Best Books of 2019
KAZI Book Review Celebrating 10 Years on KAZI 88.7 FM
KAZI Book Review debuted on KAZI 88.7 FM on Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. with live interviews with T. J. Stiles, author of THE FIRST TYCOON: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt and W. Randall Jones, author of THE RICHEST MAN IN TOWN: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth. On June 7, 2009 I interviewed my first fiction author, Houston native Attica Locke, who discussed her debut novel, BLACK WATER RISING. Since then over 500 authors have been interviewed on KAZI Book Review, the longest running broadcast radio book show in Texas.
Be sure to check out new pages I’ll be creating as part of the anniversary. The newest page features five audio interviews from independent book publisher Akashic Books.
My Reading List and Recommendations This Month
Here are the nine books on my reading list this month that I’m recommending: THE ETHICAL SELLOUT, BREATHE, TAXING BLACKNESS, CRACK, and JOHN HERVEY WHEELER, BLACK BANKING AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS are nonfiction. HI FIVE (crime fiction), AFRICAVILLE (literary fiction), THE FREEDOM ARTIST (literary fiction), HUNTER KILLER (thriller) are novels.
A few books I’m planning to read and recommend for February are THE DARK CORNERS OF THE NIGHT (thriller) by Meg Gardiner, TROUBLE IS WHAT I DO (crime fiction) by Walter Mosley, and REMEMBERED (literary fiction) by Yvonne Battle-Felton. My full list of February recommendations will be posted in late January.
PODCAST: Faith and Struggle in Lives of Ethel Waters, Mary Lou Williams, Eldridge Cleaver and Muhammad Ali
Randal Maurice Jelks, author of FAITH AND STRUGGLE IN THE LIVES OF FOUR AFRICAN AMERICANS: Ethel Waters, Mary Lou Williams,Eldrige Cleaver, and Muhammad Ali, was the keynote author at the Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of KAZI Book Review on May 31 at the Carver Museum and Cultural Center in Austin, Texas. In his book, Jelks examines their autobiographical writings, interviews, speeches, letters, and memorable performances to understand how each of these figures used religious faith publicly to reconcile deep personal struggles, voice their concerns for human dignity, and reinvent their public image. Randal Maurice Jelks is Professor of American Studies and African American Studies at the University of Kansas.
I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Jelks for participating in the KAZI Book Review 10th Anniversary Celebration. I also would like to thank to Velva Price and journalist Alberta Phillips-Bledsoe for participating in a panel discussion on faith with Dr. Jelks at the celebration.
Enclosed is an interview I taped with Dr. Jelks about his book:
PODCAST: The Story of Integration at The University of Texas at Austin
On December 16, 2018 I interviewed Virginia Cumberbatch, co-editor of AS WE SAW IT: The Story of Integration at The University of Texas at Austin. Included in the interview are excerpts from an interview I previously did with retired Colonel Leon Holland in 2016, who was part of the first class of African Americans to enroll as undergraduates in 1956 at UT Austin.
Ret. Colonel Leon Holland
Third Annual Celebration of Diverse Literary Voices of Texas February 22-23, 2019 at Austin Central Library
The Third Annual Celebration of Diverse Literary Voices of Texas is sponsored by KAZI Book Review, hosted by the Austin Public Library and supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and PEN America. It is also supported by sponsors HEB, Capital Metro, Travis County Commissioner Jeffrey Travillion, Austin Spurs, Velva Price. and Walter Muse. Special thanks to the Austin Revitalization Authority for their support.
ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT AUSTIN CENTRAL LIBRARY SPECIAL EVENTS CENTER
710 W. Cesar Chavez St., Austin, Texas
February 22, 2019 – RSVP For Friday
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Diverse Literary Voices of Texas Presents: An Evening With Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Author of the new historical black novel set during World War II, THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDER, and nationally syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald
Moderator: Hopeton Hay, Host and Producer, KAZI Book Review; Founder, Celebration of Diverse Literary Voices of Texas
February 23, 2019 – RSVP For Saturday
10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Registration and Book Sales
10:30-11:15 a.m.
Zora Neale Hurston’s BARRACOON: The True Story of One of the Last Known Survivors of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Jennifer Baker, editor, EVERYDAY PEOPLE: The Color of Life—A Short Story Anthology, and host of Minorities in Publishing Podcast
Daina Ramey Berry, Professor of History at UT Austin and author of THE PRICE FOR THEIR POUND OF FLESH
Moderator: Julie Hudson, Assistant Professor of English, Huston-Tillotson University
11:20-12:05
From Roots to Bloom: Deconstructing Latinidad
Carrie Fountain, author, I’M NOT MISSING
Jasminne Méndez, author, NIGHT-BLOOMING JASMIN(N) e: Personal Essays & Poems
ire’ne lara silva,author, CUICACALLI/House of Song poetry collection
Moderator: Natalia Sylvester, author, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME
12:10-12:55 p.m.
Everyday People: Diversity In Fantasy, Young Adult, and Short Story Fiction
Jennifer Baker, editor, EVERYDAY PEOPLE: The Color of Life—A Short Story Anthology, and host of Minorities in Publishing Podcast
Nicky Drayden, author, TEMPER
Jacob Grovey, author, THE DIFFERENTERS (YA)
Moderator: Billy Carr, KAZI 88.7 FM
12:55 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Book Sales
1:15-2:15 p.m.
Voter Suppression and Role of Press in Safeguarding Democracy
Carol Anderson, author, ONE PERSON, NO VOTE: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy and Professor of African American Studies, Emory University
Gary Bledsoe, President, Texas NAACP and Interim Dean, Texas Southern University School of Law
Leonard Pitts, Jr., nationally syndicated columnist, Miami Herald, and author, THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDER
Moderator: Alberta Phillips-Bledsoe, Austin writer and journalist
2:30-3:15 p.m.
Violence Against Black Slaves/Prisoners and Ethnic Mexicans in Texas: From South Texas to Sugar Land
Diana Ramey Berry, author, THE PRICE FOR THEIR POUND OF FLESH: The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave in the Building of a Nation
Monica Munoz Martinez, author, THE INJUSTICE NEVER LEAVES YOU: Anti-Mexican Violence in the Texas Borderlands
Moderator: John Moran Gonzalez, Director, UT Austin Center for Mexican American Studies
3:30-4:15 p.m.
The Depiction of Immigration in Fiction and the Media Bots, Trolls, and Truth
Moderator: Douglas Criss, Digital Trending News Writer, CNN
Leonard Pitts, Jr., nationally syndicated columnist, Miami Herald, and author, THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDER
Chaitali Sen, author, THE PATHLESS SKY
Natalia Sylvester, author, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME
4:15-5 p.m.
Book Sales
PODCAST INTERVIEW – THE INJUSTICE NEVER LEAVES YOU: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Munoz Martinez
Brown University American Studies professor Monica Munoz Martinez discusses her new book, THE INJUSTICE NEVER LEAVES YOU, which focuses on the hundreds of ethnic Mexicans killed in Texas by vigilantes and law enforcement officials between 1910 and 1920. Martinez grew up in Uvalde, Texas.
State Farm
