[Last While In Books] I’m Still Here And So Are You

Fellow readers! I’m still here, but a lot is changing in Mel The Bookworm land. As a result time, contrary to the way I usually fill my personal schedule, is at a fleeting premium. Reviews and posts have been thin on the ground but one of the changes that’s happened lately means I have a little more time in the review bucket and I’m looking forward to posting more.

Another change is that I’m putting a little more time and attention into my writer bucket. It’s no secret that I write as well as read and review, but I’ve always downplayed that a bit for…well, a lot of reasons, really. None of them are important enough to explain now, but I’ve decided to be a little less skittish about sharing the writing that I do in the spaces that I’ve created to talk about diverse reads online. After all, I’m a part of the diversity, right?

That said, the first three items on this mega roundup of diverse bookish news are…about me. (Ugh. Cringe.)The rest are about the wide world of diverse books for diverse readers. The last few are opportunities to support work by writers doing big things. While I know this isn’t the type of economy that allows for much generosity and we’re all in the struggle, it’s still important to me to signal boost these artists as much as I can. Hope you enjoy them all!

• My essay “How I Became My Own Fun Auntie” was published last week in Carefree, a publication for Black millennial woman. It’s a light, fun riff on how I turned out this way, and why I enjoy being who I am despite the siren song of respectability that’s followed me throughout most of my life. I may have slightly overrepresented how fun I actually am, though. [Carefree Magazine]
• Interesting memories this week–August 29th, 2020, is the day I sold my very first piece of fiction, although it wasn’t published until October of this year. It’s a short story called Dragonflies, and it appeared in the Black women’s magazine midnight & indigo. (I’m seeing a trend here…are you?) There’s a backstory that goes with this that I shared a bit of on TikTok, but if you’d like to read the piece, find it here. [midnight&indigo]
• I just got back from the Kimbilio Retreat for Black Writers! I was selected as one of 20 fellows and I’m pretty excited about what avenues this opens up. It’s a great organization and while I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do a long writeup about it all here, I did post about it on IG, if you want to know more. [Instagram]

And now to talk about the really interesting stuff:

• Why is everybody so mad at Ocean Vuong? Seriously what did he do to have the literary world riding his ass the way they are? Write really beautiful prose? Be unapologetically Vietnamese-American and queer? Win awards? Usually I can see why the literati pile on a given writer even if I don’t agree, but this time I’m lost. I’m not the only one– Linda Caroll breaks down how this is a problem with the way we engage with literature, not just Ocean. [Hello, Writer!]
• The Obamas are executive producing a series adaptation of S.A. Cosby’s novel All The Sinners Bleed. I wasn’t crazy about the Obama-produced adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s novel Leave The World Behind. I did like S.A. Cosby’s previous novel Razorblade Tears despite itself. Let’s see where this goes. [Book Riot]
• Kamala Harris is releasing a memoir about her presidential campaign. I suppose it was inevitable. I feel exhausted just thinking about the emotions involved in writing and reading this. [AP News]
• There are a few interesting anthologies coming out in the back half of 2025. This Queer Arab Family caught my eye recently. It’s a collection of work by eighteen queer Arab writers, flying in the face of stereotype, assumption, and marginalization. [Saqi Books]
• Another book that’s caught my eye recently is Solitaria, a mother-daughter story that examines the realities of race and class in Brazil by Afro-Brazilian writer Eliana Alvez Cruz, translated from Portuguese. A particularly evocative excerpt is available to read online. [The Dial]
• Burning Phoenix Press is also blessing all our eyeballs with Midnight Mystics, An Anthology of Fantasy Comics From Black Women later this year. I think there’s still time to pledge for Kickstarter perks, even though the project is already fully funded. [Kickstarter]
• The 2025 Nommo Awards finalists have been announced by the African Speculative Fiction Society. Some excellent titles have made the cut, including Tlotlo Tsamaase’s Womb City and Tobi Ogundiran’s In The Shadow of the Fall. [African Speculative Fiction Society]
• BIPOC-focused literary journal Kinsman Quarterly has announced the winners for both their Winds of Asia Awards and their Native Voices Awards. [Kinsman Quarterly]
• Raising Mothers, a publication that amplifies the voices of “Black, Asian, Latine(x), Indigenous and other marginalized identities from the global majority to share their experiences and creative works, while also advocating for social justice and equity” with a special focus on motherhood, has just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Go show them some love. [Raising Mothers]
• Sonia Sulaiman, best known as the editor of the Palestinian speculative fiction anthology Thyme Travellers, is launching a new speculative literary magazine called Night Market. [Patreon]

And now for some writers doing big things in need of support:

• Alex Jennings, author of the wild and wonderful The Ballad of Perilous Graves, is hard at work on his next novel and chronicling his life as a writer. Support him on Patreon.
• The absolutely legendary Sheree Renee Thomas, editor of the seminal speculative fiction collections Dark Matter and Africa Risen, is undertaking an ancestral pilgrimage to Senegal and Burkina Faso. While there, she’ll also be presenting papers, researching, writing, and participating in service projects. Support her via GoFundMe.
• Donyae Coles, author of the Afro-Gothic novel Midnight Rooms, has been quite transparent about how hard it has been for her to be a full-time writer, wife and mother on social media. There are a variety of ways to read and support her work here.
• I mentioned Kimbilio above, and the lovely experience I had with them this year. Like many arts and culture organizations under the current discrimination administration, their NEA grant has been rescinded. This means they’re more reliant than ever on community support, which can be done via their website.

If you’d like to support this blog and the insomniac bookworm currently typing at you, the best way to do that is through likes, clicks, shares, and of course visiting the Equal Opportunity Bookshop, where every purchase puts a few affiliate dollars in my pocket and helps keeps the social media lights on. Clicking on links in this post will also help out. Thanks for visiting, internet friends and neighbors. Now, go read something good!