E. Lynn Harris

It was those childhood memories that helped motivate his success in later years.

"I didn't grow up in the kind of environment that my characters grew up in, or the kind of environment that I live in now," the 52-year-old author says. "It was one of the things that I always aspired to."

His fame has made him a part of a more privileged world, and his success can be partly attributed to showing his readers a world with which they were previously unfamiliar: the secret world of professional, bisexual black men living as heterosexuals.

Last week, Harris was back after a two-year hiatus with his 10th novel, "Just Too Good to Be True." In some ways, the book returns to some of his typical themes - family, relationships, fame - but Harris also takes on new territory, focusing for the first time on a straight relationship.

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The fair also showcased the largest amount of African-American literature in the nation.

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San Francisco, CA - July 4, 2008 – The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society and the Lambda Literary Foundation have joined forces to celebrate the contributions of three generations of GLBT Storytellers.

The two organizations will host a series of conversations, entitled “Passing On The Pen,” designed to pair some of the pioneers of GLBT literature with today’s emerging GLBT storytellers. “This is the first time anyone has ever done anything like this” says Michael Nava, author and winner of five Lambda Literary Awards. “It's a powerhouse lineup, bringing together some astonishing talent and people who I have read and respected for many years as well as some wonderful new writers.”

From March through December, the two organizations will present monthly events pairing authors from the early days of the GLBT movement with current day storytellers. Each event will be held in the gallery of the GLBT Historical society from 6:30 to 8:30, and will be free of charge and open to the public.

On July 8th, celebrated African-American queer storytellers Jewelle Gomez, the author of seven books including the double Lambda Literary Award-winning novel, The Gilda Stories; and Frederick Smith, the author of Down for Whatever and Right Side of the Wrong Bed will be the featured authors in the series.

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By Saul Austerlitz

All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can't Save Black America
By John McWhorter
Gotham, 186 pp., $20


Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence
By Keli Goff
Basic Civitas, 294 pp., paperback, $16.95

The hip-hop generation: The phrase has a certain summational ring, an aura of capturing a kernel of truth about American youth in the same way that Generation X seemed to define an earlier cohort. A nation of millions, raised on Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," Jay-Z, and Kanye West, will rise to seize power from greedy capitalist fat-cats and neoconservative warmongers. Hip-hop, the revolutionary art form of the past quarter-century, will expand its reach into spheres beyond music and culture, remaking politics in its image.

Or will it? Two new books examine the promise of the hip-hop generation, wondering what - if anything - will be its political legacy. John McWhorter's "All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can't Save Black America" and Keli Goff's "Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence" reach diametrically opposed conclusions about hip-hop's political impact, but share a fundamentally flawed set of assumptions that cause them to misunderstand the relationship between culture and politics.

McWhorter, noted policy wonk and author of "Losing the Race," pets hip-hop with one hand as he slaps it with the other. How can mere music - particularly music riven by such inner contradiction - be capable of true change? "Actually listen to a rap track, even by a conscious artist, and then think about the real world. How many among us really believe there is a meaningful connection between that rap and making people think in new ways - ways so new that the nation's fabric changes?" The answer is almost nobody. McWhorter assembles a paper tiger in order to repeatedly lunge at it, and then waits for our applause when he has vanquished the beast. It is not that "All About the Beat" is fundamentally mistaken; hip-hop is not a likely precursor of revolutionary change, and incremental, piecemeal efforts to improve the lives of African-Americans are often ignored in favor of pie-in-the-sky theorizing. It is just that in 2008, in the era of Soulja Boy, few would claim otherwise.

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Author Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke ’s debut novel, Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One, pays tribute to the contributions made by Afro-Latinos to culture, history, music, and dance in the Americas. It features characters with Afro-Cuban, Afro-Mexican, and Afro-Peruvian roots. These characters offer rich dialogue peppered with references to Afro-Latino culture and history. They also work with and maintain positive relationships with African Americans that promote Black and Brown solidarity.

Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One educates readers about Yanga, an African who ran away from his slave master in 1609 and founded the first free African township near Veracruz, Mexico. The novel gives readers an interesting history lesson about American-born African slaves who fled to Mexico in the mid 1800s. Readers also visit museums such as El Museo del Barrio in New York City and National Museum of Mexican Art (formerly known as the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum) in Chicago that exhibit Afro-Latino art. In addition, they have a chance to fall in love with the music of Afro-Cuban Jazz Musicians Mongo Santamaria and Omar Sosa, Afro-Puerto Rican Jazz Musician Willie Bobo, and Afro-Peruvian Singer Susana Baca. By the end of Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One, readers may find themselves dancing Salsa just like the main character Karma Francois.

Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One by Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke tells the story of Karma Francois, a thirtysomething California-born BoHo BAP (Bohemian Black American Princess) with Louisiana roots and urban debutante flair. The novel illustrates how a woman uses therapy, yoga, meditation, art, music, poetry, and support from family and friends to confront the effects of her poor life choices and embrace a spiritual journey of healing and love. It was published by iUniverse, Inc. and is available on www.amazon.com.

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Angelou turned 80 last month, unabashedly enjoying center stage at parties in four states, from an everybody-is-invited fete in Winston-Salem to an A-list gala in Palm Beach, Fla., hosted by surrogate daughter Oprah Winfrey. The decades have burnished Angelou's unique place on the American scene, cemented partly in Bill Clinton's decision to ask her to read an original poem for his 1993 inauguration.

Scholars describe Angelou as a Mother Figure and a Living Ancestor, while everyday readers still memorize and recite her words. She is reported to earn $43,000 each time she speaks.

In poems, film, plays and, most centrally, her six autobiographical books, Angelou's voice continues to casts its spell. "Caged Bird" has sold about 4 million copies and is third on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most challenged titles.

It has been parodied on "The Simpsons" ("I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings") and lionized in book clubs. It tells of the author's rape at age 7 by her mother's boyfriend, of his subsequent slaying and her decision to stop speaking for some five years.

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That was the question of the evening last Friday when two dozen playwrights, activists and scholars attended a discussion to address the black LGBT protagonist's place on the American stage at the Graduate Center for CUNY in Midtown. The discussion was cosponsored by Freedom Train Productions, an organization that promotes political theater written by up-and-coming black playwrights, and CUNY's Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. The evening was moderated by Andre Lancaster, the artistic and managing director of FTP.

Playwright Aurin Squire said that the presence of black LGBT protagonists in his work was no coincidence.

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"The response by the exhibitors and the book publishing industry to the 2007 African American Pavilion at BookExpo America was tremendous and powerful," stated Pavilion co-founder Tony Rose. "The Pavilion hosted some of the giants in the African American Publishing Industry such as: Haki Madhubuti, Third World Press; Kassahun Checole, Africa World Press/Red Sea Press; Wade and Cheryl Hudson, Just Us Books; Wil Colom, Genesis Press; Zane, Strebor Books International/Simon and Schuster; Terrie Williams, The Stay Strong Foundation/Terrie Williams Agency; Carol Mackey, Black Expressions Book Club; Vickie Stringer, Triple Crown Publications; Harriette Cole, Harriette Cole Productions - Ebony Magazine; Max Rodriguez, The Harlem Book Fair / QBR The Black Book Review; and Ken Smikle, Black Issues Book Review."

BookExpo America, one of the largest book trade exhibits in the world provides independent African American book publishers, self publishers, authors, African American imprints at major publishing houses, distributors, literary agents, publicists, librarians, and bookstore owners with exposure to more than 80,000 book buyers and booksellers from across the world. With over 20,000 BEA attendees crossing up and down the African American Pavilion aisles, the buying and selling is tremendous, and the African American Pavilion provides our exhibitors the lowest discounted booth prices at the BookExpo America.

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Tennessee State University's Forensics Program is honored to host the 2008 National Forensics Association Championship Tournament, held April 18-21, 2008. We need your help judging a few rounds of this prestigious event. There will be prepared speeches, dramatic performance pieces and Lincoln Douglas Debate. If you are available, please contact Kimberley LaMarque for More Information, Tournament Schedule, and Judges Registration Form. 615-963-7491 · klamarque@tnstate.edu

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