2008 ALA Annual Conference

Click here for a schedule of all FOLUSA programs.

Best Sellers of a Different Color: Ethnic Writers in America
Saturday, June 28
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Anaheim Convention Center
Room: 211 B

Join FOLUSA for a unique look at ethnic writers in America. Authors Tracy Brown (Twisted, St. Martin’s Griffin), Bich Minh Nguyen (Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, Penguin), Yxta Maya Murray (King’s Gold, HarperCollins), Nikki Turner (Black Widow, One World/Ballantine), Nina Revoyr (The Age of Dreaming, Akashic Books), and and Wahida Clark (Payback With Ya Life, Grand Central Publishing) will talk about ethnic fiction and non-fiction writers for this enlightening panel discussion. This program will be moderated by Barbara Hoffert, Editor of the Book Review, Library Journal. A book signing will follow.

NEW AUTHOR ADDED! Wahida Clark, author of Payback With Ya Life
Wahida Clark was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. She decided to start writing fiction while incarcerated at a women's federal camp in Lexington, KY. Her style is street, raw, and she has an imagination that's in overdrive. When you read her novels they are so real you are convinced of one of three things: that you are inside the book, you know the characters, or you just have to meet them. Wahida now lives in East Orange, New Jersey. Her first novel, Thugs And The Women Who Love Them and the sequel, Every Thug Needs A Lady appeared on the Essence Best Sellers List.

Tracy Brown, author of Twisted
Tracy Brown is the Essence bestselling author of White Lines, Criminal Minded, Black, and Dime Piece. She lives in Staten Island, NY.

Bich Minh Nguyen, author of Stealing Buddha’s Dinner
Bich Minh Nguyen teaches literature and creative writing at Purdue University. She lives with her husband, the novelist Porter Shreve, in West Lafayette, Indiana and Chicago.

Yxta Maya Murray, author of King's Gold
Yxta Maya Murray is the author of The Queen Jade and The Conquest. She was chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover pick for The Conquest, and she was a 1999 Whiting Award-winner for fiction. She teaches Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where she currently lives.

Nikki Turner, author of Black Widow
Nikki Turner has been called the "Queen of Hip Hop Lit" and is the author of four bestselling novels: A Hustler's Wife, A Project Chick, The Glamorous Life, Riding Dirty on I-95, Forever a Hustler's Wife (which hit the USA Today and Essence bestseller lists), as well as the forthcoming Black Widow. In 2007 she published a novella under 50 Cent's G-Unit book line, Death Before Dishonor, which 50 Cent optioned for his production company. She lives near Richmond, VA.

Nina Revoyr, author of The Age of Dreaming
Nina Revoyr was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a Polish-American father, and grew up in Japan, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles. She is the author of two previous novels, The Necessary Hunger and Southland (Akashic, 2003), the latter of which was a Book Sense 76 pick, won the Ferro-Grumley and Lambda Literary awards, was an Edgar Award finalist, and was named one of the Los Angeles Times' "Best Books of 2003." She lives and works in Los Angeles.