Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth film

Director Prathibha Parmar's new film about the life and work of Alice Walker entitled Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth will be shown at the BFI on Thursday 29 March.  Priority bookings open on the 1 March to members of the BFI. Booking information and everyone else after that.  The still unfinished film is being shown as part of the BFI London Lesbian and Gay film festival. After the screening Pratibha will be interviewed about her work. This looks like it will be incredibly popular you are going to have to be quick to get a space. 

The 2011 unread list

I noticed that some of the American book bloggers have logged the numbers of books they have read throughout 2011, some, even down to the number of actual pages and words read. That is so impressive. I have no idea how many books or pages I read last year. It got me thinking though, and in that very British Eddie the Eagle failing kind of way, here’s my 2011 unread list. I seem to have begun the year in a ‘list-making’ mood (50 Black British Books & Bestselling authors.) The unread list is the books that I bought last year, but never quite got round to finishing or on some occasions even opening. I wonder what the book buying equivalent of the refrain ‘Your eyes are bigger than your tummy’ is?  Might it be something like ‘An Amazon account works faster than there are ever likely to be reading hours in a life!

The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson: I am going to read this, I love these expansive and epic works that take years and years of research. It’s just that it might not be quite so soon a read for me. I had Wild Swans on my bookshelves for about 4 years, before I finally read it and I was totally engrossed, it changed my view of so many things. It gave me better sense of the universal connections between women, as well as an understanding of Chinese history. The Warmth of Other Sun’s feels as though it is going to be that type of book.  It will though, remind me of my still unfulfilled need for a book that tells the Black British story across generations in the same life changing and enhancing way. 

Juice, Ishmael Reed: I’m usually very conscientious when publishers or authors send me their books to consider, and I did start this one, but could not quite get into it. However I  have since seen Ishmael Reed in a documentary as part of the Science Fiction exhibition and talks at the British Museum and I now have a better sense of who he is. So I will give this book, which tells the OJ Simpson case from the black perspective, a go again.  Not in the picture is Malaika Rose Stanley’s Skin Deep a beautiful looking young adult novel, that was published by the children’s publisher specialising in diversity orientated publications, Tamarind Books. No excuses.

Granta Book of the African Short Stories, collated by Helon Habila A block buster door stop of a book, I have read a few of the short stories, but never ever imagined that I would read it all straight through, to me it’s more of reference book– and a really beautiful one at that - to be dipped in and out of for inspiration. 

Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead Always thought that this sounded good when it first came out a couple of years ago. I was recently reminded of it in a conversation on good book ideas for the reading group, and this prompted me to finally get round to buying a copy. 

I Love Myself When I am Laughing and Then Again When I am Looking Mean & Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader (edited by Alice Walker). With that amazing title, who would not want a copy of this in their collection? UK Amazon decided it was not available after months of my being on the waiting list, and so in the end I actually got it from Abe books. 

Cloth Girl, Marilyn Heward Mills: I try and mix up the Black Reading Group’s book club selections across Africa, Black British, Caribbean, America, Europe. In this instance I was looking for a read that was West African, but outside of Nigeria – Cloth Girl is set in Ghana in the mid-20^th century. 

Open City, Teju Cole: This book probably received some of the best reviews that I read in 2011 (The Economist's review), and I’m ashamed to say, even now, I’ve yet to open this very contemporary look at the Nigerian/US experience. 

The Kid, Sapphire: I was not going to buy this book, the discussions about it and the storyline seems so difficult and downbeat, I was just not ready for it. And then I went into a bookshop and it was the only book by a black author that they had on display!  So I bought the only copy that they had. 

The View from Africa, Granta 92: Includes Binyavanga Wainaina’s famous essay How to Write about Africa. I was going to ask Binyavanga to sign this when he was the guest author at the reading group’s October meet-up, and then I completely forgot. My original copy is in storage, which is why I had to buy it again. It includes pre-published extracts of novels by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (Half A Yellow Sun), and Helon Habila; and a memoir essay Adewale Maja-Pearce.

