SLBAM Needs West Coast Members!

The Street Literature Book Award Medal Committee (SLBAM), a regionally-balanced committee, is looking to add two (2) West Coast librarians to the committee for selection of the best of urban literature for libraries in 2015. The committee seat is an open-term assignment.

If you'd like to serve, please send your nomination in the form of a CV/resume to irvinv@hawaii.edu by October 15, 2015.

Thank you for your interest and support!

Must Read: Article about Street Lit in NY Times (03 May 2015)

Greetings!

I am happy to share a very good article with you about Ashley and JaQuavis Coleman, and their careers as authors within the street lit / urban fiction genre.

Hot off the Press, via The New York Times, you can read the article at: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/ashley-jaquavis-coleman-profile/?_r=1!

Enjoy

NEW READ: Animal III: Revelations by K'wan Foye

Amazon.com #1 “Top Rated Fiction” Bestselling Crime Novelist K’WAN FOYE

Set to release
“ANIMAL III: REVELATIONS”
from CASH MONEY CONTENT/ATRIA BOOKS
On November 4, 2014

October 27, 2014 –    K’wan Foye, one of this generations most talented and gritty crime novelists, is set to release Animal III: Revelations on November 4, from Cash Money Content books, the book publishing arm of the iconic record label Cash Money Records.  Animal III: Revelations is Foye’s most anticipated release to date, and is the follow up to his 2013 bestselling novel “Animal II: The Omen.”

Animal is a bestselling urban crime series with strong sales that have not slowed since first hitting shelves in 2012.  Animal, the first in the series, released in 2012, enjoyed unprecedented success with a #1 debut on Amazon.com’s list of “Top Rated Fiction,” while also receiving recognition from Library Journal where it was named one of the “Top 5 Street Lit Novels of 2012,” as well as a Library Journal starred “Pick of the Month” for October 2012.  Additionally, Animal reached #2 on the “Power List” of bestselling books compiled by Black bookstores. Kwan was also named “2008 Author of the Year” by Black Press Radio.

In Animal III, Kwan’s most revered character, Animal, the infamous fugitive from his well known Hood Rat Series, continues his bloody saga.  In the novel, we find Animal breaking the promise that he made to his wife upon his release from prison and picking up his guns once again.  To keep his daughter and her mother safe, Animal sets out on a mission of murder, but it isn’t just any man his ex-lover, Red Sonja, has sent him after, it's one of the most powerful drug dealers in the country…her father.

K’wan Foye’s previous novels include Welfare Wifeys (an African American Literary Award-winner), Section 8, Gutter, Still Hood, Hood Rat, Eve, Hoodlum and Street Dreams. K’wan has sold a total of 520,000 books.

Catch K’wan at the following book signings in the following cities:

Sat, November 8              Detroit, MI, Hood Books
                                                20900 Dequindre Rd Warren, MI - 48091
                                                2:00pm – 6:00pm

Sat, November 15            Washington D.C. William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Neighborhood Library
                                                115 Atlantic Street, SW, Washington DC 20032
                                                12Noon – 1:30pm

Mon, November 17        Los Angeles CA, LA Public Library – Miriam Matthews Branch
                                                2205 W. Florence Street LA, CA 90043
                                                5:30 – 7:30 PM

Sat, November 22            Miami, FL, Miami Book Festival – Miami Dade College –
                                                Wolfson Campus – Bldg. 8, Room 8303
                                                300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami FL
                                                5:30pm

Praise for K’wan
   “Animal is a masterpiece”
                                         – Ronald “Slim” Williams, Co-CEO Cash Money Records/Cash Money Content
  
 “You don’t get more hood than K’wan”
                                         – Bryan “Birdman” Williams, Co-CEO Cash Money Records/Cash Money Content

  “…the characters become so alive that watching them spin toward their inevitable ends
                  is heartbreaking.”                                                    - Entertainment Weekly on “Street Dreams”

“The big draw here is the electric prose, which is imbued with profane, comic lyricism.”
                                                                                                                         - Publishers Weekly on “Hood Rat”

“K’wan has risen from “just another street lit author” to a writer who produces thrilling plots, and his descriptive prose holds its own against many top-selling authors.”  - Library Journal on “Eviction Notice”

For more info log onto www.kwanfoye.com.  Follow K’wan on twitter @K’Wan141 or @We_R_TeamAnimal and also find him at facebook.com/We Are #TeamAnimal.

