and winner for his book Your Girlfriends Only Know So Much.

Finesse presenting an award with Abiola Abrams of TVOne and BETJ and author of Dare: The Novel.

Me with the lovely Yvette Hayward, creator of the event, and the lovely Melody Guy (my amazing editor).

Tracey Smith, media & author relations person for the Go On Girl! Book Club, me, and model and reality show contestant Sharon Quinn.

I'm sad to say I didn't get pictures of my tablemates, nominees, Pat G'Orge-Walker, author of Cruising on Desperation, Henri Edmonds, author of The Georgia Avenue Bus, and Valerie Washington, nominated for her book of poems, Soul Passion. Nor do I have a pic of my friend Maryann who went with me from Denver. Um...how did that happen?!

And this is what the award looks like. It's heavy crystal, and I did get stopped going through security at LaGuardia!

More Book Club Love

As y'all all know, I *heart* book clubs. (I promise, I'll stop saying that one day.) A member of this club in L.A. (which doesn't yet have a name) invited me through my site to visit them while I was there. And I'm so glad they did! These ladies know how to party (and discuss a book!)! If the last book club gets the award for most organized, this club gets the award for biggest kick (only a little because of the rum punch they served). And they made the orange mint tea and cookies from the recipes in the book! To Erica, Dawn, Mignon, Jihan and all the other ladies, thank you so much! Thank you for reading my book. Thank you for your insights and observations about my book. And thank you for the gathering. All best wishes to you!

Readers here will be hearing more about my new friend Jihan. She needs a heart transplant and will be raising funds soon. As soon as she's ready, I'll post the information and I hope you'll join me in helping her out.

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One more thing: Don't forget to check me out on Blog Talk Radio this evening at 6 p.m. EST. The call in number is (347) 838-9511.

Leimert Park Book Fair

Saturday I signed and spoke at the Leimert Park Book Fair and Eso Won Book Store. Thank you James Fugate for inviting me! The highlight of the entire trip happened when I walked in the store and heard (not saw because she was surrounded by fans) that Nikki Giovanni was there. I quickly made my way over to thank her in person for the lovely blurb she gave me for Orange Mint and Honey. This is the part I still can't believe: She thanked ME for "writing such a beautiful book" and hugged me.

On Saturday wish a Happy Birthday to Nikki and to Prince (and to my friend Kim)!!!

This is my editor, the wonderful Melody Guy.

This is Gia Amado, a film producer who had expressed interest in turning my book into a movie.
In a special tribute, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes spoke about Octavia Butler (who wrote some beautiful, disturbing, scary stuff!). Due and Barnes are accomplished authors separately, but also write together along with Blair Underwood. The three's first book was Casanegra (which is in my TBR pile). Their next is In the Night of the Heat, and it's out this fall. So far, the only book of Due's I've read is Joplin's Ghost, which I really enjoyed. My Soul to Keep is now also in my TBR pile.

Steven, a novelist and screenwriter, was kind enough to give me his card and offer me advice should I need any about adapting Orange Mint into a movie. That's the great thing about L.A.: everybody's in showbiz!
For example, here's Bern Nadette Stanis, remember Thelma on Good Times?? (My best friend and I still answer the phone "Chello" a la JJ) She was at the book fair to talk about her book.

I had no idea I gesture so much when I speak. And no I wasn't singing!

BEA

Got in after 1:30 a.m. so if I make any sense here I'll be lucky. Anyway. Last Thursday I headed for L.A. My flight was cancelled due to a mechanical problem, but luckily I got on another flight stand-by and was able to make it to the reception for African American booksellers only about 30 minutes late.This photo is of some One World/Ballantine authors: Bertie Bowman, author of the memoir Step by Step. Moi. Donald Welch, author of The Bachelorette Party, and Nikki Turner, author of Black Widow. I didn't get a chance to mingle beyond the table, but I did get to meet the lovely Donna Grant and Virginia Deberry, author of Gotta Keep on Tryin'. The next morning started off with chicken and waffles at Pann's, the restaurant where the robbery in Pulp Fiction was filmed. Think Jackson or Travolta actually touched the booth we sat in?!

