Up South

This past Wednesday, WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer interviewd Malaika Adero and Martha Southgate about the state of urban lit and how this ever-jigsawing mashup will coexist with the mainstream. Touching on street vendors, literature definitions (street, urban, literary...) Martha revisted her editorial, which appeared in the New York Times Book Review, lamented the glass ceiling many "literary" Black writers face once they reach three or so books.



Malaika, Simon & Schuster editor, acknowledged that there are writers of quality out there, but the traditional venues in which they once dominated are shifting. And they must find alternative ways to success. Enter stage right, the Up South International Book Festival with the goals of providing a platform for appreciating well-crafted writing.

That evening, I attended the opening night reception, and enjoyed an eclectic multi-form dramatic presentation of Rough Crossings by Simon Schama(historian/narrator) with Jason Moran (pianist), Alicia Hall (soprano), and Shayla-vie Jenkins (dancer). Though CP was in slight effect, it was well worth the wait. Rough Crossings tells of "the lives of slaves and ex-slaves around the time of the American Revolution, Schama finds brutality, horror and the ever-present threat of a return to slavery, leading many blacks to embrace the British cause and the hope of freedom." --Publishers' Weekly

To fully explain the serrendipity in which the formation of this production exists would take too much time. But: Sharma is a Columbia professor, Hall is his assistant, Moran is her husband, and Jenkins was approached after a dance performance in the same space as tonight's presentation --The Gatehouse at Aaron Davis Hall. Suffice to say Schama did an hour-long dramatic reading of his work (which will soon open in London as a play and air on PBS as a documentary) to an original score by Jason Moran. The absorbing score is heavily tinged by 18th and 19th centuries period music --in which slavery existed. Alicia Hall's (aka Hall-Moran) vocal embodiment of the period was a concise compliment and stirred emotional souls with a perfect collection of negro spirituals and period songs. The lithe choreography of Shayla-vie Jenkins served to give the entire performance a physicality and movement that any staged presentation of freedom, slavery, brutality, migration, and divinity deserves.

Though this year's Up South seems less literary than the 2006 inaugural event it continues to serve as an important stage for literary artists who are broadening the ideas of "traditional."

Judging Books by Their Covers

Judging Books by Their Covers
Dorothea Benton Frank
Publishers' Weekly
September 8, 2007

In my last blog we embarked on a discussion of book covers, their importance, the varying amounts of input authors have on their design but we didn’t really gnaw that bone. I invite all marketing people, art department folks, booksellers, authors, book enthusiasts in any and all genres to throw in an opinion and yes, (insert drum roll) even publishers to come forward and enlighten us on the process.

Obviously the only experience I have is my own; so here’s my two cents. I hate my covers. In my mind my covers say “there is absolutely nothing of any literary value whatsoever in these pages,” which we will get to later on. THE LAND OF MANGO SUNSETS featured a girl who apparently had met with great success in the “fiber ingestion for specific results department” and was dancing down a beach. She was half the age of my protagonist and I am sure all that pink and fuchsia cost me great numbers among my prison readership. BUT! When it was stacked up in piles against all the piles of black and gray and depressing graphic covers of the April 2007 releases, it almost jumped off the table screaming, “Buy me! I’m fun!” People did. So, what do I know? Nothing. It sold very, very well.

I have come to the conclusion that there are plenty of people who make lots of money deciding on covers so I am butting out and just letting them do their jobs. No matter what they come up with I am always going to feel like the cover art trivializes the value of my work. (I have some pride, you know. In addition, second guessing them never built any relationships of grand affection.) I think publishers follow trends. If blue books hit all the lists in women’s mainstream fiction last year, the next year there will be a glut of blue books. If disembodied females sold well, then next year you will see women from the waist down or up. There seems to be a trend for feet lately – feet at the water’s edge or maybe I am imagining this.

Zadie Smith? Her covers say, “LITERARY! Harold Bloom thinks I’m a genius.” And she will win all the literary awards this year or Edwidge Danticat (actually Dantica) will or some other writer’s work poised in glory on Harold Bloom’s nightstand. Downside? Literary covers also carry with them the suspicion that the content might be turgid, depressing or induce binge drinking. I just read THE ROAD. Another boring cover on a fabulous story that was my worst nightmare. I loved it.

Most cover art seems to come from stock art, already produced and graphics are slapped on it and off we go. Rarely does the publisher commission an outside artist to create an original cover. Everything costs money that’s the bottom line. Yes, my publisher cares if I like my covers and I think they go to some measure of exertion to please all their authors. But they publish so many books every year on such a tight schedule, they can’t lose sleep over it. After all, my job is to write, not be the art director.

Next Issue

I've been here but away from blogging during August. Just out enjoying the summer. Even when you work from home, as I do, it's good to cut down on the work and get some sun.

That said, I'm busing working on the next issue of Mosaic. We interviewed Tayari Jones (see pic), J. California Cooper, and William Demby. It interesting, now that Felicia Pride is editor. She selects, assigns, and edits all the editorial before it gets to me. Since I want to concentrate more on the Literary Freedom Project I welcome the change but it's taken several issues to mentally adjust to the freedom. Felicia's a writer and blogger who runs her own site, The Backlist. She has several books about to drop.

With the extra time she's afforded me I plan to focus more energy on fundraising, subscriptions, and ads. Mosaic still runs at a deficit. It's supported by MosaicBooks.com, which continues to grow in popularity. I also want to develop MosaicMagazine.org as more of a multimedia site featuring audio and video clips as well as original content that's only featured on the web and not in the magazine. Online tools like Odeo.com , Flickr.com, and Jumpcut.com make much of this a simple process.

I've decided to cancel this year's Reverse Festival so that I can focus my energy. Reverse takes a lot of time and planning, too much to do it properly without finding funders and sponsors. Of course, we're always looking for volunteers to help bring all these projects to fruition. If you feel you have some knowledge that you feel can help us shoot me an email, ron@mosaicmagazine.org.