The Autobiography of my Mother: Jamaica Kincaid. Still feel guilty that I have only ever read one Jamaica Kincaid - Annie John years ago, and I do feel that I should have read more, as her work is so often referenced as inspirational. 

Song of Solomon Toni Morrison: Bought as another idea for the reading group – this is to be part of the classics season of books that will form the reads for the start of the year. So I know that it will be read by the end of February. 

The World That Was Ours, Hilda Bernstein: I love the publisher's Persephone book shop in Lambs Conduit St. Persephone’s ethos is to republish the forgotten works of women writers of the mid-twentieth century. I actually went in to get their copy of a book by the French writer Irene Nemirovsky, and while getting that, noticed that this is the only book I could find about Africa on their list. It is Hilda Bernstein's own story of life before and after apartheid took hold in South Africa and how she and her husband played their part in opposing it. Bernstein's husband was tried at the same time as Mandela, but he was acquitted, while all the black South Africans went to prison. 

Oroonoko, Aphra Benn: (not in the photo), I bought this because I heard that it is the first book published in the UK (1688) that has a black person as the central character. Flicking through it, I find the style of writing dense, but I probably need to devote a bit more time to it.  

Vox Africa's Shoot The Messenger

Toni Morrison

I was a guest on Vox Africa's Shoot the Messenger  (Sky 218) last weekend to talk about the Black Reading Group, the book club that I coordinate, and the Black Book Swap (3 March 2012) event. I was the last guest on the show, after Toni Morrison talking about what inspires her to write. As I mentioned in the piece it had been her birthday during the week before - she is now 81. I did not know until just before I went onto the set that they were going to show Toni Morrison as the intro to my conversation, I was really touched by that.
Cannot wait for her 2012 book: Home   My slot on the show starts about 42 minutes into the programme, you can watch it here: Shoot The Messenger. 

Interview with Margaret Busby

Margaret Busby is the co-founder of Allison and Busby publishers, which began in 1967. It is still operates as an independent publishers today. Margaret is one of the most eminent people in the UK’s publishing community.

She is a now a publisher, broadcaster and reviewer and this year she will be supporting and encouraging new and established writers through her involvement in the following literature prizes. First, she is the Chair of the Commonwealth Book Prize,

the shortlist will be announced in April 2012 and the winner announced in May 2012. Later in the year Margaret will also be judging the SI Leeds Literary Prize, which is a brand new award for unpublished fiction (30,000 words) by black and Asian women writers. This prize is supported by the independent publishers, Peepal Tree Press. 

Margaret’s recent reviews in The Observer and The Guardian include: 

Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York City, by Jonny Steinberg 

The Last Holiday: A Memoir by Gil Scott Heron 

Tell us a little about Allison and Busby.

Although Allison & Busby still exists as an independent publisher, I have had no formal involvement with it for quite a while (and the same was true of Clive Allison), so can’t comment on their current publishing policy.  The style and content of the list now is obviously very different from what it was originally, since the people involved with choosing the books are different, with differing interests, politics, etc.

When we started the company it was to do the sort of publishing we did not think was being done at that time; in the first place, it was certainly an unusual thing for a small publisher to start up, and our approach was also something of a departure from what was then happening. The A&B list featured both new writers and established authors, in a mixture of poetry, fiction, non-fiction (particularly political) and children’s books.  We brought back into print many titles we though were important and well as discovering, nurturing and making successful new writers.

Someone once paid what I consider a high compliment about the A&B list of those days: “You never knew what Allison & Busby would publish next, but you knew it was going to be interesting.”

Which book[s] are you most proud of publishing?

Most of them, for one reason or another!  The very first novel we published – which had been rejected by publishers on both sides of the Atlantic – was Sam Greenlee’s The Spook Who Sat By the Door (a subversive political thriller, the first book by an African American).  We made it into a success, with extracts in The Observer, translation rights sold round the world, etc, and it was made into a film that has achieved cult status.

It was good to be able to bring back into print important writers who had been neglected for years.  For example, most of work of CLR James  was out of print in this country when I began to republish his work in the 1970s.  In terms of other significant black writers, we published George Lamming, Roy Heath, Buchi Emecheta, etc.

