This past weekend, the 54th annual Coretta Scott King Book Awards were celebrated at a breakfast held during the American Library Association's Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. Dr. Brenda Pruitt-Annisette, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table chair, presided, and local singer/songwriter Lendell Jones II led the audience in an energetic rendition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a CSK tradition.

Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, ALA president, said that all were gathered to honor both the creators of the books, and "the community that fought for these books to not only be read but enjoyed by children and adults alike." Pelayo-Lozada told the crowd of authors, illustrators, librarians, and book creators that "we have the ability to share everyone's story with each other and the world. Our voices have impact, so let's continue to use them as one strong, collective voice."

Tommie Smith (l.) and Derrick Barnes

In their acceptance speeches, award winners and honorees expressed gratitude and gave the audience a view into their artistic processes. CSK Illustrator Honorees Johnnie Christmas (Swim Team) and Dawud Anyabwile (Victory. Stand!) both discussed near catastrophes hidden within their stories. For Christmas, "This book was born out of a near tragedy. I almost drowned when I was 5 years old." Victory. Stand! is a nonfiction young adult graphic novel about the life of Tommie Smith, the Olympic Gold Medalist known for winning the 200-meter sprint at the 1968 Summer Olympics and, by raising his fist in the Black Power salute (along with fellow athlete, John Carlos), became an "international icon." Anyabwile did research for the book by meeting with Smith, "the legend" himself. One of the reasons the CSK honor "is very important to me," Anyabwile said, choking up, is "I almost wasn't here today. When I was working on the book, I almost got shot." Three stray bullets "came in above my head when I was on page 22.... I didn't think I would finish the book."

Smith, who received an Author Honor along with Derrick Barnes, was a standout speaker, charming the audience while praising Barnes and Anyabwile: "The illustrator? This boy here is good. The writer? He wrote better than I lived." Barnes followed Smith by speaking of the power of those raised fists: "He stood up there that day and raised his fist for all of us." Reading directly from the book, Barnes used Smith's words to tell the audience what it was like to stand exposed in the face of death threats. "80 seconds," Barnes read, "that's how long we stood there as the anthem played, those fists in the air were dedicated to everyone back home.... We had to be seen because we were not being heard."

Also of note was Alicia D. Williams, Author Honor for The Talk, who garnered raucous applause by impressively delivering Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech, "Ain't I a Woman." Frank Morrison, Illustrator Winner for Standing in the Need of Prayer, Amina Luqman-Dawson, Author Winner for Freewater, and Dr. Claudette S. McLinn, the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement recipient, closed the morning's festivities with discussions of unity in the United States, the joy that can be present amidst sorrow, and doing the work of getting books into young hands. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness

Highlights from the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition that just concluded in Chicago:

On Sunday at ALA on the Pop Top Stage at McCormick Convention Center, moderator Annisha Jeffries (Cleveland Public Library) asked questions of the creative teams behind two picture books: My Powerful Hair, a moving story about the significance of hair in Indigenous cultures and the lasting intergenerational wounds incurred at Indian Boarding Schools; and The Walk, an inspiring chronicle of a community joining together to vote on Election Day (both from Abrams). Pictured (l.-r.): Jeffries; Carole Lindstrom and Steph Littlebird (My Powerful Hair); E.B. Lewis and Winsome Bingham (The Walk).

The author and artist of From the Tops of Trees signed their book at the Lerner booth (l.-r.): artist Rachel Wada, publisher Adam Lerner, and author Kao Kalia Yang.

Travis Jonker (l.) interviewed two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo for a live podcast of his "The Yarn" on Saturday. Topics ranged from the 20th Anniversary of DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux, to why she takes a notebook wherever she goes. She also read from her forthcoming novel, Ferris (Candlewick, March 2024).

Author Cynthia Weill described her process of collaborating with artisans from Oaxaca, Mexico, for Vamanos (Lee & Low) on Saturday at Chicago's Field Museum, where the figurines now reside in the permanent collection.

