Welcome back to the Black Author Spotlight!
The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.
This week, I am highlighting Amber McBride.
Amber is an author, poet, English professor, National Book Award Finalist, and sensitivity reader whose website I need you all to go look at right now. Do it. It's STUNNING. Based on her bio and press kit, she is a whimsically dark character, and I am here for it. Her students call her Ms. Mermaid, and her family calls her Little Wolf. We will call her an author whose second YA novel-in-verse, We Are All So Good At Smiling, is currently available for pre-order!
When I shared this cover on my Facebook, I might've gotten more comments than I have since I launched the page. Because this cover is GORGEOUS! The soft colors and the transparent lettering make for a beautiful mix. Here is the blurb from Amazon:
They Both Die at the End meets The Bell Jar in this haunting, beautiful young adult novel-in-verse about clinical depression and healing from trauma, from National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.
Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.
They are both terrified of the forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.
The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales, and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years.
I need this book. It sounds like it has a hint of surrealism that I love.
Preorder We Are All So Good At Smiling in Hardcover or Kindle at Amazon.
If you missed it above, visit her website at amber-mcbride.com.
Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at ambsmcbride.
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If you are a Black author who would like to be in the spotlight, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com
Name or Pen Name
Genre
Website/Blog
Social Media handles
Book (if any) and where to buy
Permission to use photos
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