DownSouth Press

Tina McElroy Ansa piece in the AJC

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:40:00 +0000

Read Tina's Op-Ed piece about balance between street fiction and literary fiction on library shelves in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

Take the salty with the sweet

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:57:00 +0000

Great news! My new novel, Taking After Mudear, the sequel to Ugly Ways, is now available on Amazon.com.

Many of you know that we've been selling Taking After Mudear directly from the DownSouthPress.com web site and at my readings during my current book tour. However, after so many readers asked about making the title available on www.Amazon.com, it's now listed at that book retailer.

I'm happy to see the novel on www.Amazon.com - it is another step on this publishing journey. And like several of the milestones thus far, it's a little salty and sweet. As a publisher, I have to say, it's much better for our business for readers to buy directly from www.downsouthpress.com. DownSouth Press makes more money that way - and anyone who buys is supporting an independent, African American business.

But for some of my readers who are used to buying from Amazon, it means they weren't seeing the book in their usual book shopping space. And I want my fans to read the story of Mudear and the Lovejoy girls that so many of them asked me to revisit.

So there it is, salty, sweet and listed at Amazon.com!

Be blessed.

Love and peace,

Tina

Upcoming events with Tina McElroy Ansa

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Tina McElroy Ansa is currently on tour. Below are some of her upcoming events.

TAKING AFTER MUDEAR will be on sale at the events or you can purchase it at www.downsouthpress.com.

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND
October 3, 2008
Nyumburu Cultural Center, University of Maryland
1 p.m.

LARGO, MARYLAND
October 4, 2008
Capital BookFest
http://www.capitalbookfest.org/

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
October 4, 2008
Mayorga Coffee Factory, 8040 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
5 p.m.

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA
October 17, 2008
Rosa Parks Museum

ANTIGUA
November 7 – 9, 2008
Antigua – Barbuda International Literary Festival
http://www.caribbeanliteraryfestival.com/

On the Road to Cheer Obama

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:10:00 +0000

July 7 and 8, ‘08
(posted by Tina McElroy Ansa)

I’m still a bit buzzed from my trip Monday and Tuesday to the Atlanta area to see Barack Obama hold a town meeting in the gymnasium of a local high school.

I had heard the Democratic presidential nominee last summer in Las Vegas at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference when he was still running neck and neck with Hillary for the spot. But back then, that was a more subdued crowd of black folks attempting journalistic impartiality.

Oh, there were some whoops and lots of applause at the Vegas confab, but let me tell you, it was nothing like being in a gym with about 2,500 other supporters doing the wave and shouting cheers and screaming and clapping and smiling broadly. That’s actually part of the reason I had accepted my new friend Ju Ju’s offer of one of her two tickets to the town meeting and a shared ride and hotel room.

You know I’m in the middle of a new book tour for TAKING AFTER MUDEAR, so most of my DownSouth team and Jonee’ were pleased but surprised when I said, “Why not?” As if I’m not on the road enough, I grabbed my perpetually packed small bag, my favorite beaded bracelets from my SisterLove sister Dazon’s trip to South Africa, my daughter Afrika’s sparkly crystal earrings and jumped in Ju Ju’s Jeep Monday afternoon.

I wanted to be there for the town meeting as much for the excitement of the crowd as for the chance to be a part of what I believe is an historic American story: the journey to the White House for our first African-American president.

That term “multi-racial” pops up a whole lot now to describe Obama, but it was clear that most of the crowd at the Powder Springs gathering outside of Atlanta (overwhelmingly black with a sprinkling of white folks) saw a black man on that stage.

Anyway, for me it was certainly worth the trip (I even drove back!) and the time away from the book business was worth it. I did manage to pass out a few bookmarks and get on the noon news at the NBC affiliate WSB-TV because the beautiful young woman doing the person on the street ( in this case on the verrrrryyyyy long line to get in) interviews was a big fan of my work.

“Oh, my goodness,” she cried, visibly shaken, “I can’t wait to call my friends. We read your books in college!”

Tell me words ain’t power. Stories ain’t magic.

So, I got a chance to express my joy at being a part of history and experience the joy of a reader meeting an author.

Inside, Sen. Obama introduced John Conyers of New York who was there along with Rev. Joseph Lowery. Then, he did the local dignitaries. There weren’t that many. I assume the Atlanta power houses are being saved for a future trip to the city proper.

But still, there was power in the house.

Each time Barack Obama said, “When I am President of the United States….” you could feel a thrilling rush go though the audience. It was real, okay?

The townspeople there were young and old and everything in between, families with babies and toddlers in strollers, teenagers in short tight denim skirts, local politicians in starched shirts and suits but no stickers or buttons touting their campaigns because they were forbidden and collected at the door from all of us. The candidate warmed up the crowd with gentle humor, then he spoke of issues the audience truly wanted addressed: health care for an aging population, bankruptcy, new sources of energy, personal responsibility of parents and young people. “Don’t cuss out the teacher when you’re called in because your child has misbehaved.” Ending the war in Iraq to concentrate on Afghanistan.