Author Nathan Hill (l.), in town for ALA to promote his new novel, Wellness (Knopf, Sept. 19), stopped by to see Javier Ramirez, co-owner of Exile in Bookville on Chicago's Michigan Avenue.

Authors and illustrators, including Nikki Grimes, Meg Medina, and James E. Ransome, posed for photos at Candlewick, Holiday House, Peachtree, and Pixel+Ink's opening reception held at the Comedy Bar at Chicago's Gino's East.

Black Rock Books hosted the shop's official grand opening celebration on June 24 at 3030 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport, Conn. Co-owners Emily Welch and Meagan Flynn posted on Facebook: "Today is the opening day of Black Rock Books. To say that we can't wait to open our doors to all of you is an understatement. We love our little shop and we hope you do too."

Shortly before opening day, Welch and Flynn posted that while "we will continue to offer a curated selection of used titles, we will be primarily stocking our shelves with a selection of NEW hardcover and paperbacks for adults and children, along with unique gifts and artwork for bookworms of all ages. Stop by to browse the selection and become part of our story!"

Describing the bookshop as "a space to share, learn, and relax amongst the stacks," the store's website notes that it "aims to be a neighborhood haven for readers and community members of all ages. Our mission is to spark a love of literature and community through events and a thoughtfully curated selection of books that will change with the seasons and appeal to a variety of interests."

Last month, Welch told the Connecticut Post: "It's something that this community really needs and I have no doubt in my mind that they will support and welcome our store with open arms. It's not about making money so to speak... this is about getting the community together even more and reaching people."

Bibliobar, a general-interest bookstore and bar, has found a bricks-and-mortar location in Plano, Tex.

Located within the Plano Shopping Co-Op in the historic Schell Building in Plano's downtown, Bibliobar officially opened on March 18 and carries titles for all ages and serves wine, beer, coffee, and more.

Store owner Chelsea Green has event plans that include book clubs for both children and adults, educational workshops, storytime sessions, wine tastings, game nights, author signings, and more. There is also a podcast in the works, with details to be announced.

Green and her sister-in-law BriAnne Gowen-Tresp founded the Co-Op, and in addition to Bibliobar it includes Gowen-Tresp's clothing store Vintage Gnomey. Green has experience in both the bookselling in publishing industries: for seven years she worked for a bookstore chain, and for four years worked for a major publisher in New York.

Eventually she chose to move back to Texas to be closer to her family, she recalled, but she "wanted to keep my love of working in the book industry alive."

Green founded Bibliobar as a pop-up in 2018, but most operations went on hiatus between 2020-2022. Last winter she began work on finding Bibliobar its bricks-and-mortar home.

Charles L. Blockson

Charles L. Blockson, "world-renowned historian of African American culture, founder and curator emeritus of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University, award-winning scholar, and prolific author," died June 14, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. He was 89. Blockson assembled two of the world's largest collections of African American history, culture, and contributions. In addition to the one at Temple, the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora resides at Pennsylvania State University, his alma mater.

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta said he will introduce legislation to mark Blockson's December 16 birthday as a state holiday, adding: "Charles Blockson is a giant of a man. He is a hero."

An authority on the Underground Railroad and the Great Migration of the early 1900s, Blockson received the Philadelphia Award for community service in 2017. He told the Inquirer at the time that he was driven to "uncovering the history of our past in order to build a better future." In 2013, he said his collections are "a legacy that comes primarily from books and the people I met, all kinds of people of all ages. I am emeritus and all, but I will never retire.... I'm following a noble tradition from those who paved the way for me."

Blockson was the first African American to write a cover story for National Geographic magazine, and he published more than a dozen books, including Black Genealogy; The Underground Railroad; Damn Rare: The Memoirs of an African-American Bibliophile; Liberty Bell Era: The African American Story; and The Haitian Revolution: Celebrating the First Black Republic.

