Saturday, August 10, 2024
An inaugural celebration of Black literary excellence with author showcases, panel discussions, appetizers & refreshments.
The mission of MVBBF is to foster discussion, reflection, and celebration of Black authors and their literary works.
The MVBBF is based on the beautiful Martha’s Vineyard Island where Black families historically vacation each summer. This inaugural celebration is a unique opportunity for both aspiring and well-established Black authors in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult, and children to support, share, and celebrate Black literary excellence.
Authors Showcase
A convention style set up for authors to sign and discuss their literary works
Participating Authors
Poetry
Kwame Alexander
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Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, Emmy-winning producer and #1 New York Times Bestselling author of 40 books, including Why Fathers Cry At Night: A Memoir in Love
Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances, The Door of No Return, and Light for the World to See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope. A regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. In 2018, he founded the publishing imprint Versify and opened the Barbara Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic in Ghana, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy program he co-founded. He is the writer and executive producer of the Disney+ TV series, THE CROSSOVER, based on his Newbery-winning novel.. You can listen to his podcast, Why Fathers Cry, and find him online at KwameAlexander.com.
Historical Fiction
Victoria Christopher Murray
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A native of Queens, Victoria earned a B.A. in Communication Disorders from Hampton University and an MBA from New York University.
Victoria spent ten years in Corporate America before launching her entrepreneurial venture, a Financial Services Agency for Aegon, USA where she managed the number one division for nine consecutive years.
In 1997, Victoria self-published her first novel, Temptation, and seven more before she landed a contract with Time Warner in 2000.
Dubbed a Christian Fiction writer because no one else was writing about religious topics, Victoria trailblazed the literary scene penning more than 30 novels, co-writing with other authors, and ghostwriting for top talent across the country.
Health
Dr. Sharon Malone
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Dr. Sharon Malone is a nationally known expert in women’s health and the author of Grown Woman Talk. She is the Chief Medical Advisor at Alloy Women’s Health, a telehealth company that focuses on women over 40. Before joining Alloy, Dr. Malone was a partner at one of the oldest and most successful OB/GYN medical practices in Washington, D.C. She is board-certified by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and certified by the North American Menopause Society as a Certified National Menopause Practitioner.
Throughout her professional career, she has been active in advocating for reproductive rights, reducing teen pregnancy, and eliminating health care disparities.
Autobiography
April Ryan
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White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House - a position she has held for over 26 years, since the Clinton era. She is now the longest-serving Black woman in the press corps. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her unusual insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation's past presidents.
April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for TheGrio. Ryan successfully opened the D.C. Bureau for theGrio as well as secured a seat for the organization in the White House Briefing Room. Her efforts also moved the organization into the rotation for presidential pool duty, something that is not an easy task.
Memoir
Bill Raynor
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Bill Raynor is an author, poet, educator, and coach. A graduate of Dartmouth College with an M.Ed. from Antioch College, Raynor has spent over 40 years in higher education serving as a Basketball Coach, Athletic Director, Special Assistant to the President and Chief Diversity Officer. He designed and initiated the Young Men and Women of Color program at MassBay Community College, and has been inducted into several regional Hall of Fames, both as a coach and a player. He has published two books of poetry: “Poetry in Motion (The Meaning of Sports in Everyday Life)” and “Reflections”. Why Black Men Nod at Each Other is Bill’s first nonfiction narrative. Bill currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Memoir
Michelle Miller
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Michelle Miller, an award-winning journalist and NY Times bestseller author, is a co-host of "CBS Saturday Morning," where she covers a wide-range of stories, anchors breaking news, and handles newsmaker interviews.
She was named a co-host of “CBS Saturday Morning” in 2018. Additionally, Miller’s work is regularly featured on "CBS Mornings," "CBS News Sunday Morning, "CBS Evening News,” "48 Hours" and she anchors the CBS News Streaming Network’s “Eye On America.”
Since joining CBS News in 2004, Miller has reported on stories of national and international importance. Her reporting around social justice has been groundbreaking. From her coverage of the killings of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, the nationwide outrage of the Emanuel 9 Massacre in Charleston, and sexual assault allegations against prominent celebrities, Miller has been at the forefront of CBS News' reporting on the protest movement involving these issues.
Miller's reporting has earned her prestigious journalism awards including an Emmy for her series of reports on the National Guard's Youth Challenge Academy, an Edward R Murrow for her coverage of a daycare center stand-off in New Orleans, and she was part of the Alfred I. duPont – Columbia Award winning team for coverage the Newtown, CT school shooting. She won a Gracie Award for her 2019 report on the hidden world of sex trafficking in "48 Hours: Live to Tell: Trafficked” and again for her 2023 report on an NYPD detective who triumphed over domestic abuse and survived being shot 10 times in “48 Hours: Katrina Brownlee: The Good Cop.” In 2023, Miller was honored at the ColorComm Circle Awards. She has also earned a Salute to Excellence Award from NABJ and was voted Woman of the Year by the National Sports Foundation. In 2014, TV Week named Miller as one of the "12 to watch in TV news."
