Early praise for Kalisha's new novel CONCEPTION: "A poignant, heart-wrenching novel..."--KIRKUS REVIEWS**"Recommend this moving novel to readers who enjoyed Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye or Sapphire's Push."--LIBRARY JOURNAL**
"...heartfelt and affecting." --BOOKLIST**"The work of a gifted young novelist struggling to weld together the various metals of her experience."--WASHINGTON POST**"The imagery in this novel is so emotionally gripping that it will truly touch your soul. Readers will see the transformation of Shivana as she learns about self love and self-preservation. Conception is thought-provoking and insightful."--URBAN REVIEWS**"The book is masterful in that it combines age-old themes of abandonment and its embittering effects on those left behind, particularly the women and the children. The author seemingly has her pulse on the mindset of the youth and delivers to the reader a realistic glimpse of the obstacles, the sense of hopelessness and despair that runs rampant in their world." -APOOO Reviews**
"Kalisha Buckhanon’s latest novel chronicles the voice of a soul restless with the confines of contemporary notions of identity, place, aspiration, knowing and arrival...Though this voice is surely informed by the intonations of grand masters from generations that precede its own, it is still powerfully, poignantly, and often disturbingly calling for a new day."--BAYO OJIKUTU, Author of 47th Street Black (Random House/Crown 2003) & Free Burning (Random House/Crown 2006) Winner, Washington Prize for Fiction The Great American Book Award***************
Praise for UPSTATE:
A moving and uplifting story of love and hope in the face of adversity.-PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY**
Upstate starts out strong and never lets go. -CHICAGO TRIBUNE**
A realistic love story that's set against an urban backdrop as gritty as its characters are memorable.-PEOPLE MAGAZINE**
A sensitive portrayal of young lovers that moves beyond gritty urban fiction."-ESSENCE MAGAZINE**
Captures the faithfulness and tenacity of young love.-ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY**Buckhanon reveals not only her characters' Romeo and Juliet-like ardor, but also their intelligence and ambition.- BOOKPAGE**
Packs a swift, head-clearing emotional punch.-ELLE MAGAZINE**
A raw account of divided love.-TIME OUT LONDON**
Filled with tragedy, despair and hope.-TORONTO SUN**
The street smart language crackles.-MARIE CLAIRE**
Has an intimacy and urgency that the best tales always have.-LONDON INDEPENDENT**A brilliantly written, tragic love story that will keep you hoping until the end for a victory for love.-DETROIT FREE PRESS**
A gripping narrative and a thoroughly good cry...truly original.-LONDON STANDARD**A brilliantly raw debut novel. -UPTOWN MAGAZINE**Compelling.-AUDIO FILE MAGAZINE
Wild and beautiful.-SAPPHIRE, author of PUSH**
Heartbreaking and true.-DOROTHY ALLISON, author of Bastard Out of Carolina**
A literary gem.-E. LYNN HARRIS, author of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted**Upstate is intimate, wrenching...a story about the forgiveness that only love brings.-ACHY OBEJAS, author of Memory Mambo and Days of Awe
Movies
Upstate the Film coming soon...
Television
Books
Anything by the great Toni Morrison, but especially Sula....
Sapphire, PUSH*
Tupac Shakur, A Rose From Concrete*Achy Obejas, Days of Awe and Memory Mambo*
Jeff Chang, Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation*Walter Mosley, Gone Fishin'**Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale**Felica Pride, The Message**Juan Williams, Enough** Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina and Cavedweller*
Gabriella Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude*
Marguerite Duras, The Lover*Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking*Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues*Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road*
Sister Souljah, No Disrespect and The Coldest Winter Ever*
Kenji Jasper, Dark*
Carter G. Woodson, The Miseducation of the Negro*
W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folks*
Frederick Douglas, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass*
James Baldwin, If Beale Street Could Talk and Giovanni's Room*
Mark Mathabane, Kaffir Boy*
Carol Stack, All Our Kin*
Norman Mailer, The Executioner's Song*
Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body*
Ann Petry, The Street*
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart*
Tara Betts, Switch*
William Golding, Lord of the Flies*
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*
Ernest Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying*
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar*
Tayari Jones, Leaving Atlanta*
Esi Edugyan, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne*
George Orwell, Animal Farm*
Hilton Als, The Women*
Jessica Care Moore, The Alphabet Versus the Ghetto and The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth*
Jacqueline Stewart, Migrating to the Movies*
Edwidge Danticat, Krik?Krak!*
Junot Diaz, Drown*
John Edgar Wideman, God's Gym*
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea*
Jean Toomer, Cane
Heroes
The Black women writers who paved Kalisha Buckhanon's way: Toni Morrison*Sapphire*Sonia Sanchez*Nikki Giovanni*bell hooks*Alice Walker*Octavia Butler*Terry McMillan*Audre Lorde*Gayl Jones*Toni Cade Bambara*Ann Petry*Angela Davis*Dorothy West*Maya Angelou*Zora Neale Hurston*Bessie Head*Tara Betts*Phyllis Wheatley*Nella Larsen*Jessie Fauset*Gwendolyn Brooks*Paule Marshall*Edwidge Danticat*Gloria Naylor*Shay Younglood*Maryse Conde*Elizabeth Nunez*Bernice McFadden*Sandra Jackson Opoku*Margaret Walker*Diane Hermes*Jamaica Kincaid*Ntosake Shange*Denise Nicholas*Susan Lori Parks*Tayari Jones*Terrie Williams*Harriette Cole*Sofia Quintero*Lisette Norman*Betty DeRamus*Sharon Draper*Lorraine Hansberry*Beah Richards*Mildred Taylor*Jacqueline Woodson*Effie Waller Smith*Harriet Jacobs*Sherley Anne Williams*Louise Meriwether*Virginia Hamilton*Rosa Guy*Angleina Weld Grimke*Kristin Hunter*Michelle Cliff*Frances Ellen Watkins Harper*Joyce Hansen*Marita Golden*Marita Bonner*Mari Evans*Rita Dove*Anna Julia Cooper and many, many more...