Next, it was back to the convention center. Good to see this guy's publisher is rallying behind him. God knows he could use the sales.
Look what I found at the Crown booth, a poster for Tethered, and YES I scored a galley! (Amy, they were all given out, but one of the publicists found a hidden away copy for me.)

Just to show you a little of what the trade booths look like.

The Devious Book for Cats is the book I so wished I had written.

More from the trip later.

Leaving for LaLa Land

Mani? Check. Pedi? Check.
Hair curled? Almost.

Bag packed? Soon as I get the cat out (is that where that saying comes from?).

Music uploaded to MP3? Check. I highly recommend Simone on Simone!! Wonderful reinterpretations of some of Nina's famous songs (especially "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair") and an original and very touching song called "Child in Me" that speaks of a daughter's loneliness while her mother is away. Another place for good music is Tayari Jones' "rejection correction playlist."

Left to do? Print out pages to take with (rather than my laptop) to get some edits done while I'm gone.

BEA here I come! I'll post a report and pictures when I return. (Be sure to check out the Author Studio Podcasts at the BEA site!)

Events for the merry, merry month of May

This Thursday (May 1) at 7 p.m. I'll be in Fort Collins at The Reader's Cove. Northern Colorado folks, please join me!

Saturday, May 3 I'll launch a contest on the blog--another way you can get a signed copy of Orange Mint and Honey. (listen up, Demon Hunter!)

Friday, May 9 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. I'll be at the Underground Railroad Bookstore in Green Valley Ranch (NE Denver) for a discussion about mother-daughter relationships and a book-signing.

Sunday, May 11 Give mom a copy of Orange Mint and Honey.

Monday, May 26 I'll be swimming in a vat of margaritas for my birthday. Whoo hoo!

Thursday, May 29 at 5:30 I'll be signing at a reception for African American booksellers at BEA in L.A.

Saturday, May 31st (Time to be announced) I'll be at the Leimert Park Book Festival in L.A.

What are your plans for May?

A little East Coast swing

Philly was fun. Actually, my signing was in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philly. On Friday, my cousins and I planned to go to Media to see a friend of mine and then drive down to a botanic garden. You know, me being "the pajama gardener" and all. Well, Shirley got VIP tix to go to a rally in Center City for Obama. Garden schmarden. Whatev. We went to see Obama! (Leslie and Kieran don't hate.)

Now if Obama looks a little flat and two dimensional here it's NOT because he's made of cardboard. They've been campaigning hard in PA and the man was a little tired.

Okay, so this isn't the real Obama. They had cardboard cut-outs of Hillary, Barack and McCain at a store in the 30th Street Train Station. Guess who everybody (except one little girl) wanted their picture with? VIP tix gave us access to the same block where he was speaking. The rally was on Independence Mall, which is about 3 blocks long. It was packed. The estimate in the paper the next day was 35,000 people. I swear I got tears in my eyes at the sight of a black man who could actually be president speaking between the buildings where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written.

He spoke about 20 minutes and knocked it out of the park as far as we Obamaniacs were concerned. (I'm a proud member!) The best part, though, was after the official rally when all 35,000 of us were leaving we continued the party. We chanted "Obama!" and "Yes we can!" and waved and screamed and folks honked their horns as we marched up Broad Street to City Hall. There was so much energy and enthusiasm and, yes, hope in the crowd of all colors, ages, classes, abilities, genders, you name it. As one woman next to me said, "We drank the Kool-Aid. And oh it comes in so many diverse flavors." I piped in that it certainly was refreshing. Then his motorcade went by and he rolled down his window and waved at us. Folks really lost their minds! I started to worry for the man as people chased his car.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure and honor of speaking to the Expressions and Exchanges Book Clubs. My cousins put together this event for their book clubs and friends, sorority sisters and relatives. These sisters are readers and it was so satisfying to know that people were actually getting what I was trying to say.

What a wonderful turnout and discussion we had! Thank you, ladies!!

Some members of the Exchanges Book Club, which has been meeting for more than 20 years!

Some members of the Expressions Book Club, which has been meeting 14 years. I was the first author they had at one of their meetings when Walk Tall came out.