Which of your published works would you liked to have seen do better than it did?

Sometimes there has been the occasional book that has been so well reviewed everywhere that people think they already know everything about it and don’t bother to buy it…

Which book do you wish you had published?

Too many books I admire to mention.  Every publisher will have regrets about the ones that got away; in our case, it was sometimes that we did not have enough money to compete with other richer, bigger outfits.  But you have to focus on what you are publishing, rather than the ones that got away.  What did occasionally happen is that authors who became successful at A&B were then taken away by their agents to other publishing houses who were better heeled – although authors also found out that more money did not necessarily mean a happier editorial relationship with the publisher.

What do you think about the future of publishing in the UK?

E-books seem to be on the rise, and the internet, online publication, print-on-demand are all things that are impacting on the tradition face of publishing.

Do you think that the publishing world is too conservative and so finds it difficult to accommodate black literature?

I think the publishing industry needs to be more diverse in terms of personnel, so that there is greater input from a black perspective.  It’s hard to think of any black editors in the mainstream companies at the moment.

You are judging the exciting new SI Leeds Literary Prize (a new award for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian women) What inspires you most about this literary initiative?

It will be interesting to see what is being written before it gets filtered through the usual publishing channels.

What do you enjoy most about reviewing books?

The chance to read and enjoy new talent - and get paid for it…though not very much!

What don’t you like about reviewing books?

Much as I love reading good “Black books”, I wish I that I were also asked to review books outside that perceived “expertise” of being black!  I hope the assumption is not that I am so narrow-minded as to have no interest in a broad range of writing and topics.  I endorse what Toni Morrison once said: “I really think the range of emotions and perceptions I have had access to as a black person and a female person are greater than those of people who are neither… My world did not shrink because I was a black female writer. It just got bigger.” 

What book(s) would you liked to have reviewed?

Maybe more music books.  For a change.  Because I love music.

I have enjoyed reading your book reviews and your sensitive and kind obituaries and I guess that you have met some amazing poets and writers, do you plan to write a book?

Eventually…

I thought that your obituary  of the Jamaican playwright, Barry Reckord was a revelation. It’s been a while since I read her books, but he did not seem to me to be the same person that his lover and author, Diana Athill,  described, do you think that the time has come to reclaim and celebrate his legacy?

It is important to document and celebrate the achievements of many of our black creatives, such as Barry Reckord and others, so that they do not get written out of history simply because their importance may not be recognised by the mainstream.  “Until the lions have their say, tales of victory will be written by the hunter."

Which book would be your ultimate survival manual?

I once published a book by a 16^th century Japanese samurai called Miyamoto Musashi, called A Book of Five Rings (in fact it’s still in print with Allison & Busby I think) –  it’s a philosophical take on martial arts and strategy for winning battles.  That’s not my ultimate survival manual though I do believe one has to choose which battles are worth fighting, knowing one can’t win them all and certainly not single-handedly.

What are you looking forward reading for your own enjoyment, after you have finished judging the Commonwealth Book and the SI Literary prizes?

No doubt by then I will have had a surfeit of fiction, so possibly some poetry, perhaps by one of the exciting South African poets on the scene at the moment, e.g. Phillippa Yaa de Villiers. 

Which writers inspire you?

Toni Morrison is always an inspiration, for her ability to challenge the imagination and make language new; and I also relate to the fact that she used to be an editor in a publishing house and in that capacity helped a lot of other black writers break through.

What book would you recommend for the Black Reading Group?

I recommend something by Earl Lovelace – lots to choose from…his most recent novel is called Is Just a Movie, and the one before that was Salt (Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1997).  How about Christie Watson’s Tiny Sunbirds Far Away.   Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners is a classic that’s well worth checking out. (I once abridged it for BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime.)

This is the Lime magazine March 2012 theme is the Goddess issue: What’s so fabulous about being a woman?

Every woman/goddess should realise that it’s amazing what you can do when you don’t care who takes the credit. 