Michelle Miller is the author of the New York Times Best Seller Belonging: A Daughter's Search for Identity Through Loss and Love, a memoir which details Miller's deeply personal journey of confronting her past and finding her voice.
She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Howard University and studied abroad in Kenya and Tanzania. Miller also holds a master's degree in urban studies from the University of New Orleans.
Miller is married with three children and resides in New Jersey.
Memoir
Natasha Alford
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Natasha S. Alford is an award-winning journalist, host and media executive driven by the power of storytelling to inspire and change people’s lives. Natasha serves as Vice President of Digital Content for theGrio and an anchor for theGrio TV. She is also a CNN Political Analyst, offering commentary on the news, politics, and movements of the moment.
Natasha is known for her dynamic on-camera interviews where she’s probed the minds of prominent figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Stacey Abrams, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Gloria Steinem, and more. Natasha was named “Emerging Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists in 2018.
She was selected as a 2019 Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting grantee, and used the grant to executive produce the original Amazon Prime Video documentary on the complexities of Afro-Latin identity titled: ‘Afro-Latinx Revolution: Puerto Rico’ (2020).
In 2020, Natasha was awarded a Black Voices for Black Justice grant for her journalism work and announced the formation of a new scholarship to support aspiring journalists of color.
Other honors include being a 2020 Poynter Women’s Leadership Academy graduate, 2019 Maynard 200 Fellow, and a 2017 Harvard Women’s Leadership Award recipient.
Alford's TEDx talk "The Courage to Report" detailed her experience as a local TV news reporter in the era of digital media and Black Lives Matter.
Alford's writing and on-air commentary appeared on theGrio during her tenure as Deputy Editor, as well as numerous other outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, Vogue, and The Oprah Magazine. A former educator, Alford has also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in visual journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
A native of Syracuse, NY, Natasha graduated from city schools and holds a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (MSJ ‘14), and a B.A. from Harvard University in Social Studies (‘08).
Natasha is currently completing a Master of Public Policy at Princeton University and resides with her family in New Jersey.
Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @natashasalford.
Fiction
Essie Chambers
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Essie Chambers earned her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Vermont Studio Center, and Baldwin for the Arts. A former film and television executive, she was a producer on the documentary Descendant, which was released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground production company and Netflix in 2022. Swift River is her debut novel.
Memoir
Toyi Elizabeth
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Toyi Elizabeth is an author, blogger, and screenwriter. Under the pen name "Kamryn Adams"
she writes character-driven contemporary fiction that illuminates love, faith, family, and community. Toyi Elizabeth entered the literary world in 2009 with her debut novel, "Par for the Curse," which was awarded at the New York Book festival and considered for an NAACP
Image Award in literature. In addition to her literary endeavors, she is the co-host and producer of the “Off the Bluffs” podcast and writes for film and television.
Historical Non-Fiction
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
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Charlayne Hunter-Gault joined the then-MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1977. Her assignments included substitute anchoring and field reporting from various parts of the world. During her association with the broadcast, she was recognized with numerous awards, including two Emmys as well as a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism for her work on Apartheid's People, a NewsHour series about life in South Africa.
Personal Growth
Deesha Dyer
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Deesha Dyer is the founder of Hook & Fasten, a social impact agency. She served as White House social secretary during the Obama administration. She was named Marie Claire’s new guard of women changing the world, one of The Root’s most influential African-Americans, and was recently awarded the Women of Excellence Award by the city of Washington, DC. She lives in Maryland.
Business
Lauren Wesley Wilson
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Lauren Wesley Wilson is one of the nation’s leading thought leaders on media relations, diversity and inclusion, and crisis communications.
She is the founder and CEO of the ColorComm Corporation, which she started in 2011 to serve the needs of multicultural talent working in the communications, marketing, advertising, digital and public relations industries.
Prior to ColorComm, Lauren worked in political communications serving as the communications director for a Texas congresswoman and as a media strategist/media booker for President Barack Obama’s Reelection Campaign. Following the Campaign, she worked as a Communications Strategist at a prestigious crisis communications firm in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw media strategy and crisis communications for international governments and stakeholder engagement for consumer brands.
She has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, People, Adweek, Ad Age, PR Week, Bustle, Essence, Ebony, Town & Country and many others. She has been recognized by PR Week’s 50 Most Powerful in PR, Ad Age ‘Women to Watch’, PR Week’s 40 under 40 Award, The Root 100, and many others. Lauren previously served on the Glass Lions Jury at Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France.
Lauren graduated from Spelman College with a B.A. in Political Science and from Georgetown University with a master’s degree in communications.
To find out more about Lauren and her work visit: laurenwesleywilson.com and colorcommnetwork.com.
