Written Conversation with Queen Sugar star Tina Lifford

Nov 23, 5-7pm Auburn Avenue Research Library

An inspiring and illuminating guide to true self care, from the sage teacher and breakout star of the critically acclaimed drama, Queen Sugar, from Executive Producers Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay for OWN.

In all your years of schooling, did you ever take a single class that explained how to navigate the hurt, drama, and fear that come with living? Tina Lifford sure didn’t. She learned the hard way—through experience as both a Hollywood actress and as the founder of the personal development network The Inner Fitness Project. Now, she brings together her own hard-won insights as well as those of her clients in this helpful and transformative guide. A blend of personal anecdotes and meaningful, practical—and most important, actionable—advice, The Little Book of Big Lies is the life skills class you need to nurture the inner you and move beyond the past.
In fourteen raw, personal stories, Tina teaches you how to change your self-perception—to see yourself in the best possible light, to love and honor what you see, and to forge a new sense of what’s possible in every aspect of your life. But make no mistake, The Little Book of Big Lies is not a “rah-rah” quick fix for fear and pain. Like physical fitness, building and maintaining emotional strength requires continued effort. This invaluable book is the foundation you need to start building inner health and well-being so you can thrive.
Tina guides you on a journey of self-discovery that will help you turn shame into self-acceptance, self-rejection into self-love, blame into freedom, and old hurt into power. Wise and powerful, The Little Book of Big Lies will completely change how you think and live.

Written Magazine, Hammonds House Museum, and Auburn Avenue Research Library
​Present a Conversation with New York Times BestsellingAuthor and Poet, Kwame Alexander and the Emmy Award-winning Artist, Dawud Anyabwile
with musical selections by Singer-songwriter and Guitarist, Randy Preston
At Auburn Avenue Research Library 2pm

Written Magazine, Hammonds House Museum, and Auburn Avenue Research Library
Present a Conversation with New York Times Bestselling
Author and Poet, Kwame Alexander and the Emmy Award-winning Artist, Dawud Anyabwile
with musical selections by Singer-songwriter and Guitarist, Randy Preston


Join us for an entertaining Saturday afternoon as we interview the artists about their new literary release, The CrossoverGraphic Novel—an illustrated edition of the bestselling book that catapulted Kwame Alexander’s career. The new version is vividly brought to life as a graphic novel with stunning illustrations by star talent Dawud Anyabwile. See the Bell family in a whole new light through Dawud Anyabwile'sdynamic illustrations as the brothers’ winning season unfolds, and the world as they know it begins to change. Guitarist Randy Preston adds a musical element to the interview as he creates music in real-time based on the words and illustrations that leap off the pages of the graphic novel. This is not your typical literary event—it’s a performance that you will not see anywhere else. Written’s Michelle Gipson will conduct the interview, followed by a book signing. The event is free and open to the public, but a reservation is required. A bookseller will be on site.

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Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and New York TimesBestselling author of 33 books, including SWING, THE WRITE THING, and REBOUND, which was shortlisted for prestigious Carnegie Medal, THE UNDEFEATED, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, HOW TO READ A BOOK, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, and, his NEWBERY medal-winning middle grade novel, THE CROSSOVER. A regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. In 2018, he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. Kwame currently serves as the inaugural Innovator-in-Residence at the American School in London, and the Founding Editor of VERSIFY, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that aims to Change the World One Word at a Time.

Dawud Anyabwile, who lives in Atlanta, is an Emmy Award winning artist, illustrator and co-creator of the groundbreaking Comic Book Series, Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline. Anyabwile has worked with companies such as Cartoon Network, Turner Studios, NBA TV, Nickelodeon, and many others as a character designer, storyboard artist, illustrator and concept artist. Anyabwile illustrated the graphic novel adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel, Monster by Walter Dean Myers. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA Anyabwile now volunteers, teaches art classes to young students, and gives lectures when he isn't working on his art. Instagram: @brothermancomix

Randy Preston is a singer-songwriter-guitarist, and former 9thgrade English teacher at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C. “Growing up as an African American in Britain, I realized that there was a certain power in language—especially learning and speaking the various dialects of English that we all learned as Britons. I learned to read because I wanted to emulate my sister who is older by four years, and when I was finally able to be like her and read on my own, I realized the power of the written word, and ultimately the power of stories. As the son of a third generation pastor, I understood at a young age the power of language to communicate and the power of stories to share concepts on a level that mere words outside of tales, cannot successfully achieve. I have been writing poetry for about twenty years, and I’ve successfully written songs on at least four different musical recordings. I’ve played the guitar for twenty-two years and I enjoy playing and singing. My band has recorded two CD’s and at one time was playing 60 shows a year.”



Written’s Wine and Words with Emily Bernard,
Black is the Body

Free Book Club guide for Michelle Obama's Becoming

A Tale of Two Cubas
by: Michelle Gipson


When you land in Cuba, you become a part of the tug of war the country is now experiencing of defining what is the Cuban culture.

On one side, Cubans are deeply entrenched in the past and its traditions. The other is of a future Cuba that includes modernizations and the creation of a new economic and political model. After decades of political embargo by the US and its allies, Cuba is changing rapidly.