"Charles Blockson spent a lifetime collecting the most precious African American artifacts, and in 1984 he donated that collection to Temple University, providing an enriching campus experience not only for our students, faculty and staff, but also for the Philadelphia community and beyond," said JoAnne Epps, Temple's acting president. "He was a kind soul, devoted to preserving and recording America's history. He will be missed, but his legacy will forever live on through Temple's Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, one of Temple's jewels and a hallmark of this institution." 

Diane Turner, curator of Temple's Blockson Collection, added that Blockson was "well-respected because of his passion for collecting, preserving and disseminating the histories of people of African descent. His collections make accessible rich and diverse stories about their histories and cultures. He has been a great influence on numerous scholars, students and people of all nationalities." 

Blockson once said: "My main goal in life is to build a good library of Black history--knowledge is a form of Black power and this is my part in it." 

Kids Ink Children's Bookstore, Indianapolis, Ind., hosted the launch for the board book Purple Carrot by Rebecca Mullin, illustrated by Anna Mullin (Rubber Ducky Press). Rebecca Mullin formerly worked at Kids Ink and was a board member of the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. Pictured: Anna Mullin (l.) and Rebecca Mullin in front of Kids Ink.

Suzanna Hermans, co-owner of Oblong Books, with stores in Millerton and Rhinebeck, N.Y., was interviewed by Kathy Leonard Czepiel of Better Book Clubs about what it is really like to run a bookstore. 

"I met Suzanna back around 2012 when my novel, A Violet Season, was published," Czepiel noted. "When I reached out to her this spring, she graciously agreed to let me interview her for my YouTube channel. I just posted our conversation there today, and I thought you’d enjoy listening to it, too. In it, Suzanna reveals the number one misconception book lovers have about running a bookstore, what booksellers talk about with each other when readers aren’t around, and why you should vote in your local school board elections. Enjoy!"

Fabled Bookshop & Café, Waco, Tex., shared a pic of the store's "The Book Was Better" screen adaptation-themed sales floor table display, noting: "As much as we love a book to screen scenario… we can't help it if it's true. If you feel us, drop your 'book is better' woe here!"

Longleaf Services has added five new distributed client presses:

Chemeketa Press, the academic publishing arm of Chemeketa Community College, Salem, Ore.; Clemson University Press, Clemson, S.C.; the University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.; TCU Press, Fort Worth, Tex.; and InterVarsity Press, which publishes scholarly and trade books in the field of religion, Westmont, Ill. (IVP effective in September.)

It'll Be Irie by Donn Swaby, illustrated by Alejandra Barajas (Cardinal Rule Press).

Today:
Fresh Air: Aidan Key, author of Trans Children in Today's Schools (Oxford University Press, $29.95, 9780190886547).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Anna Quindlen, author of Write for Your Life (Random House, $26, 9780593229835).

Today Show: Colleen Hoover, author of It Starts with Us (Atria, $17.99, 9781668001226).

Live with Kelly and Mark: Kristin Chenoweth, author of I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts: Mini-Meditations for Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us (Harper Celebrate, $22.99, 9781400228492).

Here & Now: Shannon Mullen, author of In Other Words, Leadership: How a Young Mother's Weekly Letters to Her Governor Helped Both Women Brave the First Pandemic Year (Steerforth Press, $29.95, 9781586423681), along with the subjects of her book, Maine Governor Janet Mills and Ashirah Knapp.

Tamron Hall: Chrissy King, author of The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom (Tiny Reparations Books, $28, 9780593187043).

Noting that it is "safe to say that no one saw this one coming," the Hollywood Reporter wrote that Danish filmmaker and "enfant terrible" Nicolas Winding Refn, director of Drive, The Neon Demon, and the Pusher trilogy, "has been tapped to reboot" The Famous Five, a limited series based on Enid Blyton's classic children's books. Blyton wrote 21 books, beginning with Five on a Treasure Island, first published in 1942. They have been adapted for television multiple times.

Refn will be creator and producer on the new series, which has begun filming across the southwest of the U.K. He is executive producing through his by NWR Originals company together with BBC Studios-backed Moonage Pictures for the BBC and German public broadcaster ZDF. Tim Kirkby (The Pentaverate) will direct the three 90-minute episodes of The Famous Five. 