About me: Kalisha Buckhanon is a writer, activist, speaker, teacher and student of literature. She strives for the examples of love, peace, hope and compassion in her work and life. Her dream is for every positive person on Earth to take the time to "adopt" and mentor at least one young person; it would work! Kalisha's debut novel UPSTATE won the American Library Association's 2006 ALEX Award. The UPSTATE Audio CD won the 2006 Audie Award in the category of Literary Fiction. Kalisha was nominated for the 2006 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award in the category of Debut Fiction. Terry McMillan selected Kalisha to receive the inaugural Terry McMillan Best Young Author Award at the 5th Annual National Book Club Conference. She has won fellowships and awards from the Illinois Arts Council, NAACP, Gwendolyn Brooks Black Writers Conference and the Andrew Mellon Fund. She has been a featured speaker at such institutions as The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, The American Library Association, The National Council of Teachers of English and the University of Arkansas, and a featured writer with the Chicago, New York and Philadelphia Public Libraries.
Upstate began as Kalisha's masters thesis at the New School in New York City. Kalisha earned an MFA in Creative Writing from New School University, and both a B.A. and M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. Her writing has appeared in the London Independent, Black Issues Book Review,the Michigan Quarterly Review, the University of Chicago's Otium and many others. She has been profiled in Essence, the New York Daily News, the London Observer, the UK's Fresh Direction, ColorLines Magazine, Mosaic Literary Magazine and many others. She is an English Literature PhD student at the University of Chicago.
CONCEPTION AND UPSTATE ARE AVAILABLE IN MAJOR AND INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES EVERYWHERE.(ALSO PUBLISHED BY JOHN MURRAY IN THE UK)
Upstate
A Novel
b y K a l i s h a B u c k h a n o n
2 5 6 p a g e s 0-312-33269-6, St. Martin's Press, $11.95
Who I'd like to meet: Anyone who loves a good book. Thank you to the many thousands who have already bought, reviewed and taught Upstate, and who will hopefully find Conception!!!
Hi, stopping by to wish you the best for your upcoming birthday.
I've written a book of short plays and two books of poetry. One poetry book is of peace called “Aspire Peace” and I will donate all proceeds from sales of the book to charity, please add the site for this book and pass the peace along... http://www.myspace.com/aspire_peace
Oh my god =] my fave writerr idk but me am not a reader but when i read upstate it was like that feeling when u read a book for fun for the first time in your life nd when you never feel like putting it down i read both of your books in like 3 days nd am here dying to see any other one =] take caree muahz Roxy
CHECK OUT 2 NEW SINGLES FROM THE UPCOMING DEBUT ALBUM! "LIVE & LOVE YOUR LIFE" "KING OF KINGS" Health, Strength, Blessings n Prosperity in 2k9 Jah Bless...
#1) Thank you for being my friend. -------------------- #2) My "5 Minutes, 5 Questions With..." author intervew series is still going strong. Copy and post the following link in your browser:
http://joeypinkney.com/category/5-minutes-5-questions-with -------------------- #3) The article "Urban Lit is DEAD!" has brought on a great discussion over at JoeyPinkney.com. It's now a featured article on Urban Book Source
http://www.theurbanbooksource.com/articles/editorials/urbanlitisdead.php -------------------- #4) You are invited to join the Joey Reviews Newsletter at http://joeypinkney.com/joey-reviews-newsletter.html .
Do you write books? Do you like to read books? Wanna know when and where I post my latest reviews? Not on MySpace all the time? Join my newsletter to stay informed...
Please check out my novel, Manjani. RAWSISTAZ Reviewers called it "a revolutionary work well worth reading." Some places refuse to review it. You be the judge.
STORY SYNOPSIS:
Manjani Jackson is a mouthy New York teenager who believes her life’s purpose is to lead her “deaf, dumb, and blind” brothas and sistahs into The Revolution. On one of the worst days of her life, tragedy strikes, landing her at an all white school. Although she is working on getting along, the racist students make it impossible, and before long, the administration crosses the line, forcing Manjani into political action. Then one of her events gets out of hand, sending her on the run. Her journey leads to a place where bittersweet lessons about liberation are learned as her comrades turn against her. Only tough love, spiritual revelations, and self-determination will help her find her place in the struggle. CLICK TO BUY: http://www.amazon.com/Manjani-Freedom-Speaks-Diaspora/dp/0979432227 RAWSISTAZ REVIEW: http://www.therawreviewers.com/artman/publish/Manjani.shtml
