LIFELINES: The Black Book of Proverbs

About the authors

Yvonne McCalla Sobers, a former educator who studied at the University of the West Indies, is currently a human and community development consultant,. She is also a human rights activist and researcher. Yvonne writes fiction and non-fiction, and is also the author of “Delicious Jamaica!: Vegetarian Cuisine“. Apart from a decade spent in Ghana and England, Yvonne has lived all her life in Kingston, Jamaica.


Askhari Johnson Hodari, Ph.D., an Africana Studies scholar and activist, earned degrees from Spelman College and Howard University. A former professor of African American Studies, she is the author of “The African Book of Names“. Originally from South Carolina, she was raised in Maryland and she now lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

About the book

Inspired by the biblical Book of Proverbs, LIFELINES: The Black Book of Proverbs (Random House, 2009) by Askhari Johnson Hodari and Yvonne McCalla Sobers, is a wondrously illustrated collection of aphorisms, witticisms, and sayings from Africa and the African Diaspora that will entrance, entertain, and enlighten readers of all ages.


*Birth and Parenting: “When a yam does not grow well, do not blame the yam; it is because of the soil.” (Ghana)

*Marriage: “Getting married is nothing: it is assuming the responsibility of marriage that counts.”(Haiti)

*Money Problems: “The poor person does not experience poverty all the time.” (Ghana)

*Peace and War: “To engage in conflict, one does not bring a knife that cuts but a needle that sews. (Kiswahili)

This book of proverbs is uniquely arranged by life cycle themes from birth to death and speaks to the tragedy and triumph in between. Unforgettable vignettes showing how African proverbs comfort, inspire, and instruct during different phases of life.

LIFELINES sharpens understanding of how traditions, civilization, and spirit survive and thrive, despite centuries of loss of freedom, family, identity, language, land, and wealth.

More about Lifelines:
http://www.lifelinesproverbs.com/

Don’t Bring Home A White Boy

About the author

Karyn Langhorne Folan graduated from Harvard Law School a couple of years ahead of President Obama. A former law professor, Karyn became interested in the many questions and issues surrounding interracial relationships after her marriage to her Irish American husband in 2004. After receiving hundreds of comments from readers after an essay in The Washington Post on the unique ways black Americans reacted to her relationship, Karyn decided to explore the issues further.


The result is her book “Don’t Bring Home A White Boy—and Other Notions That Keep Black Women From Dating Out.” Karyn is also the author of two interracial romance novels, A Personal Matter and Unfinished Business, and two other novels.

About the book

IN AN AGE WHEN AMERICA HAS EMBRACED a mixed-race president and a strong, independent black woman as first lady…when black women are on the move and more empowered than ever before…there remains one hot-button topic that stirs up cultural resistance and intensity of emotion like no other: interracial relationships — or, specifically, when black women date or marry white men.

What is it about the black female/white male dynamic that sparks such controversy and depth of feeling?


What keeps many single black women from exploring relationships outside of their race at a time when the pool of eligible black men is at an all-time low?

“Don’t bring home a white boy” is the cultural message stamped deep into every black daughter, an enduring twenty-first-century taboo with origins dating back to the Civil War era, the turbulent Civil Rights decades, and beyond. Now at last there is an honest, eye-opening examination of this societal phenomenon that will resonate with women everywhere and give voice to all sides of the debate. Karyn Langhorne Folan, herself a black woman happily married to a white man, brings together historical, statistical, psychological, and personal perspectives in a groundbreaking book that boldly debunks the “notions” that can keep interracial dating off the table for many women, including:



“After slavery, I could never date a white man.”

“I’m looking for a good black man.”

“I’m just not attracted to white men.”

“White men don’t find black women attractive.”

These are the things some black women say when the subject of interracial dating comes up. Although black men date interracially with little guilt and relative ease, black women remain hesitant about interracial dating– even though recent Census data reveals that 70% of black women are single… and don’t want to be.