"This Famous Five will be a modern, timely and irreverent action series with adventure at its heart," said Will Gould, co-founder of Moonage Pictures.

"All my life I've fought vigorously to remain a child with a lust for adventure," Refn noted. "By reimagining The Famous Five, I am preserving that notion by bringing these iconic stories to life for a progressive new audience, instilling the undefinable allure and enchantment of childhood for current and future generations to come."

Zain Khalid won the $10,000 New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, given annually to "an American writer age 35 or younger for either a novel or a collection of short stories," for his debut novel, Brother Alive (Grove Press). 

"Brother Alive is a stunning achievement--conceptually daring, endlessly surprising, and rich with moral and intellectual questions that match the beauty of Zain Khalid's prose and the fullness of his imagination. I can't wait to see what he does next," said Jessamine Chan, one of the judges.  

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Jamaican writer Kwame McPherson was named overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and will receive £5,000 (about $6,365) for his work "Ocoee," which "interweaves Caribbean folklore and stories from African American history. It centers on an exhausted driver who is pulled over by the police on a lonely road outside Ocoee. As he hears about the terrible history of the town, he also rediscovers a connection with his own past."

Chair of the judging panel Bilal Tanweer said: " 'Ocoee' forces a reckoning with the challenge that confronts all writers in the postcolonial world: how to write about a world that has been destroyed without any traces. Kwame McPherson takes on the extraordinarily difficult challenge of writing about a past that has left no evidence of its existence. 'Ocoee''s accomplishment is how it achieves this thorny task with simplicity, humility, and real heart. It is a story that resonates deeply and leaves us with a glimpse of all the ghosts that continue to haunt the present, and, in the process, performs one of the most essential tasks of writing: to bear witness to our condition, and to remind us, again, what it means to be human."

photo: Jason Frost Photography

Victoria Christopher Murray, five-time NAACP Image award nominee for Outstanding Literary Work, is the co-author, with Marie Benedict, of The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies (Berkley, June 27, 2023), a novel about the bond that developed between a civil rights activist and a President's wife. A graduate of Hampton University and the New York University Stern School of Business, she has written more than 30 novels, several of which have been turned into movies for Lifetime. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

The First Ladies is the story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune forging an unlikely friendship during a time of segregation and Jim Crow.

On your nightstand now:

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is the debut novel by Crystal Smith Paul, a really compelling contemporary story about a family overwhelmed with secrets, combined with a brilliantly written historical novel. When the past meets the present, Hollywood collides with the Jim Crow South, and this book is really hard to put down. 

Favorite book when you were a child:

B Is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood. Actually, Mrs. Haywood wrote close to 50 books, and I read and loved them all. But it all began with that first one for me.

Your top five authors:

Richard Wright, Eric Jerome Dickey, Lolita Files, Tayari Jones, Sadeqa Johnson.

Book you've faked reading:

Oh my goodness. I didn't know anyone else had done this. But I fake-read A Tale of Two Cities. I really tried, but after that wonderful opening I was completely lost (really, not interested) by the second page. Maybe I should try it again, now that I'm long past 11th-grade English Literature.

Book you're an evangelist for:

There have been several, but most recently it's Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson. I've never read a book that almost stopped me from completely breathing--several times. It is both brutal and beautiful. Any writer who could combine those two words together is brilliant to me!

Book you've bought for the cover:

This happened to me just recently. I saw a book, When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar, and I immediately reached for it. I think it was a combination of the cover and the title (I have only sisters), but it was the way the cover flowed. The images of the sisters were moving, and I couldn't tell if they were coming together or moving apart. The cover filled me with questions, and made me want to read the book to get all of my answers.