VA va voom!

The folks in Charlottesville sure know how to put on a book fest! I was at the VA Festival of the Book for 3 days and it was a whirlwind of meeting wonderful people who were all there to celebrate books! I felt like I had finally found my home planet. Thank you Nancy Damon and everyone associated with the festival! Oh yes...there are pictures!


This is the puddle jumper one takes from DC to the cute little airport in Charlottesville.

Who did I find my first night in town? Judy Merrill Larsen (All the Numbers), Therese Fowler (Souvenir) and Kim Reid (No Place Safe)! The four of us met in the hotel bar for a very serious discussion about books. :) Kim, I already knew. This was my first time talking with Judy and Therese in person, but I'm sure onlookers would have never guessed. It was like getting together with women I've known for ages.

The UVa Women's Center sponsored a reception for women writers. Here's a great group! The author in the hot pink jacket is Jenny Gardiner, author of Sleeping with Ward Cleaver. Thanks Jenny for the rides over to the U!

The Ballantine Babes at the Author's Reception, which closed the festival Saturday night. We also met Mike Farrell (BJ from MASH), but I didn't take his pic. Judy introduced me to Rosemary Harris, author of Pushing Up Daisies. Hello, she's a gardener and a novelist? How did we not know each other?


On Sunday morning the Charlottesville chapter of the Links, Inc. threw a spectacular brunch to celebrate the African American literary tradition. I am so grateful I was able to be there! Thanks to Tamyra Turner, Donna Martin and all the Links members! This photo is of 2 of my new favorite writers: H.G. Carrillo, author of Loosing My Espanish, and Stacy Hawkins Adams, author of Watercolored Pearls.

Stacy and me at brunch. (Another room service flower in my hair)

One of the big highlights for me was meeting Walter Mosley at the brunch. When we were introduced, he recognized the title of my book! I know why he looks suspicious in this picture--I started a line of groupies taking his photo. Why I look suspicious, I don't know.

Other cool writers I met at the fest: Evans Hopkins, author of Life after Life, Adam Bradley, The Collected Manuscripts of Ralph Ellison's Unpublished Second Novel (which isn't out yet), Emilie Richards, author of MORE THAN 60 NOVELS!!!, Jennifer Niesslein, author of Practically Perfect in Every Way, Rachel Bagby, author of Divine Daughters and Peter Melman, author of Landsman: A Novel.

The Hardest Working Woman in Show Business

Author tours. Do they work? Are they worth the time, effort, money? Does anybody even come out for them? We in the biz continue to debate. However, when you've got an audience, it must be worth it. Check out Jodi Picoult's tour schedule. This is the schedule of a woman who earns her spot on the best-seller lists the old-fashioned way! I need a nap from just reading the list of locales she's travelling to.

And I thought I was busy!! I'm off to the Virginia Festival of the Book next week. In April, I go to the Philly area to meet with book clubs. Then in May I'm going back to LA for the Leimert Park Bookfest and BEA. In September I'm doing the Downtown Omaha Bookfest. I'm hoping to get a few more trips in there too.

Below are pictures from the book party to end all book parties. My aunt Anita is one of the world's coolest aunts. Last Sunday she threw a party for about 1,000 of her closest friends and neighbors. We started at 1 p.m. and the last person left at 7! The wonderful Yvonne White put the finishing touches on the spread and made everything beautiful. Unfortunately, pictures don't do the table justice. (FYI, her line of candles are the best-smelling ever!)

She used palm and fern leaves and bunches of kumquats from her own yard. Plus, 100-year old silver trays from Morocco!

This is an antique card table where I signed books. Much prettier than it looks here.

The lovely Yvonne, me, cousins Michelle and Cary.

That's Gina Black...who took the bus over for the party! (I'm wearing an orchid in my hair from my breakfast tray at the Hotel Vitale the day before.)

Our hostess, Auntie Anita.

My aunt Carol, Anita's sister.

More cousins!

This is Anita's boyfriend Mac, a wonderful host!

This is June, who made orange mint cookies from the recipe in my book!

Brian. A friend I met years ago in Denver only to find out that my Aunt Anita was in his mother's wedding!