Don’t Bring Home A White Boy examines– and refutes– the notions that keep black women from expanding their dating options. From history to sociology to psychology and including dozens of interviews from experts and average women, Don’t Bring Home A White Boy brings to light the myths and truths that cloud the black woman/white man dating dynamic. Available from Simon and Schuster’s Karen Hunter imprint in January 2010.

More about Karyn Langhorne Folan:
http://www.karynlanghorne.com/

The Mouth of Babes

About the author

As a child, Tosin Coker loved to read, a passion that stemmed from a desire to know what lay in the leaves that kept her mother so enchanted for hours on end.


She eagerly anticipated her and her mother’s weekly visits to the local library and soon challenged herself to read every book in the children’s section. Between the pages of the books she read, Tosin became lost in the worlds of the characters to the point of being oblivious to all else around her.

Tosin has never stopped reading, and now she has grown to become someone who also writes, and as such has become the first female, African British science fiction author. In her spare time Tosin also hosts her radio show – Nubian Scribes, volunteers as a spokesperson for sickle cell, and inspires others to live to their full potential by way of following their soul’s true path.

About the book

Destiny “Teeny” Kingsley is a healthy, happy, vibrant ten year-old – so it comes as a complete shock to her parents and everyone else when she suddenly falls into a deep coma. Furthermore, when all medical testing ultimately reveals no physical cause for her condition, it only adds to the fear and anxiety besieging the hearts and minds of everyone involved.



Little does anyone know, though, Teeny’s loss of consciousness is far from a random act or unforeseen coincidence; as a matter of fact, it was actually pre-arranged by her grandmother as a means to communicate with her on an alternate plane of existence. Over the course of their extended “visit,” Teeny subsequently learns eye-opening celestial truths that shatter her sense of reality and transform her view of the universe – as well as everything in it. And, when she learns of the all-important “mission” to which she’s been assigned, she quickly realizes that neither she nor those she loves the most will ever be the same…

The Mouth of Babes is the first in an exciting sci-fi trilogy by debut author, Tosin Coker

African Americans On Hawai’i: A Search For Identity

About the author

Ayin Adams is a performance artist, inspirational teacher and spiritual healer and has been published in numerous magazines, e-zines, and on-line publications. Author of more than five volumes of poetry books, including the acclaimed, “The Woods Deep Inside Me,” Adams was chosen as ‘Teacher of the Year 2008’ by the International Peace Poem Awards Committee.



She is the winner of the Pat Parker Poetry Award, the Audre Lorde Memorial Prose Prize Winner, Award Winner for Literary Excellence 2001, and the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award.

About the book

A new book, “African Americans In Hawai`i: A Search For Identity,” compiled and edited by Ayin M. Adams, Ph.D. is being released by its publisher Pacific Raven Press on Saturday, February 20, 2010.

The essays and interviews in the book document the difficulties and challenges as well as the contributions and successes of African Americans in Hawai‘i.

“The reader of this book will be left with fresh new images of and respect for blacks in Hawai`i, after learning of their 19th century migrations, leadership roles, successes and contributions to the whaling industry, medicine, business, education, science, civil service, the arts, social work, the military, and politics,” says Adams. “The reader will also discover issues of identity and pain, resulting from the derogatory images of blacks in western art, literature, and the media that have permeated the local psyche and eroded a positive self image and respect for blacks.”

The 220-page large format book has an introduction written by Kathryn Waddell Takara, Ph.D. and foreword by Aaron L. Day and Indira Hale-Tucker. Pacific Raven Press features new, emerging writers, and established writers of literary fiction and poetry. Pacific Raven Press publishes books by Africans and African Americans and People of Color in Hawai`i. Books are available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and online at www.pacificravenpress.com.

Hardcopy $ 39.99
Softcover $ 29.99 + Schipping

More about Ayin Adams:
http://www.ayinadams.com/