African Books Collective (ABC) is a non-profit Oxford-based, worldwide marketing and distribution outlet for over 1,000 titles from Africa - scholarly, literature and children’s books. It is founded, owned and governed by a group of African publishers, and its participants are 116 independent and autonomous African publishers from 19 countries.

Support from funding agencies is received for development of publishing capacity in Africa; and resource materials are published for the African book and publishing communities.

Michigan State University Press is ABC’s N. American partner, handling marketing and distribution in the US and Canada. MSUP has a university press mission. The scholarly publishing arm of Michigan State University, it helps to carry out the institution’s land-grant mission through the publication of research and intellectual inquiry that make significant contributions to scholarship in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

To read more about this project or to just buy some books, visit their site at:

http://www.africanbookscollective.com

July 18, 2009 - University Club, San Francisco

INSTOCK, a conference for book self publishers, will include panels covering a variety of publishing and publicity topics. Panelists will include self publishers, marketing professionals, and executives from the traditional publishing industry.

Panels will address:

• Marketing your book
• Selecting a POD or printing house
• Finding your audience
• Publicity tactics
• Pricing your product

… and more.

Panelists will include successful self publishers, marketing pros, executives from the traditional publishing industry and others who will get you thinking strategically about your books.

For more information visit:
http://www.instockconference.com/

August 22, 2009 - Exposition Park Intergenerational Community Center, Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Black Book Expo 2009 will host a full day of activity at the Exposition Park Intergenerational Community Center, which will feature authors, storytellers, spoken word and poetry performances, musicians, exhibitors, children’s book authors, emerging writers, publishers, booksellers, panel discussions, editors, book reviewers, and others. 

Learn more >>

The Santa Fe Trail Creative Arts Guild, dba Creative Arts Council, is accepting applications for the 2010 Annual Self Published Fiction Book Awards. The competition is open to self-published fictional books that were published or revised and reprinted between 2000 and 2009. All book submissions must be published in English.

The grand-prize winner will receive $500 and a personalized plaque. Entrants to previous contests are welcome to submit again. The first place winner will receive $100 and a notable award certificate.

All entries must be postmarked no later than November 30, 2009. Winners will be notified April 1, 2010.

Deadline for entry: November 30, 2009

Links & Downloads:

For guidelines and an entry form, visit Creative Arts Council.

Web site (URL): http://www.creativeartscouncil.org/

Shelfari would like to congratulate the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Finalists. Three finalists have been selected from among several thousand qualified writers in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest searching for the next popular novel, sponsored by Amazon.com, Inc., Penguin Group (USA), and Createspace.

Find out more about the three finalists, read short excerpts of each manuscript, and recommend your favorite to other Shelfari members by visiting the Author Pages located below. Reviews from the expert panel (including Sue Monk Kidd and Sue Grafton) are available at www.amazon.com/abna.

Voting is open until Thursday May 21^st at 11:59 PM EDT. Make sure to cast your vote for the Grand Prize winner at www.amazon.com/abna.

The 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Finalists are:

	Ian Gibson, Victoria BC, for Stuff of Legends The author, who works at a theatre in British Columbia, developed the characters in this novel from a comic strip he created in 2003. Stuff of Legends is a comic fantasy about heroism and celebrity, where a 15-year-old boy’s fondest wish is granted and he is teamed with his idol, superhero Jordan the Red, to defeat villains, monsters and demonic armies.
	James King, Wilton CT, for Bill Warrington’s Last Chance A corporate communication specialist for the past 20 years, the author earned his master’s degree in Creative Writing in 2008 as a way to achieve his lifelong goal of writing fiction. In the novel, Bill Warrington is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and decides it’s time to reestablish ties with his estranged children. After several attempts at a reunion fail, he decides the only way to get his feuding sons and daughter talking is to kidnap his 15-year-old granddaughter.
	Brandi Lynn Ryder, Napa CA, for In Malice, Quite Close A Napa resident who grew up in the gold-mining town of Sonora, the author draws inspiration for her novel from her passions for Impressionist art and French culture. The novel opens in 1979 San Francisco, where an unlikely relationship forms between 15-year-old Karen, who longs to escape her abusive father, and wealthy art collector Tristan Mourault. Tristan gains Karen’s trust and she soon adopts a new identity as his daughter, sending the two on an extraordinary odyssey that spans 15 years and two coasts.

