Come one, come all, to meet black authors of romance, mystery, poetry, science fiction, and every other genre and subgenre of writing, fiction or otherwise! Many of them are hidden away in the African American (also known by some as black ghetto) section of most bookstores.

Via Farrah Rochon’s blog I chanced upon this wonderful idea (brain child of author Carleen Brice) to start changing the tide, to dispel preconceived notions (both among readers and book sellers) about writing by blacks. In her own words, from the White Readers Meet Black Authors blog:

Welcome readers of all races, shapes and sizes. Here is where you’ll be safely, carefully introduced to books written by black people. Now, don’t be alarmed. The books are written by black people, but like other books, they can be read by anybody. In fact, we WANT you to read our books. Don’t let the fact that publishers and booksellers put us in the back in the special section of the store scare you. They do that because they want African American readers to be able to find us easily, which is a good thing. However, it has come to our attention that it also puts some of the rest of you off.

So we are extending an official invitation for you to check out our section of the bookstore. Much like in the rest of the bookstore you’ll find books about thugs, hos, murder, revenge, sex, sisters, mothers, daughters, friends, husbands and wives, children, and God. You’ll find romance, mystery, deep thoughts about the meaning of life and death, tear-jerkers and belly laughs.

I’m foreseeing actual in-store parties around the country one day. But first our humble little blog here will introduce you to some of the writers you may never otherwise know about, but I promise you will like. At least, I promise you will like or hate as much as any other writer or any other book you’ll find in the rest of the store.

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