Black books blogger round-up February 2

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This week's round-up of blog posts on black books begins with an event for writers, specifically poets. However, it ends with a event for authors of black children's books.

1.) At the Motown Writers Network you'll find an announcement about the Cave Canem South writing workshop. Cave Canem is a nonprofit creative organization that "is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets." According to the Motown Writers blog, "This workshop will represent the first Cave Canem workshop to be hosted in the South, and it reflects the organization's commitment to developing the work of African American poets no matter where they are."

This three-day workshop will take place at the Columbia Museum of Art, a perennial partner with the SC Poetry Initiative on many projects. Starting in February, the Museum will be mounting an exhibition of African American art titled, The Chemistry of Color: Contemporary African-American Artists (February 05, 2010 - May 09, 2010), allowing the Cave Canem South workshop to make use of that exhibit. Poetry written in response to the art and in the workshop will be published in a chapbook anthology, edited by Kwame Dawes and published by Stepping Stone Press, the PI's chapbook Imprint. On another date, the PI will host a Confluence session "The Chemistry of Color: Ekphrasis", launching the chapbook at which participants from the workshop will read their work written in response to the art. [from the S.C. Poetry Initiative website]

2.) At places the African-American Books Examiner doesn't consider to be blogs but finds listed in Google's Blog Search nonetheless, black "literary genius" Zora Neale Hurston seems to be hotter than ever. As the Zora! Festival in her hometown of Eatonville, Fla. ends, and the nation enters Black History month, recent posts about her life can be found at not only Suite 101 but also News one. Some of her words are even under Voice of the Day at SoJo.net: "There are years that ask questions and years that answer."

3.)  Front Page News reports, "Lee Daniels is the first African American trumpeted by DGA (Director’s Guild of America ) in the feature film category." Daniels is not an African-American books author; however, he's being recognized for directing the movie Precious which is based on the novel Push by Sapphire, a black author.  ToureX on Twitter says Daniels is the second African-American to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar.

4.) Zabeth at Zabeth's Corner tells her readers they should buy the book The Sojourner's Passport: A Black Woman's Guide To Having The Life And Love You Deserve. Books telling black women how to "have the love they deserve" or why they don't have that love have been in the news frequently of late.

5.) The Brown Book Shelf announces the 18th Annual African American Children’s Book Fair, which will be held February 6th in Philadelphia. Visit the page for a list of African-American children book authors who will attend.

If you are a blogger who focuses on books by and about African-Americans and would like to be considered for inclusion in the weekly round-up, feel free to leave a link to your blog in comments or send them to the African-American Books Examiner here. You are also invited to subscribe. If you leave a URL link, do not include the "http://" or the "www" and it should be accepted by the commenting interface.

If you blog about books, writing, or the publishing industry in general or simply love to read and have book recommendations, the African-American Books Examiner would also appreciate hearing news or commentary from you.