For interviews and more information about Animal II or Cash Money Content books, contact:

Donna Torrence
donna@mediasavvyr.com
201.854.7082
About Cash Money Content

Cash Money Content (CMC) is a groundbreaking partnership that pairs the Cash Money Records brand with Atria Books, a division of the publishing powerhouse, Simon & Schuster.  CMC is publishing some of the most original and influential authors of urban fiction, as well as memoirs by some of the most prominent voices of today, and life-changing books on success, motivation, money and health.  Founded by Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams, the brothers who brought you Cash Money Records, home to multi-platinum recording artists like Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Jay Sean, and Bow Wow, comes a whole new concept in book publishing.

For more information on Cash Money Content, log onto www.CashMoneyContent.com, follow on Twitter @CashMoneyBooks and on Facebook @CashMoneyContent.

Animal III: Revelations
by K'wan
Cash Money Content/Original
Pub Date: November 4, 2014
ISBN:  978 1 936399 932
eBook: 978-1-936399-949
Trim Size: 5 5/16 x 8 1/4
Price US: $14.99, Price CDN: $16.99
Format: Paperback
240 Pages
# # #

donna torrence
mediasavvy pr, inc.
e: donna@mediasavvypr.com
o:  201.854.7082
c:  201.417.8596
t:  @donnatorrence
www.mediasavvypr.com

For RELEASE: 2014 Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Winners and Honorees

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

Philadelphia, PA. -- The 2014 Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee is proud to announce the award winners for 2013 publications. The following winners and honorees were nominated based on popularity of books as read by the public in school, academic, and public library settings. In other words, the SLBAM honors what street lit readers are reading and deeming as their best authors and titles for the 2013 publication year.

ADULT NON-FICTION WINNER: LETTERS TO AN INCARCERATED BROTHER: ENCOURAGEMENT, HOPE, AND HEALING FROM INMATES AND THEIR LOVED ONES BY HILL HARPER.

Readers really resonated with the epistolary-styled book authored author/actor Hill Harper. A long-time activist for social justice, Harper's writings back to inmate letters is awe-inspiring and a clarion call for everyone to acknowledge that if one of us is imprisoned, then, we all are. This title was constantly requested last year, in its hardback version. It is also available on Kindle, and the paperback is due for release in April 2014.

Adult Non-Fiction Honorees:
-- Soul Train: The Music, Dance and Style of a Generation by Quest Love.
-- Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou.
-- Undisputed Truth by Mike Tyson and Larry Sloman.


 ADULT FICTION WINNER: HONOR THY THUG BY WAHIDA CLARK.

Author and publisher Wahida Clark has a loyal readership that responds to her books consistently. Clark's works are always authentic in their voice and in their uncompromising representations of what goes on in the hood. Wahida keeps it real in her Thug Love series, of which "Honor Thy Thug" is the latest installment. Readers couldn't get enough of this title in 2013.

Adult Fiction Honorees:
-- The Prada Plan 3: Green-Eyed Monster by Ashley and JaQuavis.
-- Murderville 3: The Black Dahlia by Ashley and JaQuavis.
-- Fly Betty by Treasure Blue.



YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE WINNER: HIP HOP BIOGRAPHY SERIES - SADDLEBACK PUBLICATIONS.

Saddleback Educational Publishing specializes in publishing relatable and readable fiction and non-fiction for struggling readers. This nicely packaged 10-volume series has engaged teen readers throughout the country since its release in early 2013. Librarians report that this series of 48-paged biographies successfully attracts reluctant readers.

Young Adult Literature (fiction and non-fiction) honorees:
-- Grace, Gold, and Glory My Leap of Faith by Gabrielle Douglass.
-- Way too Much Drama by Earl Sewell.
-- Butterfly: A novel by Sylvester Stephens.

EMERGING CLASSIC: MURDERVILLE TRILOGY BY ASHLEY AND JAQUAVIS.
NYT Bestselling duo, Ashley & JaQuavis continue to grasp readers with their Murderville trilogy, Murderville: The First of a Trilogy (2011), Murderville 2: The Epidemic (2012), and Murderville 3: The Black Dahlia (2013). This woven tale of Liberty's journey from Sierra Leone to the Americas and back, is a powerful testament to the rich tapestry of stories that the street lit genre continues to convey.