The biggest cheers came when he admonished men to take responsibility for their children, parents to “be in your child’s life.”

I was there cheering, too. Not just the speech that I’m sure he’s given many times before and that he will give again and again as he marches toward November and what I hope is a victory – for his campaign and for America.

I was cheering the joy of – as Michelle, Mrs. Obama said – being an American, a proud one.

I was cheering the Secret Service men scanning the crowds.

Five days after the Fourth of July, I was cheering the rush of independence I was feeling in that gym along with my fellow and sister Americans.

It was worth being on the road for.

###.

Op-Ed in Atlanta Journal-Constitution

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Lies and consequences
How do we deserve the trust of readers if we don't vet for truth?

By Tina McElroy Ansa
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/12/08
I don't think I've had a conversation with anyone in the past week who has not had a take, a thoughtful, impassioned take, on recent news of a sheltered white woman passing off her counterfeit story of life as a gang-banging foster child in South Central L.A.

Read the entire op-ed piece.

First Annual Savannah Book Festival

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:08:00 +0000

February 5, 2008

I’m just getting back from a lovely weekend at the inaugural Savannah (Georgia) Book Festival. And I’m reminded again of what a blessing book festivals, my readers and the written word are to all of us.

At Savannah’s first book festival, I spent some time getting to know journalist Kevin Merida, the associate editor at The Washington Post who co-wrote the highly acclaimed biography of Clarence Thomas, a native of Savannah and an extremely complicated and controversial subject.
And in between scrumptious meals of crab, oysters and shrimp dishes, I talked with readers, some I have known for years, some I was just meeting, about my new novel, DownSouth Press and the state of African-American literature. And that’s always a joy.

The food and hospitality were exceptional. The audience for my event was warm and so welcoming of my remarks about the writing life and especially of my reading from my new novel TAKING AFTER MUDEAR, the sequel to UGLY WAYS.

My escort was a very special gift to Jonee’ and me. Maria is Spelman College graduate who is a prosecutor and practicing attorney in the city. Everywhere we went folks came up to her to comment on her sharp legal skills. I was so proud. She was fun, knowledgeable, helpful and my Spelman sister…what can I say?

However, as I have noticed in the last couple of years, diversity among authors at book festival has come under a bit of an assault. There seem to be fewer and fewer authors of color participating in mainstream book events. And this is a disturbing trend for a couple of reasons, the most glaring one being the effect this has on the diversity of the audience and the shrinking of opportunities for exposure for our authors and their works.

I ask my readers and all those concerned with the vigorous health of all literature to make your voices and choices heard at your local book and literary festivals.

And feel free to contact me by email (hit CONTACT on the www.downsouthpress.com website) with your thoughts and suggestions about this matter.

Happy reading!

Tina McElroy Ansa

The Inaugural Ernest Gaines Awards

noreply@blogger.com (DownSouth Press) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Jan. 23-24, 2008

Those who know me are familiar with the complaint I repeat so often about writers of color not receiving the critical reviews and attention that their work warrants. I’ve noticed, with my work as well as with other writers I admire, regrettably that first novels and books may get a substantial amount of review in magazines, newspapers, book sections and on the internet. But with each new work, for most African-American writers, critical articles that show respect for the writing, the intent and the execution of story, characters, plot, craft and culture become harder and harder to find.

It seems ridiculous that as a writer amasses a larger and more polished body of work, the response to that work grows less and less. It is not a situation that I’ve seen for non-black writers. And it is a situation that needs to be addressed.

So, it was with real joy and appreciation that I accepted a position on the jury of judges for the first Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence established by Mr. Gaines, a giant of American letters, and the Baton Route Area Foundation, in 2007. The annual $10,000 award promotes African-American fiction.

From a slate of 29 submissions of works of fiction published in 2007 by African-American writers, the jury of five (writers and scholars) chose Olympia Vernon the winner of the Gaines Award for her novel A KILLING IN THIS TOWN. It is Olympia’s third novel.

The award ceremony took place in January in Baton Rouge near the family land in Oscar, Louisiana, where Mr. Gaines and his wife Dianne live. A few years ago, Ernest Gaines, the author more than 10 books, including the acclaimed and award-winning fiction THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN and A LESSON BEFORE DYING, returned to his new home on the False River plantation land where he grew up. He retired as Writer-in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

It was my great honor to travel to Baton Rouge for the awards ceremony which took place a few days after Mr. Gaines’ 75th birthday. To sit in the audience in the city’s arts center and witness the heartfelt speeches given by the venerable author and the newly honored recipient of the Gaines award made me even more committed to my new publishing company and the assignment of making sure that I support and encourage excellent African-American literature.
The short list for the Gaines Award also included two of my favorite works from 2007: JUMP AT THE SUN, a wonderful novel by Kim McLarin, and GET DOWN, beautiful stories by Asali Solomon. I urge fans of fine fiction to read all three of these truly worthy books.

Tina McElroy Ansa