Book you hid from your parents:

This is a funny story, because I thought I was hiding this from my parents. My dad was reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I was 10 years old and had just heard about Malcolm X, because he'd been recently assassinated. But I knew my parents would never let me read the book. So whenever my father put it down, I would sneak and read a few pages. Then, when he left for work, I'd search to find where he'd left the book and read as much as I could after school until he came home. I folded the corners of the pages, just a little, so that I'd always keep my place. I was glad I was sneaking--because this book was so good. I couldn't believe some of the things Malcolm X had done as a young man! For the first few days, it was hard to find the book, but soon my dad became careless and left the book in the living room or kitchen. Still, it was taking some time to finish, because I could only read when my parents weren't around. Then, one day my dad said to me, "Would you hurry up and finish that book so that we can discuss Malcolm X?" I was stunned! How did he know? But I finished, and that book was the start of my father and I reading books together until he passed away. 

Book that changed your life:

Falling Leaves of Ivy by Yolanda Joe helped me transition from a voracious reader to a reader who also was a writer. In the mid-'90s, I saw Ms. Joe on a television interview, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a Black author on television discussing a novel. I ran out the next day, bought that book, and read it in just a couple of days. It was a wonderful mystery that I couldn't put down, but it was also the impetus (along with serious encouragement from my husband) that pushed me to finally putting pen to paper and writing my first novel.

Favorite line from a book:

"There's no sweeter stench than the scent of a burning baby." Okay, let me explain. That's not my favorite line as a reader, but it is my favorite line as a writer, because this was proof that the first line of a book could pull a reader in and never let her go. That's what happened to me when I began Child of God by Lolita Files. I read that sentence twice and then kept reading, taking few breaks. That was in 2001, and I have never forgotten that line.

Five books you'll never part with:

I've thought and thought and thought about this question. And I have hundreds of books that I will never part with. If I buy it, I almost cry when I have to donate it because I've run out of space. If it's a book, I'm keeping it. It's a book! Who parts with books? You can have my shoes instead.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones. Ms. Jones was a young child during the time of the Atlanta murders. Then, as an adult, she told this story from her childhood memories and from three points of view. The author chose to write the story in first person and third person--and second person, which I found fascinating. I'd love to discover everything about that story again.

Award-winning journalist Dashka Slater (The 57 Bus) is brilliant at dissecting a true-crime story, exhibiting its different parts for readers, and relating a balanced narrative that illustrates the nuances inherent in all interpersonal interactions, in person or online. Accountable centers on a teen's private social media account, where he posts racist and sexist content for the entertainment of his friends.

One afternoon Charles, a 17-year-old Korean American, creates what his male friends view as a humorous meme. Charles enjoys making memes and, at his friends' urging, starts a private Instagram account to feature memes like the first--which was actually a racist attack on a classmate. "His model was the stuff he saw online... some of which was funny precisely because it was offensive. Charles didn't think too deeply about the morality.... What mattered was that these memes made his friends laugh." He continues to post to the account, filling it with sexist and racist "jokes" that use minority girls from his high school--many of whom he considers friends--as targets. The account has only a dozen followers, but like anything online, it does not remain private for long. The exposure of the content sets off a series of events--suspensions, protests, legal actions--that embroil parents, students, and staff in the ugliness of Charles's online activity. What a few teens view as "edgy" humor ultimately harms his entire California town.

While readers' instinctive response may be to say Charles deserves what he gets, Slater's meticulous research from multiple perspectives highlights the difficulties of attempting to define absolute right and absolute wrong. Does accountability ever go too far? Does it not go far enough? And, since algorithms are specifically designed to prey on intense emotional responses, where does online platforms' accountability fit into the equation?

Slater ultimately shows readers that, while racist actions can be unconscious, they remain offensive and harmful, and the perpetrator should be held accountable. Silence, too, she communicates, is a form of condoning racism and contributes to the problem. But Slater does not solve problems or answer the questions; instead, she scrupulously illustrates the complexity of this case and reminds the audience that there are no quick fixes. This is an moving book with the power to make readers look deep within themselves for ways they can contribute to the solutions and keep from becoming a part of the problem. --Jen Forbus, freelancer

Shelf Talker: Journalist and author Dashka Slater expertly conducts a vivisection of an online racism scandal that reveals scars on the beating heart of a small town in California.