AUTHOR OF THE YEAR: WAHIDA CLARK. 
Wahida Clark is a New York Times bestselling author who has long been noted for her pioneering contributions to contemporary street lit, as well as her commitment to the evolution of the genre. Known as the Queen of Thug Love, her "Thug Love" series has garnered an immensely loyal readership throughout the years. A  2007 SLBAM Adult Fiction winner, Wahida's latest novel, "Honor Thy Thug," has graced her in the winner's circle again with winning the 2014 SLBAM Award in the Adult Fiction category as well. Clark is a Cash Money Content author and she also runs her own publishing company, including a young adult imprint.

----------------------------------------------------------
Methodology: The SLBAM Committee conducted three nomination rounds where they reported on field research of patron readership and reader response to street lit in libraries across the country. The committee discussed all nominated titles. The "Emerging Classic" category recognizes a street lit-plotted or -themed book that was published during or before the year of nomination but continues to be in popular demand by the reading public. Another special category, "Author(s) of the Year", recognizes an author or writing team whose publications were particularly well-received by the reading public during the nomination year. Aside from the "Emerging Classic" category, books eligible for SLBAM nomination were required to be published between January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013.

For more information about the Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) or if you are interested in participating on the committee, visit the StreetLiterature.com website for a historical listing of SLBAM Awards.

2014 SLBAM Committee Members:

K.C. Boyd, M.Ed., M.L.S., is the Library Media Specialist at the acclaimed Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, IL. Boyd is a nationally sought-out lecturer on street lit and urban young adult reading practices. Known as "The Audacious Librarian", KC blogs about young adult street lit/urban fiction at http://theaudaciouslibrarian.blogspot.com/.

Marvin DeBose, Sr., M.L.S., is an Adult/Teen Librarian with the Free Library of Philadelphia (PA). An often sought-out panelist for discussing street lit in libraries, Marvin manages the largest street lit public library collection in Philadelphia, and also runs a teen street lit book club where they discuss their readings on Facebook. Marvin blogs at Mr.Philly Librarian.

D.L. Grant, Jr., M.L.S., is an Assistant Branch Manager with the San Antonio (TX) Public Library System. Grant is studying for his doctorate's degree in English studies.

Patrice Grimball-Smith is a Librarian Assistant in Young Adult Services for the Charleston County Public Library System in Charleston, South Carolina. She is also President of the Readers in Motion Bookclub.

Vanessa Irvin Morris, M.S.L.S., Ed.D., is the convener of the Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee (note: Dr. Morris only votes when there is need for a tie-breaker). Vanessa is the author of the Street Literature blog, and the award-winning publication, The Readers Advisory Guide to Street Literature (2011). A librarian with over 25 years' experience, Vanessa teaches library and information science at a private research university in Northeast USA.

For media inquiries about the SLBAM awards, contact: vanirvinmorris@gmail.com.
                                                                          
                                                                                   ###

Must-See Video: State of Grace by Talib Kweli (2014)

Talib Kweli feat. Abby Dobson - State of Grace (Official Music Video) from dreambear on Vimeo.

[ANNOUNCEMENT] SLBAM Reconvenes for 2013 Nominations

The Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee has reconvened to confer 2013 awards for the best in library readers' choices for urban literature. 

The categories are:

• ADULT NON FICTION
• ADULT FICTION
• YOUNG ADULT FICTION
• EMERGING CLASSIC
• AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

Educators: Feel free to email Vanessa Irvin Morris any titles and/or authors that have been well received by your library readers or students, and your titles will be sent to the Committee. Awards will be announced March 2014. Visit the awards page for more past winners and honorees.

Guy Reads! Featuring H.N.I.C., Pure Bronx, Undisputed Truth, & Coming Home

Johnson, A. "Prodigy" & Savile, S. (2013). H.N.I.C.: An infamous novel. NY: Akashic/Infamous Books.
ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-232-2 | Paperback | 126 pages | $11.95 USD

If you don't have this novella in your library collection already, please be on the lookout for this 2013 release, H.N.I.C., penned by Hip Hop artist Prodigy of the group, Mobb Deep.

H.N.I.C. is sure to attract young adult male readers because of its snappy length as a novella, and its relatable characters, particularly the protagonist, Pappy, a hustler who happens to be a computer geek. Pappy wants to get out of the game but his best friend, Black, won't let him go. On the fake promise of a "one last heist", Pappy gets away with just his life, having to leave behind his past to strategically create his future, without Black. Black eventually catches up to Pappy, but time has moved on and the tables are turned as they fight to reign as the H.N.I.C. 

