Linda Chavis and I met through a little group called Authors Supporting Authors Positively (and through it’s first incarnation as AA-AHA). Linda was the director for READ COLUMBUS READ until economic reality closed its doors not too long ago. Linda is a champion of the book, the author and the child in each of us that seeks the truth of the world in what we read. She is one of the co-moderators of my online fan group (so why she started calling me Ms anything, I haven’t a clue). She told me I could edit what she wrote, but Linda’s words speak for themselves.
When Ms Savoy asked me to write a piece exploring the positive side of publishing and my thoughts on it, I must say that I had to think about it. What came to mind were my early experiences with black literature and books that I discovered and the impact of that discovery.
First of all, I started reading at age 4, reading everything we had in the house to include The Book Of Knowledge and The Bible. I didn’t know black folks wrote books..until the day, around the age of 16, I saw my uncle putting a book under the mattress (ooops I hope he never reads this), and discovered Donald Goines. It was ALL over. I then searched for more Donald Goines thinking he was the only black author on the planet and in my world he was. This was in the late 60′s. Something wonderful happened when I attended Ohio State University and signed up for a Black Studies course; Black Writers were everywhere, imagine that. I didn’t want to go to class, all I wanted to do was read. I could have died right then and felt I lived a full life knowing I found black writers who depicted the black experience or told the accurate story of the political and cultural experience of Africans and African Americans (and if not…it sounded good to me).
I was trying to remember the first book I purchased by a black author. I’m sure it was one by Donald Goines but I went on to find books by many Black authors like Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Richard Wright and so on and so forth to create a library filled with books written for me and you to enjoy, to discuss and to pass on. I remember it took me three years to read Their Eyes Were Watching God because of the dialect but I am so glad I kept trying as that book was amazing once I got past it. I’m sure I have read it 4-5 times since.
Its important that we continue to support black authors and black publishing in its many forms as I dont even want to imagine a world without our stories being told in the way only we can tell them.
Thanks Ms Savoy
Linda Chavis
Please leave a comment to let Linda know how much you enjoyed her post. If you want to make Linda happy, buy a kid a book today!
Very Nice, Ms. Linda, I too was an early reader. I was introduced to Baldwin,Himes, Goines and many others at a very early age, what my grandmother considered inappropriately early. Thank God my mom didnt listen. I remember as a twelve year old in 1969 walking from the library reading the “Autobiography of Malcolm X” I was so engrossed I bumped into this man, of about twenty who said “Way to go little sister…reading, walking and growing…” I never forget that…
thanks for sharing
angelia
Wonderful gift you’ve shared, Linda. I too was reading at about 4 years old. My mother said that was all I wanted to do, read and be read to.
Even to this day–when I am alone in the house–all I need do is walk into the room with my books, and I feel like they are friends greeting me, talking to me and comforting me. I have hundreds of books from various cultures and races.
I also fell in love with black literature after reading Goines, although he wasn’t the first book I read by a black author. I still have a thing for African writers. There is a richness in their words that I can’t find in many books.
Thank you for sharing your story.
-pittershawn
Thank you for the kind words…
Linda
Linda, what a refreshing piece extorting black literature! Very nice.
Dera
that was wonderful to read!!!! thank you for sharing, encouraging and preaching!
Amen Amen Amen!!!
Hi Linda, I really enjoyed your blog presence. We have a couple of things in common our names and I am from Ohio also. Wisom is to be treasured and I see you know that. Keep following your dreams!
Thanks Linda for sharing your positive post on the influence black literature has had on you. Those of us who write as well as those of us who love reading have experienced similar joys when discovering literature created by folks that look like us. Continued success to you and keep spreading your passion for literature!
To Deidre — kudos to you for starting this great Vibrant Voices feature on your blog. May the word spread and consume the web like fiya. God bless!
To Deidre — kudos to you for starting this great Vibrant Voices feature on your blog. May the word spread and consume the web like fiya. God bless!
Thanks Michelle–glad to know you are enjoying the posts. I’ve decided to extend these past Black History Month, so you may see many more of them.
All the best,
Dee
Hey Linda, that really took me back!
Evelyn