Afro Literature discussion

A subject that is always being discussed among various AA readers and groups is the placement of AA books on store shelves. Some prefer they be mixed in among all other books and some prefer they have a special section.

IMO...I think the set-up in such stores as Barnes & Noble and Borders is definitely convenient, if NOTHING else...and since all I buy is usually AA (except when I'm there for my children)...when I'm at one of these stores it's nice to be able to get in and out...however it is an out-dated set-up...I think we should be in the mix with other authors...not segregated by race...how else can we get people outside our race to even pick up one of our books, if it's in a section just for AA...we get little to no exposure being separated like that...and that's why our authors have to work twice as hard to make it in this business of writing and selling their books.

What's your opinion and why?

I agree with you, Shawnette. I don't see AA lit as being a genre unto itself with the only unifying factor being the race/skin tone of the authors. Should a science fiction, and a romance, and a horror, and a young children's book, and a fantasy, and a work of literary fiction all be placed together simply because each of the authors needs to put some oil in their hair? Of course not. I'm fine with putting all AA romance novels together, and all AA street lit books together (not to be confused with Polish American hood lit, of course), and whatever other categories contains sufficient amount of titles within it to qualify as a category. But it would be silly to have books by Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, and Richard Wright, and James Baldwin alongside them. Those authors wrote masterful works of literary fiction (along with other types of writing) so it would be a tad ridiculous to lump their books with "Skeezers from the Hood Get Paid - Part III", no matter how convenient it might be to one's melanin themed shopping experience. Convenience of book shopping is what Amazon.com is for. Whether in society or on a bookstore shelf, the days of segregation should be long gone.

Hey, Roy...long time no speak...SMilE...very well stated...and when I say "in the mix" I still mean in it's own category...romance with romance...classic literary works with classic literary works...erotica with erotica...street-lit with street lit...but I just think we shouldn't be set apart by our race or everything "they" think we're interested in reading placed in one section...and I love Amazon.com...because truth be told...many times I have gone into a bookstore and they don't even have what I'm looking for...so I end up searching on-line...oh, well that's another issue for another day...the lack of AA books stocked or made available in a book store...thanks for sharing have a great week...Happy Reading :-)

Totally agree with both of you. I love to just go to the section and get what i want without too much effort.

I was just in Barnes & Noble tonight and they still do have an AA section, but the "classics" of AA literature are often mixed in with the general fiction & literature area. Then I also found Invisible Man on the summer reading table, because it tends to be an AP English selection for upper high school students. One thing I can't seem to find anywhere is Black Boy by Richard Wright. I know it's non-fiction, auto-biographical, but I couldn't find it in the autobiographies, the AA section or general non-fiction, so I guess they just don't have it. :(

Hi, Badmuthagoose...yeah...many times I go to the bookstores at the malls and they rarely have what I'm looking for...so I usually end up shopping on-line...and, the classics of AA literatue, deserve to be mixed with general classics/fiction...but I still think that all our other books deserve to be mixed in with their genre, as well...romance, urban-lit, fiction, erotica...whatever it happens to be, I just feel separating us should be a thing of the past...Happy Reading :-)

I agree, I fought my local B&N over this when they placed my first novel in the wrong place. Finally I convinced them to place half of them in the thriller section.

They sold them less than a week later and finally moved the book over and the sales increased.

I have not had this problem with Blackbirds, thank God.

Personally, I like the fact that there is a seperate section for AA books. I love to support AA authors and this makes it easy. B&N has a small AA table in my area, but the local Border's has a pretty big section. This is only from the aspect of a consumer...maybe if I were a writer(professionally) I would feel differently.