This novella is the launching release of the new publishing imprint, Infamous Books, in collaboration with the renowned independent publishing house, Akashic Books. H.N.I.C. is a good addition to a 16+ young adult collection in your school, public, or community-based library collection. The strong and thoughtful characterization of Pappy alongside the dark, pathologic antics of Black, provide a balanced lens to gaining an understanding of young manhood. The tension of good vs. evil between Pappy and Black will appeal to many male readers. There's also a romantic angle in the story that helps to soften the plot's edges. A nice, solid contribution to the hip hop / urban literature / street lit tradition, H.N.I.C. will circulate.

The Fall 2013 publishing season had quite a few important releases. Here are a few more titles that will be good "guy read" additions to your collections:

ISBN-13: 9781935883418 (A/YA)

ISBN-13: 9780399161285 (A/YA)

ISBN-13: 9781622500512 (YA)

Lastly, be sure to stock up on K'wan Foye's recently released, Animal 2: The Omen. StreetLiterature.com will be posting a full review of this read in the coming weeks.

Trailer for Zetta Elliott's New Release: The Deep (2013)

NEW READ! Animal II: The Omen, by K'wan Foye

For interviews and more information on K'wan Foye

please contact:

Donna Torrence

donna@mediasavvypr.com

201.854.7082

Amazon.com #1 “Top Rated Fiction” Bestselling Author

K’WAN FOYE

Set to release

“ANIMAL II: THE OMEN”

from CASH MONEY CONTENT/ATRIA BOOKS

On November 19, 2013

K'wan to Kick off Book Tour

November 8, 2013 –    K’wan Foye, one of this generations most talented and gritty writers, is set to release Animal II: The Omen on November 19, from Cash Money Content books, the book publishing arm of the iconic record label Cash Money Records.  Animal II: The Omen, Foye’s most anticipated release yet, is the follow up to last year’s #1 bestselling urban crime thriller, Animal.

Animal is Urban Lit’s newest hit series, with strong sales that have not slowed since its 2012 release.  The novel enjoyed unprecedented success with a #1 debut on Amazon.com’s list of “Top Rated Fiction,” and recognition by Library Journal as one of the “Top 5 Street Lit Novels of 2012,” along with a Library Journal starred “Pick of the Month” for October 2012.  Additionally, Animal is currently #2 on the Power List Best-Selling Books List compiled by Black bookstores.

With Animal II, Black Press Radio’s 2008 “Author of the Year,” K’wan Foye, continues the bloody saga of Animal, the infamous fugitive from K’wan’s well‑known Hood Rat Series, as he sets out on a complex and tragic quest in search of the truth. 

K’wan Foye’s previous novels include the bestsellers Welfare Wifeys (an African American Literary Award-winner), Section 8, Gutter, Still Hood, Hood Rat,Eve, Hoodlum and Street Dreams, all released by St. Martin’s Press.  K’wan has sold a cumulative total of 500,000 books.

Praise for K’wan

   “Animal is a masterpiece” – Ronald “Slim” Williams, Co-CEO Cash Money Records/

                    Cash Money Content

  

 “You don’t get more hood than K’wan” – Bryan “Birdman” Williams, Co-CEO Cash Money

                   Records/Cash Money Content

  “…the characters become so alive that watching them spin toward their inevitable ends

                  is heartbreaking.”  - Entertainment Weekly on “Street Dreams”

“The big draw here is the electric prose, which is imbued with profane, comic lyricism.”

                         - Publishers Weekly on “Hood Rat”

“K’wan ... produces thrilling plots, and his descriptive prose holds its own against many top-selling authors.”

                         - Library Journal on “Eviction Notice”

Catch K’wan at the following book signings in the following cities:

11/20                     Source of Knowledge bookstore, 867 Broad Street, Newark NJ, 5pm – 7pm

11/21                     TLJ Bookstore, New Location 4921 Suitland Rd, Suitland MD, 20747, 5:30 pm – 7:30pm

11/22                     Books A Million, 144 S. Clark St (Galleria Mall), Chicago, IL, 12Noon

                                Da Book Joint, 2311 East 71st St, Chicago, IL, 7:00pm – 9:00pm

11/23                     Dock Shop event, Location TBA, Dallas, TX, 3:00pm

                                The Dock Book Shop, Book Club hosted event, 6637 Meadowbrook Dr, Dallas TX, 7:00pm

11/29                     Books A Million, 901 East Market St, Suite 1285, Philadelphia, PA, 12Noon – 2:00pm

                                Black and Nobel, 1409 W. Erie Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 5:00pm – 7:00pm

11/30                     Medu Bookstore, Greenbriar Mall Atlanta, GA, 2:00-4:00pm

For more info log onto www.kwanfoye.com.  Follow K’wan on twitter @K’Wan141 or @We_R_TeamAnimal and also find him at facebook.com/We Are #TeamAnimal.