The Ninth National Black Writers Conference: Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World will offer panel discussions, readings, workshops and conversations to focus on the ways in which black writers use literature to transform their lives and the larger global community. Inspired in 1986 by the late John Oliver Killens, the National Black Writers Conference was convened to bring together writers, critics, book-sellers, book reviewers, and the general public to discuss issues affecting black writers. Since 1986 the National Black Writers Conferences at Medgar Evers College have attracted a wide range of writers and scholars from the African diaspora.

Download the Conference Journal

Download the February 11th Press Release

Download the Conference Program

For more information, visit www.mec.cuny.edu/blacklitcenter.

Meditations and Ascension

Brenda M. Greene (Editor). Third World Press 2008, Paperback, 300 pages, $17.00

It’s not too late to sign up for the 2009 Book Fair in New York.

Deadline April 15!

Publishers of all sizes find BookExpo America to be the perfect place for putting existing titles and new releases in the hands of retailers and booksellers around the country. BookExpo America features over 1,200 publishers, including all major U.S. houses, university presses, independent presses, international publishers and small presses. It is the largest show for the North-American retail book-buying community (bookstores, gift stores, catalogs, premium, internet retailers, libraries). Last year there were over 37,000 registered attendees representing over 80 countries.

To Register - visit the BookExpo America website.

Click HERE for more Upcoming Events.

California Crime Writers Conference

June 13 - 14, 2009 - Hilton Pasadena, Pasadena, California

The California Crime Writers Conference is co-sponsored by Sisters in Crime/LA and Mystery Writers of America/SoCal and offers two full days of workshops, luncheons with keynote speakers, and business sessions in the luxurious Hilton Pasadena. 

Conference highlights and details:

• Two full days of workshops and breakout sessions from 8 AM - 5 PM Saturday and Sunday, plus an agents cocktail party Saturday 5 - 7 PM.
• Luncheon keynotes each day featuring best-selling authors Robert Crais and Laurie King.
• Agents/editors and top-flight faculty/speakers.
• Business sessions include online marketing, book contracts, e-publishing, book tours, agents’ and editors’ tips, media coaching, and more.
• Craft workshops include plotting, pitching, character and voice development, query letters, rewriting and revising, adapting for TV, and more.
• Forensic sessions include NRA gun demonstration, mountain rescue team demonstration, crime scenes and cold cases with LAPD and Pasadena Police Department, and more.
• One-on-one manuscript critiques* (extra fee) [limited to first 30 registrants]
• Breakfast (Saturday), lunch (both days), and no-host cocktail party
• Bookseller: Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena
• Vendor room, goodie bags, give-aways and raffle
• Luxury hotel setting at the Pasadena Hilton, just footsteps away from historic and trendy Old Pasadena. Special group room rates available.

Click HERE to download registration flyer.

>>>More Upcoming Events

L.A. Requiem (Elvis Cole Novels)

Robert Crais. Ballantine Books 2000, Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages, $3.60

The Last Detective

Robert Crais. Ballantine Books 2004, Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages, $3.50

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice

Laurie R. King. Picador 2007, Paperback, 384 pages, $7.68

A Monstrous Regiment of Women

Laurie R. King. Picador 2007, Paperback, 336 pages, $8.22

African Voices and the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center will host a free book celebration for Javaka Steptoe, the illustrator of Amiri and Odette, a re-telling of the Swan Lake love story written by Walter Dean Myers.

The celebration will offer activities and entertainment for the whole family including arts and crafts, a dance performance choreographed by Melvin Black and storytelling presentations by Tammy Hall and Javaka Steptoe.

SAVE THE DATE:

March 29, 2009, 2 pm-4:30 pm

Book Celebration for Javaka Steptoe, Amiri & Odette

Embora Wellness & Movement Studio

900 Fulton Street (Bet. Waverly & Washington Aves.)

C train to Clinton and Washington

For information call: 347 884-7924 or 212 865-2982

In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall

Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator). Lee & Low Books 2001, Paperback, 32 pages, $4.49

The Jones Family Express

Javaka Steptoe. Lee & Low Books 2005, Paperback, 40 pages, $5.78

Sweet, Sweet Baby!

Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator). Cartwheel 2005, Rag Book, 4 pages, $9.75

Rain Play

Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator). Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) 2008, Hardcover, 32 pages, $9.28

Hot Day on Abbott Avenue (Jane Addams Honor Book (Awards))

Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator). Clarion Books 2004, Hardcover, 32 pages, $9.09

Do You Know What I’ll Do?

Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator). HarperCollins 2000, Hardcover, 32 pages, $9.52

A Pocketful of Poems

Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator). Clarion Books 2001, Hardcover, 32 pages, $1.99