A Few Things
Happy Saturday!
Here are a few things I wanted to share with you all. The first is a message I received from Amistad Confidential. This one is dedicated to those of us who especially like to keep our eyes on the world of publishing, not least of all--the fate of books for us, by us:
Dear Friends,
I'm an editor for Amistad/HarperCollins. You are probably familiar with some of our more famous books such as THE KNOWN WORLD by Edward P. Jones and Chris Gardner's THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS.
I came across your respective sites from the ringshout.blogspot.com initiative started by my colleagues in other publishing arenas. I have launched a new blog for our imprint called www.amistadconfidential.blogspot.com where I discuss our books and publishing in general. I hope it gives people insight into the publishing world, particularly as it relates to publishing books related to the black experience.
It is part of my web 2.0 initiative to help bring together people interested in the fate of black literature.
I hope some of your are kind enough to take a look and to tell your friends!
Thanks!
Definitely take the time to stop by to get your word in.
Also, there's a writer I linked up with via my Indigenous Caribbean Network, Oronde Ash. Oronde hails from St.Vincent (land of my Great Grandfather) and what I have seen of his video series summarized, I think, many of our feelings throughout the Diaspora and ex-colonies. What is particularly exciting about his writing is that I recognize myself in it as I am sure many of you will as well. This excitement, this recognition of ourselves in this is the signal that our experiences are not so isolated. The world is, unlike what the media insists of telling us, full of educated (formal or other/wise), soul-searching, folk who despite the attainment of what is deemed to be attained, have realized, hey: there's something wrong here! We're finding ourselves part of the very system that tore our families asunder (and I mean literally here!) and we're speaking up. Listen to the WORDS here:
I would also like to mention the recent initiative on The CAC Review by Maximilian C. Forte in his Dreaming of a New World (Movement²).
He writes, "The multiple currents of the New World Movement defy an easy summary, but I will try nonetheless. These currents included political economic analyses of the legacies of slavery and plantation society that paralleled the development of Latin American Dependency Theory. The foci were on greater economic, political, but also cultural autonomy; a quest to build the bases for a new Caribbean autochthony; a search for a new indigeneity; regional integration and collaboration between Island territories; a focus on local industry, self-reliance, and pride in local traditions, local foods; a sharp stance against transnational corporations and American cultural imperialism; a critique of monoculture and import dependency; calls for a new politics focusing on real and popular democracy rather than ossified forms of Westminster parliamentary democracy that allowed for bureaucratic and populist authoritarianism; a revalorization of local language and arts; the construction of a Caribbean philosophy and an investigation of the existence of a Caribbean civilization--all momentous, magnificent, and without rival since." I heartily recommend reading the text in its entirety. I'm definitely in.
I'm off to the Copenhagen Carnival. This year, I will leave my cynicism at home and enjoy the fact that there are people here who are determined to bring the Sunshine into our hearts. I can't be mad at that. (It does not hurt that the weather has been gorgeous...)
the lab
Here are a few things I wanted to share with you all. The first is a message I received from Amistad Confidential. This one is dedicated to those of us who especially like to keep our eyes on the world of publishing, not least of all--the fate of books for us, by us:
Dear Friends,
I'm an editor for Amistad/HarperCollins. You are probably familiar with some of our more famous books such as THE KNOWN WORLD by Edward P. Jones and Chris Gardner's THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS.
I came across your respective sites from the ringshout.blogspot.com initiative started by my colleagues in other publishing arenas. I have launched a new blog for our imprint called www.amistadconfidential.blogspot.com where I discuss our books and publishing in general. I hope it gives people insight into the publishing world, particularly as it relates to publishing books related to the black experience.
It is part of my web 2.0 initiative to help bring together people interested in the fate of black literature.
I hope some of your are kind enough to take a look and to tell your friends!
Thanks!
Definitely take the time to stop by to get your word in.
Also, there's a writer I linked up with via my Indigenous Caribbean Network, Oronde Ash. Oronde hails from St.Vincent (land of my Great Grandfather) and what I have seen of his video series summarized, I think, many of our feelings throughout the Diaspora and ex-colonies. What is particularly exciting about his writing is that I recognize myself in it as I am sure many of you will as well. This excitement, this recognition of ourselves in this is the signal that our experiences are not so isolated. The world is, unlike what the media insists of telling us, full of educated (formal or other/wise), soul-searching, folk who despite the attainment of what is deemed to be attained, have realized, hey: there's something wrong here! We're finding ourselves part of the very system that tore our families asunder (and I mean literally here!) and we're speaking up. Listen to the WORDS here:
I would also like to mention the recent initiative on The CAC Review by Maximilian C. Forte in his Dreaming of a New World (Movement²).
He writes, "The multiple currents of the New World Movement defy an easy summary, but I will try nonetheless. These currents included political economic analyses of the legacies of slavery and plantation society that paralleled the development of Latin American Dependency Theory. The foci were on greater economic, political, but also cultural autonomy; a quest to build the bases for a new Caribbean autochthony; a search for a new indigeneity; regional integration and collaboration between Island territories; a focus on local industry, self-reliance, and pride in local traditions, local foods; a sharp stance against transnational corporations and American cultural imperialism; a critique of monoculture and import dependency; calls for a new politics focusing on real and popular democracy rather than ossified forms of Westminster parliamentary democracy that allowed for bureaucratic and populist authoritarianism; a revalorization of local language and arts; the construction of a Caribbean philosophy and an investigation of the existence of a Caribbean civilization--all momentous, magnificent, and without rival since." I heartily recommend reading the text in its entirety. I'm definitely in.
I'm off to the Copenhagen Carnival. This year, I will leave my cynicism at home and enjoy the fact that there are people here who are determined to bring the Sunshine into our hearts. I can't be mad at that. (It does not hurt that the weather has been gorgeous...)
the lab
Comments
C. Morgan
Amistad Confidential