For interviews and more information about Animal II or Cash Money Content books, contact:

Donna Torrence, mediasavvypr.com

email: donna@mediasavvyr.com, phone: 201.854.7082

About Cash Money Content

Cash Money Content (CMC) is a groundbreaking partnership that pairs the Cash Money Records brand with Atria Books, a division of the publishing powerhouse, Simon & Schuster.  CMC is publishing some of the most original and influential authors of urban fiction as well as life-changing books on success, motivation, money, health, and memoirs by some of the most prominent voices alive today.  Founded  by brothers Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams, from the label that is home to multi-platinum recording artists like Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Jay Sean, and Bow Wow, comes a whole new concept in book publishing.

For more information on Cash Money Content, log onto www.CashMoneyContent.com, follow on Twitter @CashMoneyBooks and on Facebook @CashMoneyContent.

About Cash Money Records

Cash Money Records is a legendary record company founded by brothers Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams.  The record label has grown from the housing projects of New Orleans into a multi-million dollar urban empire and is considered the most successful independent record label in America as well as an enduring global street brand. Cash Money is home to chart-topping, multi-platinum recording artists like Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Jay Sean, and Bow Wow.  Today, Cash Money operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company.

Animal II: The Omen

Ani                            by K'wan

Cash Money Content/Original

Pub Date: November 19, 2013

ISBN:  978‑1‑936399‑29‑1

eBook: 978-1-936399-30-7

Trim Size: 5 5/16 x 8 1/4

Price US: $14.99, Price CDN: $16.99

Format: Paperback

336 Pages

NEW READ | Buck: A Memoir by MK Asante (2013)

Asante, M.K. (2013). Buck: A memoir. NY: Spiegel & Grau.
ISBN-13: 978-0812993417 | Hardcover | $25.00 USD

This memoir promises to be one of the most revered life stories depicting a contemporary young male coming-of-age in urban America, since Claude Brown's Manchild of the Promised Land and Piri Thomas' Down These Mean Streets. Author MK Asante is son of the founder of Afrocentricity, the legendary Black Studies scholar, Molefi Keti Asante. 

Born in Zimbabwe and raised in North Philadelphia, MK Asante paints a gripping portrait of what it means to be an American Black man coming of age in the streets of hip hop era Philadelphia. Asante is honest in his revelations of how family issues are often the "whys" for teens finding solace and identity in the streets. For those of us who follow the genre of Urban Literature, Asante's story is a welcome addition to the canon. Shucks, given its early stellar reception, this book may shove comparisons aside, to stand valiantly, on its own.

I particularly like the early review of Pierce Freelon (via Amazon.com) where he says: "MK has a fascinating story. His father is a famous scholar - the founder of Afrocentricity. His mother is drowning in prescription drugs and a broken household. His sister lives with dementia - literally in another universe. His role model is his older brother Uzi - constantly on the run from the law. And then you have Philly - the City of Brotherly Love - full of dime jawns, blunt smoke, hip hop, broken schools and young bucks. It takes [a] village to raise a child - and MK was BUCK wild!"

Book Description:

A rebellious boy’s journey through the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family—this is the riveting story of a generation told through one dazzlingly poetic new voice.

MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation’s dance company and a father who would soon become a revered pioneer in black studies. But things fell apart, and a decade later MK was in America, a teenager lost in a fog of drugs, sex, and violence on the streets of North Philadelphia. Now he was alone—his mother in a mental hospital, his father gone, his older brother locked up in a prison on the other side of the country—and forced to find his own way to survive physically, mentally, and spiritually, by any means necessary.

Buck is a powerful memoir of how a precocious kid educated himself through the most unconventional teachers—outlaws and eccentrics, rappers and mystic strangers, ghetto philosophers and strippers, and, eventually, an alternative school that transformed his life with a single blank sheet of paper. It’s a one-of-a-kind story about finding your purpose in life, and an inspiring tribute to the power of education, art, and love to heal and redeem us.

***************
Additionally, MK Asante is a poet, with two poetry books to his credit: Beautiful. And Ugly Too (2005) and Like Water Running Off My Back (2002). He's also previously published a treatise on Hip Hop entitled, It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip Hop Generation (2009). For more information on his publications, visit his website at: http://mkasante.com/books/buck/.  Asante is an Associate Professor at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD.