Kia Dupree, author of Damaged, speaks at the 2011 National Book Festival

2012 Street Lit Book Award Medal Winners (2011 publications)

The Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee is proud to announce the award winners for 2011 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. 

Adult Non-Fiction: ONE DAY IT'LL ALL MAKE SENSE BY COMMON

SLBAM Feedback:
-- “This is a great book about one of few positive rappers that on the scene.”

-- "Common points out all the highs and lows of the music industry."

-- "This book is going to help people."

Honorees:  1) Power & Beauty: A Love Story of Life on the Streets by "Tip" T.I. Harris; 2) Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption ... by Ice-T; BMF: 3) The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Family Mafia -by Mara Shaloup

Adult Fiction: EVICTION NOTICE BY K'WAN

SLBAM Feedback:
-- "Can't keep this book on the shelf."

-- "A raw tale that will send the reader on a roller coaster ride."  

-- "People just can't get enough of K'wan; readers  believe he is telling their stories."

Honorees: 1) Murderville by Ashley & JaQuavis Coleman; 2) Lifestyles of the Rich & Shameless, Kiki Swinson & Noire

Teen/Young Adult (YA): UPGRADE U BY NI NI SIMONE

SLBAM Feedback:
-- "Simone has captured the drama and humor today's teen."

-- "My young patrons are crazy about Ni Ni Simone."

-- "Young readers have made it clear that NiNi Simone where it’s at."
Honorees: 1) So So Hood by L. Divine; 2) Priceless Inspiration by Antonia "Toya" Carter 

Special Category: Emerging Classic, YUMMY BY G. NERI

SLBAM Feedback:
-- "An interesting graphic novel presentation of a Chicago youth tragedy."

-- "I am glad G. Neri's Yummy has been cited for a special award." 

-- "I was very successful using this book with my Teen Book Club!"

Special Category: Author(s) of the Year, ASHLEY & JAQUAVIS COLEMAN

The SLBAM Committee honors NYT Bestselling author duo, Ashley and JaQuavis Coleman, for their back-to-back publications during 2011, Murderville and Murder Mamas. Both titles were hugely popular amongst Street Lit readers in libraries and on social media. The Colemans are also noted for their leadership in promoting Street Lit as a viable literary genre. An Ashley & JaQuavis release is always a highly anticipated event. We look forward to more exciting work from them!

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2012 SLBAM Committee Members:

K.C. Boyd is the Library Media Specialist at the acclaimed Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, IL. Boyd is a sought-out lecturer on Street Lit, and she blogs about Young Adult Street Lit at http://www.missdomino.blogspot.com.
 
Marvin DeBose is an Adult/Teen Librarian in the Free Library of Philadelphia system. He manages the largest Street Lit library collection in Philadelphia, PA, and also runs a Teen Street Lit Book Club where they discuss their readings at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/277733218945733/.

Connie Farley is  Reference Technician for St. Louis (MO) Public Library where she runs an Urban Lit Discussion Group that boasts a diverse membership coming from several African and Caribbean nations.

D.L. Grant, Jr., is an Assistant Branch Manager with the San Antonio Public Library System. Grant is also studying for his doctorate's degree in library and information science. 

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 the Outreach Coordinator for Readers in Motion Bookclub, http://facebook.com/ReadersInMotion.

Takiyah Jemison is currently Head of the Cataloging Department at Fayetteville State University. She has a B.A in History and she received her Master in Library Science from North Carolina Central University. She is an avid reader of different genres such as psychological thrillers, urban literature, and true crimes.

Vanessa Irvin Morris is the convener of the Street Lit Book Award Medal Committee. She is the author of the Street Literature blog at http://www.streetliterature.com, and the award-winning publication, The Readers Advisory Guide to Street Literature. Vanessa teaches library and information science at a private research university in Northeast USA.

The SLBAM Committee conducted three nomination rounds where they researched and discussed all nominated titles. This year, the committee debuts a special category, "Emerging Classic" to recognize a Street Literature 
-plotted or -themed book that was published before the year of nomination but continues to be in popular demand by the reading public. Another special category, "Author(s) of the Year" was established this year to recognize 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 nomination were published between January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011. 

For more information about the Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) or if you are interested in participating on the committee, contact: streetliterature.com@gmail.com. For a historical listing of SLBAM Awards from 1999 - present, please visit: http://www.streetliterature.com/p/slbam.html.

