Go, Tell Michelle: From Page to Stage

Go, Tell Michelle is making the transition from the written page to the performance stage. Here are the details, straight from the GTM Sisterhood Network blog:

On January 19th, we will make history when the dramatic adaptation of "Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady" comes to the stage at Allen Hall Theater at the University at Buffalo. Adapted and directed by Robert Knopf, chair of the University's Theater and Dance Department, "Go, Tell Michelle: the Play" will feature three readers; Karima Amin, Peggy Brooks-Bertram and Barbara Seals Nevergold.

Congratulations to Barbara and Peggy on this exciting development. For more on the dramatic adaptation, check out recent posts on the GTM Sisterhood blog and also visit our events calendar for exact time and location information.

Go, Tell Michelle among critic's top books for 2009

Seems like only yesterday that we published Go, Tell Michelle, our book of letters written by African American women to Michelle Obama. In actuality, that was back in January of this year, right before the Presidential Inauguration. The book received quite a bit of attention during that momentous time. Now it's good  to see it appearing on critic Kam Williams' list of the Ten Best Black Books of 2009 (nonfiction category). Williams is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, Rotten Tomatoes, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee.

So, as we near the close of 2009, we've come full circle in a way—back to the book that successfully launched 2009 for us. Congratulations again go out to the book's coeditors, Barbara A. Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram.

Go, Tell Michelle coeditors profiled

Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram, coeditors of Go, Tell Michelle, were recently profiled in UB Today, a publication of the University at Buffalo. The book is still going strong, as are Barbara and Peggy. We found a good deal of interest in the copies of the book we brought to the Brooklyn Book Festival, in fact.

Read the full profile here.

Go, Tell Michelle is an Award Winner

Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady was recently awarded the 2009 Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Award, in the category of edited volume, presented by the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH).

Coeditors Barbara A. Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram will accept the award at the ABWH luncheon on October 3rd in Cincinnati, where they will also be the keynote speakers.

For more on the book, visit our website and follow Barbara and Peggy on their blog.

Author Spotlight: Barbara Seals Nevergold

Barbara Seals Nevergold has had an amazing year with the success of Go, Tell Michelle, which she coedited with Peggy Brooks-Bertram. You can keep track of Barbara's and Peggy's continuing adventures promoting the book over at their blog; as you'll see, they're extremely hardworking, which is a big reason why the book took off like it did.

Buffalo State Insider recently ran a wonderful profile on Barbara that explores where she's come from and what she's accomplished.

Barbara and Peggy have a number of events on the horizon, which you can find our events calendar.

Book Expo news and notes

Book Expo America in NYC is fast approaching—it starts next Thursday, May 28. We'll have some fun stuff for you to take away from our booth (#4840), plus book signings on Sunday, May 31 for Go, Tell Michelle from 9:30–10:30 and for A Family Place from 11:00-noon. Word is we might also have some hot-off-the-press galleys for Woodstock, so look for those as well.

Also, be sure to sign up for the BEA Book Raffle to win $500 worth of books! We've seen the list and it's a nice collection of books in film & television, American history, comic books, spirituality, and more...including three SUNY Press books: the aforementioned Go, Tell Michelle, A Family Place, and Black Elk Speaks. For a chance to win the complete set of books, all you need to do is drop off your business card or fill out a raffle ticket at the AAUP booth (#4846). Best of luck!

Go, Tell Michelle on Book TV this Memorial Day

Back in March, C-SPAN2's Book TV filmed Go, Tell Michelle coeditors' Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram's talk and book signing at Bus Boys & Poets Book Store in Washington, DC. The program is scheduled to air on Book TV on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day) at 8:30 am and will repeat later that day at 8:30 pm. The reading also featured several of the book's contributors reading from their submissions: Betty Falato, Regan Botts Ruiz, Donna Aza Smith, Lori Polin Jones, and Miriam Guichard.

So tune in on May 25 or set your TiVo because you won't want to miss this.

Book Expo America

We're busy with the final stages of prep work before we attend Book Expo America at the Javits Center in NYC, "the premier publishing event for the North American publishing industry." Throughout the month of May we're featuring select titles on our website so you can see what we'll have at our booth (# 4840).

Book Expo runs from May 28–May 31, so stop by and visit us while making your way through the labyrinth in the Javits Center. On Sunday May 31 we're hosting book signings for Go, Tell Michelle from 9:30–10:30 and for A Family Place from 11:00–noon. We hope to see you early and often during those four days.

Michelle, can you hear us?

Our recently published book, Go, Tell Michelle, is now available as an unabridged and expanded audiobook. It contains all of the wonderfully personal and evocative letters and poems to Michelle Obama found in the original book, only now they are read to you by the editors, Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram. It also features ten new letters plus a never before seen or heard introduction by the editors.

Peggy and Barbara have also started their own blog, so stop by and see what they are up to form time to time.

Calendar of Events

We've added a link over on the side bar called Calendar of Events. It takes you to—you guessed it—a calendar of events on the SUNY Press website. Now you can keep up with what our authors are doing, whether they are being interviewed on radio or TV, or giving a reading at your local bookstore.

A small note on a big upcoming event: for those in the Albany area, stop by The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza next Friday the 13th at 7pm for a book signing and reception with Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram, the coeditors of Go, Tell Michelle.