National Buy a Book By A Black Author and Give It To Someone Not Black!

I had another blog post in mind until I realized that here at Novel Spaces I had yet another platform I could use to help promote author Carleen Brice's fabulous campaign to bring awareness to books by people of color. I celebrated the kickoff of National Buy a Book By A Black Author and Give It to Someone Not Black month on my blog earlier this week. Last year, Carleen, who is a huge believer in buying books as gifts for the holidays, took the idea one step further and encouraged readers to buy a book by a black author and give it to someone not black.

Here's the deal. As naive as it sounds, I truly had no idea that black authors faced such a tough road in the publishing industry until I became published a few years ago. I knew the books were sheveled differently, and that black books didn't get mentioned as much on review sites, but it didn't hit home until I expereinced these obstacles first-hand. Talk about an ugly, eye-opening experience.

National Buy a Book By a Black Author and Give It to Someone Not Black helps to spotlight books by black authors, and personally, I hope it encourages others to be open to exploring the shelves of the African American section of the bookstore.

This holiday season, as you're making your list and checking it twice, think about broadening your reading horizons and give a black author a chance. You just may discover that we're not so different. Who knows, you may even find yourself a new favorite author.