Rickey Jackson personifies strength. In 2014, he was America’s longest wrongfully held prisoner, making him incarcerated for nearly 40 years. He bears his story in the new must-see, star-reviewed docu-thriller Lovely Jackson, directed by Matt Waldeck. From the man himself, Jackson exclusively shares the top 7 reasons people should watch the film, which just premiered at this past month’s American Black Film Festival (ABFF).
1. It has an underlying … Read the rest
Next month (March 8 to be exact) marks the 50th anniversary of the historical boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, otherwise known as the Fight of the Century. Glenn Lewis, author and director of York College-CUNY’s Journalism program, covered Frazier for many months in 1980, in which he details in his new book Sparring With Smokin’ Joe: Joe Frazier’s Epic Battles and Rivalry with Ali (Rowman & … Read the rest
A goal for the new picture book Ambitious Girl (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, January 19, 2020) by New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ niece, Meena Harris, is to cease the limitation of girls’ expectations and opportunities, says the illustrator Marissa Valdez.
“This whole book, Ambitious Girl, is kind of based around Meena’s aunt Kamala Harris and how people … Read the rest
As many of us know, the world has been mourning the loss of the late great Kobe Bryant. Award-winning novelist, writer, and former world-ranked squash player Ivy Claire Pochoda who collaborated with Bryant on their number one New York Times bestselling series Epoca shares her perspective on his passing while working on Book 2, The River of Sand (Granity Studios, December 15, 2020). “It’s been really hard, I mean, … Read the rest
Award-winning visionary Hezues R, whose worn the hats of creative director, executive producer, screenwriter, music video director, U.S. delegate, and two-time White House honoree, says he is now doing his most important work to date with his upcoming film about mental health, Suicide Saint. The branding and advertising maven, who is also an entrepreneur and keynote speaker, has created successful campaigns for many including Sean “P. Diddy” Combs … Read the rest
Recently, we caught up with Tõnya Lewis Taylor, New York-based Billboard chart-topping artist, co-founder, CEO and executive director of the award-winning Entertainers 4 Education Alliance – I WILL GRADUATE Youth Development Program, philanthropist, and author of the upcoming book, Be You, Not Her: Becoming the Woman You Were Created to Be. The former Roc-A-Fella Records executive discusses how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected her both professionally and personally, women … Read the rest
When asked if there were any memorable moments while writing his second book, Your Anxiety Beast and You: A Compassionate Guide to Living in an Increasingly Anxious World illustrated by Louise Gardner (May 26, 2020, Exisle Publishing), clinical psychologist and anxiety disorders and OCD specialist, Dr. Eric Goodman, Ph.D, reveals he suffered an illness. “I signed the contract to write the book and was very excited to write it … Read the rest
For some of us, books are more than words on a page; they do more than tell stories. When emerging author and entrepreneur, Crown Shepherd, aka Crown the Writer, found black authors, her writing soared. Her love for reading and writing, which had gone dormant for about ten years, was resurrected thanks to Octavia Butler and Jesmyn Ward, who is among the black authors of Shepherd’s book club … Read the rest
Fine artist of 35 years, Charly Palmer, does not believe he has yet created a masterpiece, and that is what drives him. His work has been both privately and publicly commissioned by many including the 1996 Olympics; McDonald’s Corporation; Coca Cola Company; the Green Bay Packers; Maya Angelou’s estate before being auctioned by Swann Gallery; and universities (i.e., Howard, Fisk, and Vanderbilt). In 2018, he was awarded with the … Read the rest
There has never been a more exciting time to be a science fiction and fantasy writer, and a Black writer in particular. In recent years speculative fiction centering Black characters has been getting more and more of the spotlight, and I absolutely love to see it. I’ve always been a huge SF geek, and growing up I was known to read a book in a day, the majority of them … Read the rest
