Juneteenth Bookfest Recap

Yesterday was a day that I grew up celebrating my whole life, Juneteenth. From parades, to visiting where the Emancipation Proclamation was read, my family has done it all. So seeing L.L. McKinney and Saraciea J. Fennell put together an all Black Book Festival had me in tears

Juneteenth Book Fest got authors and publishers together to help “honor the legacy of Black American storytelling.” Celebrating these stories on this day was made to continue the celebration of Juneteenth in a bookish way. And let me tell you, as long as I’ve been a bookish person (and that’s as long as I remember) I’ve never been to anything like this. And to make it virtual and people are able to attend no matter where they are, I LOVE it.

So, I attended ALOT of the panels. (I think I watched all but 3 of them because I was so excited lol) And let me tell you, I have notes from all of them. There was so much information packed in this Book Fest, but I saw that a lot of the times, they all just wanted the same thing in the end, to be equally recognized as others in their craft. I decided to do this recap post to share with you all some of the things that I got out of this Bookfest.

The very panel I watched was Capturing the Moment: What it Means to Write Black. Here are the notes I took. I chose to keep it as bullet point wise so you could get my real life, gut reactions.

• I love that Angie said it’s not a bad thing to have to extend their deadline. 
• Tiffany said she was very near the Brooklyn protests and she had to take a minute because she felt like she was surrounded by everything, with the Malcolm X book she’s writing, the protests right outside, and what’s going on now. She has to take a few sometimes. 
• I TOTES agree with Bethancy C. Morrow that can’t watch things she doesn’t know right now. I am the same. It’s taking me 5 days to read books I normally could read in 3 days. And it’s been like that since COVID, not just now, although it hasn’t gotten any easier at all.  
• Tiffany says she’s been trying to watch things that don’t have to do with anything. This resonates with me because I’m very vocal of watching Scooby Doo when I’m stressed or out of it. 
• YASSSSSS!!!!! Our stories are NOT just about the struggle of black people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell our joyful stories as well! Show us being people too!
• But still remember, you can find joy in these books about Black pain too. (i.e. the sneakerhead in me LOVES that Angie puts sneakers and shoes in her books.)
• YES! You can have both joy and grief at the same time!
• People look over what the main book might be about. Seems to me like they’re picking and choosing scenes out of the book so they can justify banning it. (eye roll emoji) 
• ***ANGIE THOMAS IS WRITING A MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY BOOK WHERE THE WORLD IS A PLACE WHERE BLACK IS THE DEFAULT*** She said it’s fantasy and she can do whatever the hell she wants. IF TOLKEIN CAN HAVE NO BLACK PEOPLE IN HIS WORLD, SHE CAN HAVE NO WHITE PEOPLE IN HERS. 
• RACISM HAPPENS IN OUR LIVES, BUT OUR LIVES ARE NOT WRAPPED AROUND RACISM. <<<— SPEAK L.L. 
• TIFFANY IS WRITING HORROR AFTER THIS! AND THIS CARRIE RETELLING SOUNDS SO FUCKING DOPE!!!! 
• Yes black family reunions do last a week lmao
• L.L’s Arthurian gamer MG is a love letter to Sailor Moon

The next panel I watched was We Need a Hero: Black Superheroes in Comics. Y’all know I was super interested in this one being the super Wonder Woman enthusiast I am. And to find out that there is going to be a NUBIA GRAPHIC NOVEL?! HOLY. SHIT. Y’all, I hollered. I was so glad I was still working from home. Here are my notes.

