Room at the Table by Martha SouthgateThere is a debate raging in our literary communities and on the blogosphere right now about whether there is room for

All Things Black by Virginia DeBerry and Donna GrantSo it’s February–the month when we celebrate all things African American. Because it is leap year we even have an extra day to celebrate, which seems appropriate because there is a lot to fit in. After all, Ruby Dee was nominated for an Academy Award–not a first [...]

On Whose Shoulders I Stand by Sheila J. WilliamsThirty years ago, Doubleday published a book written by Alex Haley called ROOTS. Nearly everyone read the book and watched the TV mini-series. African Americans from the Pacific to the Atlantic and all points in between revisited their own ‘roots’: interviewing great-aunts; poring over microfilm (no ancestry.com [...]

You Call This Christian Fiction????????? By ReShonda Tate Billingsley I am curious. Do you think people go online and email Janet Jackson and tell her that her latest song sucked? Or do they email Yolanda Adams and tell her she looks too ‘worldly’ in some of her beautiful gowns? I am nowhere near Janet or [...]

Anna Murray Douglass–A Twenty-First Century Sister? by Jewell Parker RhodesThere is no question that if I were married to a philandering Frederick  Douglass in 2008, I would have my lawyer serve him with divorce  papers, change the locks on the house, and if he dared to come near me, I would  be tempted to hit [...]

 Donna Hill: My Friend, My Mentor, A Fine Author by Nathasha Brooks-Harris The year was 1988, but I remember it as if it happened yesterday. I was the editor of Jive, Black Confessions, Black Romance, and Bronze Thrills magazines. I had read every kind of story about sleazy, jheri curl-wearing pimps talking unwitting Midwestern runaways into [...]

What is Love? by Eric Pete No, I am not referring to the head-nodding song made famous in the Saturday Night Live skits and more recently in the Pepsi Max commercials. I am referring to what we as parents (or grandparents even), consider to be love for our children and how that love is expressed. Which brings [...]

Romance or Erotica– What’s the Difference? by Desiree Day In writing circles, reading groups and message boards, discussions invariably turn to romance and erotica and what is the difference between the two genres. I will attempt to explain the difference. According to Romance Writers of America, a romance novel has a central love story and [...]

Harnessing the Power of Hip-Hop to Promote Reading By Felicia Pride I learned the difference between a simile and a metaphor from a MC Lyte song. That was years ago, but now as an adult and a writer, I know wholeheartedly that hip-hop can be used to enhance literacy as well as promote a culture [...]