Mental Health
Antonia Hylton
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Antonia Hylton is a Peabody and Emmy-award winning journalist at NBC News reporting on politics and civil rights, and the co-host of the hit podcasts Southlake and Grapevine. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she received prizes for her investigative research on race, mass incarceration and the history of psychiatry.
Education
Joseph Edelin
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Mr. Joseph Edelin, M.Ed. is a professional public speaker, and a veteran educator, with more than 20 years of combined experience as a public-school teacher, assistant principal, and educational consultant. The majority of Mr. Edelin’s career has been spent educating thousands of K-12 students in urban communities throughout the United States. To widen his impact, he also designs Afrocentric curriculum, coaches teachers, and facilitates workshops focused on culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy. Mr. Edelin is also the author of Through Our Own Eyes: A Journey Into African American History and Through Our Own Eyes: A Celebration of Black Women in History. Believing that education is the key to liberation, and a better life, Mr. Edelin has dedicated his career to ensuring that Black students are given the tools they need to secure their own freedom, through instruction that allows them to see themselves, their history, and their future in their education.
Young Adult
Tulani Thomas
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Tulani is a Duke alumna and former corporate attorney and ballerina that created TuTu’s Green World because of the difficulty in finding certain books for her children’s library. She wanted to find books with diverse characters and books that reinforced the principles that she held in high regard at home. TuTu’s Green World is expanding across numerous media platforms and spreading its green lifestyle message of change.
Tulani’s goal is to spark a young generation by teaching them that it is not only “cool” to be green, but expected. She believes “Having a children’s book series that teaches eco-friendly habits will help produce a generation that is engaged and aware of their actions and surroundings. These children will develop good green habits and will leave the world a better place for their children.” Tulani and her children can often be found in their kitchen cooking healthy meals together as well as going out for walks and long bike rides.
Tulani was motivated to start a children’s book series and online green resource to assist other parents with teaching their little ones “green” habits as well. She published her first book, TuTu Goes Green, which introduced us to the character TuTu is the inaugural book of the TuTu and The Green Crew book series. Soil Magic. the next in the Green Crew book series was released for pre-order in the fall of 2023 and is available in all major bookstores and online starting January 2024.
Cooking
Chef JJ
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Cultural tastemaker and renowned American chef, JJ Johnson is most recognized for his innovative approach to African Caribbean cuisine. His work has earned him numerous accolades. He has been featured on a variety of TV shows and hosts his own show, 'Just Eats with Chef JJ’. His newest cookbook, The Simple Art of Rice, made The NYT’s Best Cookbooks of 2023 list. At FIELDTRIP, JJ’s rapidly growing multi-unit fast casual rice bowl concept, he champions sustainability, working with local rice farmers and producers to source the freshest ingredients. He is a community advocate for food justice and equity.
Check back for the MVBBF panel schedule!
Due to a large amount of interest, the panelist submissions deadline ended March 31, 2024.
Due to a large amount of interest, the author submissions deadline ended March 31, 2024. Space is limited.
Festival Date & Time:
Saturday, August 10
3-8 PM
Authors Showcase, Panels, Appetizers & Refreshments
Book Sales
Talk with the Authors
Book Signings
Chef Lori’s Good Food for the Soul
Refreshments
Sponsor MVBBF
Recognition and Benefits
Logo recognition on marketing and other materials provided to attendees.
Social media mentions on Instagram and Facebook.
For more information on becoming a sponsor, including sponsorship tiers, please email us at: info@mvbbf.com
Thank you to our sponsors
Kim and Tarrus Richardson
Sandra Jenkins
Donate to MVBBF
If you would like to support the inaugural MVBBF, please use the QR code below or donate via Zelle to info@mvbbf.com. All donations are final. Thank you!
Venue Details
Island Inn Conference Center
30 Island Inn Road, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
The Island Inn Conference Center parking is only available for registered hotel guests. There is NO parking at the Island Inn Conference Center for MVBBF attendees. It is suggested to take a Rideshare to and from the Island Inn Conference Center. The Island Inn Conference Center is a 20-minute walk from the center of Oak Buffs. It is also adjacent to Noman’s restaurant and a 10-minute walk to nearby beaches.
Transportation:
Air: Fly direct to Martha's Vineyard (MVY).
Ferry: Go to the Steamship Authority for booking a ferry ticket with or without your car.
Rentals: You can rent a car or bike on the island.
Walking: The Island Inn Conference Center is a 20-minute walk from the center of Oak Bluffs.
Lodging Options:
For lodging options visit VRBO, Airbnb, and other rental sites.
Get Tickets!
Tickets are non-refundable. If you are unable to use your ticket, you may transfer it to another party. Please provide your substitution name and email to event organizers. Be prepared to show your MVBBF ticket upon admission. MVBBF is rain or shine.
Contact Us
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