Mamalicious!

So, I’m committed to blogging for 32 Days in celebration of Black History Month, and today is one of those days where I’m just barely making it under the midnight-wire. I had a busy day, to say the least. I’m in DC where my 20-Year Congressional Page Reunion is taking place. When I was 16, I spent the first half of my jr. year in high school as a glorified messenger girl in the House of Representatives. We went to school at the crack of dawn in the attic of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, and we lived in a dorm supervised by college/grad students. It was like college, before college. It was great to see the old crew again, a hodgepodge of us from around the country. We got to bring significant others and kids onto the floor of the House, and we had access to Members Only parts of the Capitol, once again.

I passed on tonight’s reunion festivities in order to take a long nap (I got 20 minutes of sleep last night/this morning before having to get up and get everyone ready to catch our flight; I am a notorious procrastinator when it comes to packing.). Instead, Tech Boo and four of our combined five daughters (pray for us) went roller-skating. Fun times…but now it’s almost midnight, and I still need to post about Chris Abani, and get little people ready for bed and clothes laid out for church tomorrow…and, and, and…

I wanted to say all kinds of great things about Chris Abani (whom I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with this summer at Hurston-Wright Foundation’s Writers’ Week), but in the interest of time, I’ll simply say this: Read him. ASAP.

From wiki:

Christopher Abani (or Chris Abani) (born December 27, 1966) is a Nigerian author.

He was a political prisoner in Nigeria at various times during 1985 and 1991. At times he was held in solitary confinement and he was held on death row for some time after being sentenced to death for treason.

He is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Selections of his poetry appear in the online journal Blackbird.

From Chris’s site:

…[his] prose includes Song For Night (Akashic, 2007), The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007), Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006), GraceLand (FSG, 2004), and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). His poetry collections are Hands Washing Water (Copper Canyon, 2006), Dog Woman (Red Hen, 2004), Daphne’s Lot (Red Hen, 2003), and Kalakuta Republic (Saqi, 2001)…

AWARDS/GRANTS/HONORS

2008 - Nominated for Lamada Award (the Virgin of Flames)

2008 - Recipient, Distinguished Humanist Award (UC, Riverside)

2007 - Pushcart Nomination for Sanctificum. (poetry)

2007 - New York Times Editor’s Choice (Song for Night)

2007 - Finalist, PEN Beyond the Margins Award (Becoming Abigail)

2007 - A Barnes and Noble Discovery Selection (The Virgin of Flames)

2007 - A New York Times Editor’s Choice (The Virgin of Flames)

2007 - A New York Libraries Books For Teens Selection (Becoming Abigail)

2006 - A New York Times Editor’s Choice (Becoming Abigail)

2006 - A Chicago Reader Critic’s Choice (Becoming Abigail)

2006 - A selection of the Essence Magazine Book Club (Becoming Abigail)

2006 - A selection of the Black Expressions Book Club (Becoming Abigail)

2006 - Pushcart Nomination (poetry) for “A Way To Turn This To Light.”

2006 - Finalist for IMPAC Dublin Prize (GraceLand)

2005 - Winner, PEN Hemingway Book Prize. (GraceLand)

2005 - Winner Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction (GraceLand)

2005 - Silver Medal, California Book Award for Fiction. (GraceLand)

2005 - Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. (GraceLand)

2005 - Finalist, Commonwealth Writers Prize, Best Books (Africa Region). (GraceLand)

2005 - Pushcart Nomination for “Blooding.” StoryQuarterly.

2004 - Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers. (GraceLand)

2004 - New York Times Editor’s Choice (GraceLand)

2004 - Nominated for The Kingsley Tufts Prize for Poetry (Dog Woman)

2004 - Nominated for The Griffin Prize in Poetry (Dog Woman)

2003 - Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, USA.

2003 - Hellman/Hammet Grant from Human Rights Watch, USA.

2002 - Imbonge Yesizwe Poetry International Award, South Africa.

2001 - PEN USA West Freedom - to - Write Award, USA.

2001 - Prince Claus Award for Literature & Culture, The Netherlands.

2001 - Middleton Fellowship, University of Southern California, USA.

1983 - Delta Fiction Award, Nigeria. (Masters of the Board).

I repeat: Read him. ASAP.

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You are in the midst of a blogathon celebrating 32 Days of Black History! Yvette at Six Impossible Things…and I are joined by InkogNegro,Christina, Chris,and Tami.Visit, comment, bookmark!

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 11:40 pm and is filed under 32 Days of Black History, Africa is a Continent, Books and Writers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.