Harlem Book Fair 2011 Readings Schedule

Harlem Book Fair Readings  in the Schomburg Courtyard Authors in Voice And Song

Event Hosts: bob McNeil and Nzinga Khem

Saturday, July 23rd at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue

12:00 – 12:25 Trusol – In a time where R&B has lost its soulful edge comes TruSoL. Harnessing both soulful and gospel backgrounds, their captivating melodies, sweet harmonies, unforgettable lyrics and amazing sound, is refreshing and brings back to the forefront R&B music the way it should be.

12:30 – 12:55 Tanya Wright, Butterfly Rising (Fiction) Commanding attention with her looks, intellect and chameleon-like ability to “absorb” roles, Tanya Wright quickly gained momentum on the small screen by moving from guest-spots to recurring stints to becoming a familiar face to television audiences. She then segued to playing flirtatious rookie cop Maya Anderson on NYPD BLUE to presidential assistant Patty Brooks on 24. She also appeared as FBI agent Marcy Westerfield opposite Emmy-award winner Joe Pantoliano as a cast member of CBS’s The Handler, where she assumed a new “street” character weekly. She currently can be seen on HBOs ‘True Blue’.

1:00 – 1:20 Cherie Johnson, Around the World Twice (Fiction) Cherie Johnson is an actress/writer/producer. After her role in the television sitcom ‘Punky Brewster’ Cherie co-starred in a popular 90’s sitcom ‘Family Matters’ as the best friend of Laura Winslow. She also had recurring roles in ‘The Parkers’ and ‘Days of Our Lives’. More recently, Cherie wrote, produced and starred in the movie ‘I Do … I Did!’ on DVD & BET. Now Cherie has embarked on a new career as an author with the help of J.M. Benjamin, joining the A New Quality Publishing family.

1:25 – 1:45 Nina Darnton, An African Affair (Fiction) Nina Darnton lived in Africa for five years, two of them in Lagos where AN AFRICAN AFFAIR is set, and many of her heroine’s experiences in the novel are based on real-life events. She knew and became friends with the Afro Beat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the subject of the recent Broadway hit musical, and based one of her characters on him. Darnton has worked for The New York Times, Newsweek, and the New York Post. She’s appeared on McNeil Lehrer, the McLoughlin Report and NPR. Her freelance work has run in Elle, More, Mirabella, and Travel and Leisure, to name a few.

1:50 – 2:10 Omar Tyree, The Equation. Millions of readers have discovered The Secret of how to Think and Grow Rich, studied The Tipping Point, The Millionaire Next Door, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and Who Moved My Cheese?, all while overdosing on many variations of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Now the question becomes, “What do we do with all of our acquired knowledge?” The answer: The Equation. L / A * S = B. The Equation: Applying the 4 Indisputable Components of Business Success reveals a foolproof blueprint for business and life. There is no simpler method available to build your net worth. The time is now to apply this universal formula to your life.

2:15 – 2:35 Cheryl Wills, reads from Die Free: A Heroic Family History. Ms. Wills is one of the most recognized faces on NY1 News. With 20+ years’ experience as a television journalist, she is the author of the acclaimed Die Free: A Heroic Family Tale. Cheryl is also a blogger for The Huffington Post and she also contributes to Essence.com. Cheryl has been a mainstay at NY1, the flagship station for the Time Warner Cable’s News Network since it launched in 1992.

2:40 – 3:00 David Mills, poet and playwright, won a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in poetry. In 2003, he received a Chicago State University Langston Hughes Poetry Prize, and in 1993 he was the recipient of a BRIO award. The Julliard School of Drama commissioned and produced a play he wrote on Dr. Martin Luther King, and he was commissioned by Urban Stages Theater to write a play about Frederick Douglass. His poems have appeared in Nuyorican Aloud and Obsidian II. His latest book, Dream Detective, is on the small press bestseller list.

3:05 – 3:25 Keli Goff, The GQ Candidate (Fiction) Keli Goff is an author, blogger and political analyst whose commentary on politics and pop culture appears regularly in national television, print and online publications. She is a frequent guest on news programs on the networks CNN, FOX, MSNBC and NPR, and is a regular contributor to TheLoop21.com and the Huffington Post.

3:30 – 3:50 Lorene Cary, If Sons, Then Heirs (Fiction) Lorene Cary is the author of Black Ice, The Price of a Child, Pride, and a book for young readers, Free! Great Escapes on the Underground Railroad. She is the founder and director of Art Sanctuary, a nonprofit lecture and performance series in Philadelphia . Cary is also a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania . She’s a past recipient of the Philadelphia Award, the city’s highest civic honor.

3:55 – 4:15 Rosalyn Story, Wading Home (Fiction). Rosalyn Story is a professional classical violinist, journalist and author of both fiction and non-fiction. A member of the violin section of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in Fort Worth , Texas , she divides her time between performing and writing magazine and journal articles on the visual and performing arts, and has penned three books. Her second novel, Wading Home, set in post-Katrina New Orleans , was released in September 2010, and was an Essence magazine book club pick and ‘recommended read.’ Her first book, And So I Sing: African American Divas of Opera and Concert, inspired the PBS documentary Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: A History of Blacks in Opera.

4:20 – 4:40 Leonard Pitts, Before I Forget (Fiction). A former writer for Casey Kasem’s radio program “American Top 40,” Leonard Pitts, Jr. was hired by the Herald as a pop music critic in 1991. By 1994 he was writing about race and current affairs in his own column. His column was syndicated nationally, and his 1999 book, Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood, was a bestseller. Leonard Pitts won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his twice-weekly syndicated column, which appears in more than 200 newspapers, and has won numerous other journalism awards. Before I Forget was called “bold in spirit and scope” and “a rare, memorable debut” by Publishers Weekly.

4:45 – 5:10 Tantra-zawadi (Poetry/Performance) Tantra has performed to standing-room audiences at venues as far away as South Africa, London, Germany and Toronto as well as venues closer to home in New York City. She has performed original works in the off-Broadway productions of Girl – A Choreospective, A Night of Three God/desses: Soldier Blues and Powerful Women, An Evolution in Reinvention, the Numeral Three, Leaving My Apartment and Other Urban Adventures and projects with the vonduvoisdancecollective. Tantra’s recent appearances include the 19th Annual Austin International Poetry Festival, the New York Public Library of Performance Arts at Lincoln Center , Badilisha Poetry X-Change Festival in Cape Town , South Africa and the Montserrat Poetry Festival.

5:15 – 5:55 Dana Rondel (Performance) Dana Rondel is the founder and president of Metaphors 4 Life. She is an author, speaker, artist, and choreographer. Her book, A Flower: It Has Its Own Song, was nominated for two categories by the annual African America Literary Awards. Dana is also the author of the novels Death Has Wings and The Sunflower and Rose.

6:00 Hosts Close Program

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York , NY