What question should I have asked you, and what is the answer?

Who was it that said: “Chocolate is the answer.  Who cares what the question is?”

You could have asked why I didn’t choose an easier life!  No good answer…but we’ve all got to do our bit to make a difference and make things better – if we do not, who will?

An edited version of this interview will be published in the March 2012 edition of Lime magazine. 

Book Club: Sunday 26 February 2012

First edition cover

The Black Reading Group’s classics season continues with Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.

The meeting will take place on Sunday 26 February 2012, Waterstone’s Piccadilly branch at 3pm. Take the lift to the 5^th floor restaurant and turn left, go through the arch, and we will be at the round table on the left hand side.  Link to Waterstone's 5th floor

About the author

Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 - the only black women to have won it. She is the author of nine novels, including The Bluest Eye, Beloved, (made into a major film and she won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1997), and most recently A Mercy, and has received the National Book Foundation Award, which is awarded to a writer ‘who has enriched our literary heritage over a life of service’. Toni’s new novel Home will be published in May in the UK.  Link to the new book: Home  Wikipedia entry about Toni Morrison

From the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature Award Ceremony:

In her depictions of the world of the black people, in life as in legend, Toni Morrison has given the Afro-American people their history back, piece by piece.

Milkman Dead, the protagonist of Song of Solomon, reflects one of the basic themes of Miss Morrison's novels, in his quest for self. Milkman's paternal grandfather was a liberated slave. When he was registering his freedom, he responded to a question about his father with the word "Dead", thus acquiring his macabre surname from the drunken official who asked. His family was prepared to accept this name: "It was new and would wipe out the past. Wipe it all out." The Solomon whose name occurs in the title of the novel, Milkman's peculiar southern forefather, was to be found even in the song that went with children's games. The intensity of his inner life had carried him through the air back to the Africa of his origins. Solomon's rapture was ultimately Milkman's as well.

What they say about it: 

(the comments on the back of the 1998 Vintage edition)

A complex, wonderfully alive and imaginative story – Ms Morrison has woven, among gritty realities of hardship and resentment. A glittering strand of fable. Daily Telegraph

Toni Morrison has written a brilliant prose tale that surveys nearly a century of American history as it impinges on a single family.

New York Times Book Review

Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon grips as a novel of extraordinary truth, wisdom and humour.

Sunday Telegraph

No dreams or tricks. No potions or superstitions, no accent or betrayal will be allowed to escape as she weaves her spell of Black America singing its past.

Melvyn Bragg

A first class novel… I could not put it down.

Auberon Waugh, Evening Standard

Following up her novels, The Bluest Eye and Sula, Morrison has produced a novel about the black experience in America that is an extraordinary in the imaginative. Dramatic feeling as Roots… A spell-binding tale, superbly written.

Publishers Weekly.

Pulitzer Prize wining author, Junot Diaz on Song of Solomon:

And as far as books can propel me, I will never forget the dumbest story that I repeat again and again and again—the first real year I went to college, the first class that I sat down in, the first book we had to read was Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon transformed my life from reading junk, which I love—I think it’s very important!—to suddenly discovering that it was possible not only to be transformed at the level of fantasy—but to be transformed on the most fundamental human level. Suddenly not only did I see the real world that I lived in, but I saw myself in ways I’d never seen before. I still think that damned book put me on the road to being a writer. Song of Solomon, beyond everything, is an extraordinary book to encounter as your first literary text. Boston Review, December 2010

First Impressions

I have not actually started reading this book quite yet, I have been besotted by Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson and have not yet finished that. So my comments are based on why Song of Solomon is worth reading now. It continues our book club reading season of what’s a black classic? In this regard surely this book most be it? Not only because it was cited in the Morrison’s Nobel Prize award – I have quoted from it above, because I thought that it was a moving testament. A classic certainly because it is telling the search for history and identity of black people in America and also making the connections back to Africa. I think it will surely be a deep and broad novel that will stand the test of time. Fingers crossed. I am particularly looking forward to reading a novel by an American author, as they seem to have dropped of my reading lists of late.