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5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Saleem Little, author of Black Girl, White World: Crossing the Line

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Saleem Little, author of Black Girl, White World: Crossing the Line
(Mitanni Publishing)

Black Girl, White World is one woman’s quest for an identity in a world in which she feels like a stranger; a world in which, as Toni Morrison put it, “American meant white and everyone else had to hyphenate.”

Dahlia is exposed to injustices at a very young age; from the false imprisonment of her father, to the slap on the wrist received by a man convicted of molesting twelve boys and girls at the shelter she was forced to reside in after losing her mother and father.

By the time she reaches college, she fully understands racial discrimination and the effects of it and finds herself in the middle of a racial riot on her college campus. In the end, Dahlia’s tale is one of self-awakening as she struggles to turn her tumultuous black and white world into one of color, full of love and understanding.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “Black Girl, White World: Crossing the Line”?

Saleem Little:  I was inspired to write Black Girl, White World from an internal disdain for the trivial things that men deem worthy of warring or fighting over. Also the realization that most prejudice, and most misunderstandings, stem from ignorance. More often than not people seem unable to escape the matrix that conditions their ideas and systematically helps to form their habits and coerces their decision-making. Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Saleem Little, author of Black Girl, White World: Crossing the Line →

5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Vern E. Smith, author of The Jones Men

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JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Vern E. Smith, author of The Jones Men
(Rosarium Publishing)

Set in 1974, Lennie Jack and Joe Red, two ambitious young heroin dealers launch a bold plan to control Detroit’s drug trade with a daring robbery of the biggest kingpin in town, ex-cop Willis McDaniel.

With the clock ticking on an all-out war, Lennie Jack and Joe Red race to set up their takeover plan while trying to stay a step ahead of McDaniel’s deadly hunters and a squad of police detectives lead by Big Al Lewis. The book unfolds in cinematic chapters at an astonishing pace that places the reader at the center of the action.

“A large accomplishment in the art of fiction.” — New York Times Book Review.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “The Jones Men”?

Vern E. Smith: The Jones Men grew out of my work as a journalist. I was a bureau chief and national correspondent for Newsweek, and before that a newspaper reporter in California.

I reported a story for the magazine that turned into a piece called “Detroit’s Heroin Subculture,” in which I first used the term “jones men” to describe the players in that world. Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Vern E. Smith, author of The Jones Men →

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Jack Barr, author of Failing at Fatherhood

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Jack Barr, author of Failing at Fatherhood
(Trinity Grace Press)

Starting with an article on CNN and now the author of his first book, Failing at Fatherhood, Jack Barr shares his deeply personal story as a new parent who has recently learned of his daughter’s inborn chromosomal deficiency.

His daughter, Marley, and her diagnosis of Down syndrome consequentially spiraled his life down into an overwhelming state of depression, fear and anxiety, that only forced him to search for answers through the multifaceted events throughout the timeline of his life. Barr’s service as a missionary with his wife in Thailand set up the story of failure and redemption as his apparent faith compeled him to resolve his past, reflect on the present, and passionately hope for the future.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write “Failing at Fatherhood”?

Jack Barr: My daughter and her birth inspired me to write Failing at Fatherhood. Before she was born, I had a distorted view of people with special needs. Instead of being a proud father, I was an emotionally absent father for my daughter her first year of life. Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Jack Barr, author of Failing at Fatherhood →