Short Takes

Film Quarterly on Matthew H. Bernstein's SCREENING A LYNCHING: "Breaks new ground not in its account of Leo Frank's lynching, a sensation that had been covered before, but in its sensitive, detailed accounts of the story's media history."

From the North Carolina Historical Review: "While LIBERALISM, BLACK POWER, AND THE MAKING OF AMERICAN POLITICS indeeds sheds light on both the conservative and liberal politics at play in the history of the Black Power movement, Fergus crafts a believable argument that is applicable in a variety of global contexts. Fergus's books is thus recommended not only to historians of twentieth-century America, but also to anyone interested in how fringe nationalist movements wield power within conventional political frameworks."

Reviews of CORNBREAD NATION 5 in PopMatters and Charleston Magazine.

The Jewish Daily Forward mentions our backlist title BROTHER JESUS: THE NAZARENE THROUGH JEWISH EYES.

Lori Ostlund's THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD wins the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction from the Publishing Triangle, and is shortlisted for the 2010 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (as is Andrew Porter's THE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER.) In case you've lost track, Ostlund's book has also won the California Book Award for First Fiction, is a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award (announcing late May) and is on the longlist for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award (shortlist announced in July).

Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award series editor Nancy Zafris is featured at next week's Ohio Festival of the Short Story.

Now available:

JOHN OLIVER KILLENS: A LIFE OF BLACK LITERARY ACTIVISM
by Keith Gilyard

Born in Macon in 1916, Killens became an influential writer and teacher who helped found the Harlem Writers Guild and is acknowledged as a spiritual father of the Black Arts Movement. In this first major biography of Killens, Gilyard shows his novels and other publications in the context of his politics and his times.

Keith Gilyard will be in Atlanta for two upcoming events, both free and open to the public:
Tuesday, May 18 @ 7:15 pm
Georgia Center for the Book, Decatur Public Library

Thursday, May 20 @ 7:00 pm
Auburn Avenue Research Library, Authors & Writers Lounge, 3rd Floor