YA Librarian Luminary, Michael Cart, Speaks On Street Lit

Greetings;

In case you haven't heard, YA Librarian Leader, Michael Cart, spoke in a podcast on March 04, 2012, about the veracity of Street Lit in the library. He calls it "a genre that doesn't get enough respect." He also spoke positively about graphic novels and manga. To listen to his podcast (time: 09:28),

Or visit: http://www.infoblog.infopeople.org/2012/03/micahel-cart-takes-a-look-at-the-world-of-hip-hop-lit/

Michael Cart via: infoblog.infopeople.org

Staff Pick - Readers' Advisory Guide to Street Literature by Vanessa Morris

Staff Pick - Readers' Advisory Guide to Street Literature by Vanessa Morris

Street Lit: It’s habit forming - The Doings Oak Brook

Street Lit: It’s habit forming - The Doings Oak Brook

Guest Post #2: Living In A Mayoral Police State

Living in a Mayoral Police State: The Violence and Intimidation that Underlies New York's Emergence as a City for the Global Elite

by Mark Naison, Ph.D.

No matter where you com from, New York is a great city if you have money. There are great universities and medical centers, unmatched theater dance and music, fantastic restaurants and cafes open all hours of the day and night, cool hip neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, where you can sample the global counterculture, terrific architecture, beautiful parks, and interesting ethnic neighborhoods, if you are adventurous. 

But it is a very different city if you are poor, or a young person living in the hyper-segregated working class neighborhoods that cover half of Brooklyn and Queens and nearly all of the Bronx. 

Image source: www.skyscrapercity.com

There, the city's thug police force, unchecked by the law or the Constitution, systematically harass and intimidate young people through relentless searches, through armed sweeps of neighborhoods and occasionally of schools, and by the fierce and sometimes deadly application of force not only to major acts of resistance, but innocent, peaceful questioning of police tactics and motives. The result: young people of color walk in fear in the neighborhoods where they live and in the schools they attend, and rarely dare to enter the prosperous neighborhoods where the global elite live, work, eat and enjoy the city's unmatched cultural opportunities. 

And this is exactly what the Mayor wants. A city where the working class majority is beaten, cowed, and fearful, providing the labor that keeps the global elite playground humming, but never disturbs that elite's reveries with their presence. Control is the key to Michael Bloomberg's New York, control of the streets through an overpowering police presence, control of the schools through a regime that uses testing and evaluation to compel obedience, not only on the part of the students, but of teachers and administrators as well. 

Will this regime of control last? Time will tell. The Occupy Movement has made a small crack in this facade of omnipotence, but the Mayoral Police State, reinforced by the "War on Drugs" and the so-called "War on Terror" is confident, wealthy and deeply entrenched, and it will take a much higher level of protest than we have seen this far to bring even a modicum of democracy and human rights to the working people of this global metropolis.

Mark Naison, Ph.D.
Professor of African American Studies and History
Fordham University
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Author Bio: Dr. Mark Naison, Ph.D., is Professor of African American Studies and History at Fordham University (NY) where his course, "From Rock & Roll to Hip Hop: Urban Youth Cultures in Post War America," is extremely popular.. Mark is also Director of the Bronx African American History Project at Fordham. An acclaimed advocate for social justice and education, Mark also publishes op-ed columns in The Washington Post. His book, White Boy, A Memoir (2002) holds a 5-star status on Amazon.com.

Connect with Mark:
Facebook: Mark Naison
Twitter: @McFireDogg
Blog: With A Brooklyn Accent
Wikipedia: Mark D. Naison

Note: This blog article is also available at: 
http://withabrooklynaccent.blogspot.com/2012/02/living-in-mayoral-police-state-violence.html

SLBAM Committee Reconvenes to determine 2nd Street Lit Book Award Medal

Greetings!

Just want to give you a headsup that the Street Lit Book Award Medal (SLBAM) Committee has reconvened and is busy reading, researching and going through the nomination process to bestow the 2012 Street Lit Book Award Medal for street lit books published in 2011.

We also need YOUR help! If you have a title(s) that has been popular at your library, post a comment below and we will add the title for nomination consideration.

The categories this year are:

Non-Fiction / Biography (Adult)

Fiction (Adult)

Young adult fiction (YA)

Emerging Classic (to acknowledge previously published works that continue to be in popular demand by the reading public)

The awards for these categories are scheduled to be announced by March 15, 2012.

For last year's awards, see: http://www.streetliterature.com/2011/04/2011-street-lit-book-award-medal.html

SLBAM Committee Mission:

The Street Lit Book Award Medal Committee comprises of a group of professional librarians and library staffers who volunteer to serve on the committee for a 2-year period, from across the U.S. and beyond, if possible. These professionals invariably work on the front lines of librarianship and work with Street Lit and its readers in public, school, and academic libraries. The Committee collects, researches, discusses, and nominates titles based on library patron popularity, book club interest, and overall reception of the story as a valuable addition to the Street Literature genre. Three rounds of nominations results in winners for the previous year's publications.