Philadelphia’s 21st Annual African American Children’s Book Fair

The African American Children’s Book Fair is one of the oldest and largest single day events for African American Children's Books in the region. Over 3,500 people attended the event in 2012 and over 20 nationally known bestselling authors/illustrators will participate in the Fair’s events this year, many of which have won the American Library Association Coretta Scott King Award. 

The African American Children's Book Fair will be held on Saturday, February 9, 2013 from 1-3 PM at the Community College of Philadelphia located on 17th Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia, PA. The event is free and opened to the public.

Separate, Not Equal

An It's Complicated! — Book Covers guest post by author Coe Booth.

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Coe Booth

Like most writers I’m always a little — okay, a lot! — nervous about what my book covers will look like. After spending so much time writing the books, the fact that the cover image is out of my control leads to a great deal of anxiety. However, I was pleasantly surprised and happy when I saw the cover of my first novel Tyrell.

I really thought the photo of a teenage boy looking out onto his neighborhood would attract the attention of the audience I had in mind when I was writing the book — teenagers, especially boys, who don’t usually find a book that speaks to them. And I’ve since heard from lots of teens who tell me that it was the cover that initially drew them to the book.

The thing I never imagined was that the cover (and the covers of my subsequent books) might create an automatic ghettoization of my work.

I can’t tell you how many libraries I’ve been to where my books are not even shelved in the mainstream YA section. They are relegated to the shelf labeled “Street Lit” where the books about black people live. The same is true in some bookstores where a black person on a book cover means it’s no longer YA; it’s “Urban Fiction”.

I’m here to tell you, when it comes to books, segregation is alive and well in America.