“Obama did a lot for our country,” said our Afro-Cuban guide Alberto as he points out the American embassy that has recently opened in Cuba.

Alberto showed us how Cuban youth were embracing hip-hop and how modern phones and Facebook turned a late night street corner near the Department of Exterior, into the gathering spot to get internet access for a few CECs (Cuban currency) for the password to a secured wifi site.

Alberto also showed us the hangout for the newly “out” LGBTQ community that was benefiting from the new government changes. This population, under Fidel, was ostracized into an underground existence. Now, they throw rave parties and socialize in an open, yet segregated, part of the city.

The most obvious change is the aesthetic texture of the island. Only 90 miles from Miami, the Art Decor architecture of the pre-revolution is frozen against its Caribbean sky, paying homage to a time when Cuba was more affluent and arguably more divided. In stark contrast, modern hotels under construction from Chinese owned companies, now compete for the same visual space. The former Hilton Hotel which opened in the 1950s and the more modern Amelia Cohiba are icons to what was and what is to come.

Similarly, the classic American car, which once stood for a mark of the Revolution and a monument to Cuban ingenuity and innovation after the Revolution and subsequent embargo, left the country without professional maintenance and parts. In the past, these cars would be the envy of every Cuban, with price 

tags that exceed $60,000, the American classic was a monument of pride and achievement. Now the sound of the classic motors is muted from the bass, treble and subwoofer from Kia and Mercedes Benz newly imported cars which are available to the elite in an economy that is Socialist in its design, yet almost caste like in its execution. 

The Socialist economy of pre-President Obama Cuba was one of slow, often stifling innovation. Now, Cubans are able to apply for permits for AirBNB rentals, neighborhood cafes and independent cab drivers. The hybrid government partner entrepreneurship allows for an emerging elite and middle class Cubans who will want amenities to accompany their new found economic status, that more closely resembles Capitalism than its Socialist enemy.
​
And when you speak to Cubans the generation that remembers the good and not so good of Fidel’s regime, you hear the pride of a country that fought for freedom, combined with the longing of a Cuba that continues to be free of the trappings of other societies that are often purchased and traded for corporate or government desire. “Cuba is Communist,” our guide Earnesto commented. “The people are not,”

The biggest change that most Cubans say that has challenged the country the most is the arrival of the Americans. Once considered the enemy of Cuba and everything it valued, the tourist Visas are flying through Cuba’s custom department, which requires different resources - more schools to teach English to Cubans in all industries as the non-Spanish speaking foreigners infiltrate a land, that was once only one language.  And as the language barrier dissipates, so do the misconceptions from decades of distrust between the two countries.

“Americans are smart and nice,” said Ernesto. “Not like in the movie where there is a lot of drunk people and fighting.”  Ernesto, has a sister, who married an American and was now living in Miami. He was hoping to visit Florida to see her and his nephew soon. His English was helping him with that process and making his cab business a lucrative occupation. 

“Cuba has to change,” said Ernesto. “I want us to stay independent, but we have to change. This system is not working.”

The struggle of change and independence will be a difficult one for Cuba. Only time will tale if both are possible.

Don’t miss this wonderful event!

Books of the Cuban Revolution

Here are recommended reads for understanding the history of Cuba, from Cubans

In Search of Inspiration (ISOI) 
Myrtle Beach, SC

Review

Picture
The Magnolia Story
Thomas Nelson Publishing
Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines
Medium: AudioBook on Audible
Reviewed by Michelle R. Gipson



(Click picture to purchase)
   
      When I first discovered the HGTV show "Fixer Upper," I couldn't tell you why I loved the show. The remodels were modest. The families that owned them equally so, but there was something so appealing about The Gaines family. I began texting friends and sharing on Facebook, 'You have to watch this new show set in Waco, TX of all places.' People asked what was the appeal and at the time I couldn't articulate it, but after listening to the story of this dynamic duo, I have the one word that capture the appeal: genuineness.
     The Magnolia Story is a quick recap of what brought this couple into our lives - the peculiar happenstances, the odd idiosyncrasies and the magnificent miracles that pushed two individuals who were seemingly very different down a path that was uniquely designed for them.
      Joanna Gaines' story is the most revealing of the pair. Her cultural heritage and the painful racist taunting that she endured as a child in communities that lacked racial diversity, shaped her introverted personal. "Jo Jo" (as Chip refers to her),
Click here to continue

Written conversation
with Kimberla Lawson Roby
Congratulations to Sheronda Gipson, one of the winners in the #WriteClubAtl competition. Write Club Atlanta takes literature with to a "bloodsport". It takes two writers and gives them a topic to write a 7is minute creative muse. Each writer performs their piece and the audience votes on the winner. The winner has a donation made in their name to the charity of their choice. Ms Gipson competed in the topic of "War" and her opponent was "Peace" and her charity was the Ida B. Wells Museum in Holly Springs, MS. To learn more about #WriteClubAtl find them on Facebook.

Books in the media

Democracy: Stories from the long road to freedom by Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice on Russia, Putin and Trump
on CBS Sunday Morning  

 

 
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