• This graphic novel was very different than anything that Mikki Kendall had done before.
• Re-imagining = Characters, but a whole different story.
• What’s more important? The artist, the writer? Why do people forget the colorist and the editors? How much are they making?
• Have y’all worked with Black artists? That was a hard line for L.L’s Nubia. To be clear she wanted A BLACK WOMAN ARTIST. She went in with that and was like PERIODT. She knew you wouldn’t get the small subtleties with anybody else. 
• Good colorists are hard to come by with Black people. You can have one that is not Black, but if they are not a person of color or haven’t done this before, they won’t work. The lighting, the color we look when we’re ill, when we blush, when we burn, etc. WE DON’T ALWAYS LOOK THE SAME. 
• There is a world of difference on having a black editor. 
• L.L. makes a GREAT point, it takes a lot out of you to have to explain and defend all the things you’re proud of all the time.
• Sometimes you have to add to your argument that you don’t want to put these things in front of little Black and Brown kids. (Mikki Kendall) 
• Remember we are not plot devices. We are our own people. We deserve backstories and friends, etc. Your characters need to be well rounded. Make them as well rounded as the white male characters. 
• People don’t understand that these things happen to us. How do you put those things in your books without sensationalizing it? If you can’t write anything else besides their pain, you’re using them as a plot device. 
• When people who say these things are not happening, start asking them who they are talking to and are they asking their black friends about this?
• Most people who say they have black friends are those that are talking to the black person next to them in line at the grocery store, or their co-workers, etc. 
• DEATH BY MICROAGGRESSIONS. Death by a thousand cuts is a thing. Remember you never get to a thousand. 
• People think they know us better than we know us. From the access they have and the type of access they have. They don’t really consider specific optics, like how they can learn their culture. They don’t really see themselves as a barrier. And most times its like a time of circumstance. 
• L.L. is firmly stay in your lane. You have to realize if you want equity, you have to stand still so I can catch up. YASSSSSS!!!!! 
• #PublishingPaidMe revealed that there were white authors getting paid 4/5x’s the amount of Black people to write Black people. LIKE, WHET?!
• Let’s not talk about the people who have killed the Black people in their stories.Or how some black people speak like they used to be white and they turned black yesterday. 
• ALSO PLEASE STOP WRITING THESE BLACK CHARACTERS THAT DON’T LIKE HOW THEY LOOK, THAT THEY DON’T THINK THEY CAN SUCCEED, ETC. 
• We will all be equal when Black people can be paid the same amount as a white person for a MEDIOCRE BOOK. 

During this panel, I was so excited for it because I re-tellings (or remixes or re-imaginings) are my JAM. (And let’s face it, I was super excited to hear about Cinderella is Dead and Legendborn because DAMN I NEED THEM.) This was the panel where I had to pause and go buy everyone’s books lol I bought Morrow’s and it’s on the way and I pre-ordered Bayron’s as well!

• CINDERELLA YASSSSS! FAIRY TALE REMIX! 
• You have to make it known what you want. Don’t let them do what they want. 
• Bethany said we don’t exist in your imagination enough for characters to just pop up in your head to do that.(Meaning, authors who say they just had some character pop in their head as a Latinx character. NO. You just thought it’d be interesting.) 
• REMIXES! 
• THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT REAL. THESE ARE FANTASIES. WE CAN BE BELLE. WE CAN BE CINDERELLA. 
• I know who I’m doing this for. I never got to see myself as a Disney princess and I’m salty. I got my own canon now. -Bayron. 
• THE FIRST PROBLEM IS ALWAYS THAT’S THERE’S NO BLACK PERSON IN THE MARKETING ROOM.
• For most of us, we have to say there are pieces of us in certain books, but we don’t normally get the whole of ourselves in most books. -Morrow
• Stop telling us to do XYZ. We’ve done it many times and it’s been burned down or y’all tell us no. 

The Black Love panel was interesting for me because it was more centered on adult romance. I read adult romance here and there, but I’ve realized I read the same authors over and over. Because of this panel I have added all of Rebekah’s books to my TBR. (How dare none of y’all tell me that cowboy book she had is a retelling series?!)

• LOVED hearing the Passing the Torch from Beverly Jenkins and the fact that she was worried about this, but then stated she was very happy to see them come (the other panelists) come along. 
• Can I just say I’m happy Jasmine Guillory was not in the panel? Lmfao I love her to death but she’s not the end all be al to adult romance. She’s not even the powerhouse like Alyssa Cole is lolol 
• SO ALL OF THESE BY REBEKAH ARE RETELLINGS AND I DIDN’T KNOW?! WTFFFF 
• The book you hate is going to be someone’s favorite. – Rebekah

The Black Stories Aren’t Niche panel was actually my favorite one. I think I’d read everyone’s book on this panel except the future debut author, Kim Johnson. (And LAWD, her book sounds as amazing as the others are!)

• We’re always given the same books when we asked for books that looked like us back in the day. Truth. I was given Terry McMillan as well at 12. I took it from my mom’s shelf because I couldn’t find them at the library. 
• Looking at it in a bigger, better light this year. Amazingly these authors just heard about Juneteenth in college. There’s nothing about it in the history books. 
• “Each of us are carrying the burden of each of our books.” Real life Black kids are held to higher standards than other kids. We are not given the space to be able to be MEDIOCRE. Leah
• If I have to do a little more work or take a little bit more chances, I’ll do that. Because they deserve it. – J. Reynolds
• It’s not right that so many of our readers can’t find our books because the industry isn’t taking it. They’re releasing all these statements and saying they love us, but we’ll see. We have all this material that publishers aren’t supporting us like they should. TRUTH
• “We have to laugh through our pain. That’s what Black people have to do in general.” Tiffany
• “If someone comes behind me and can get this money, I would like to actually see that happen.” Tiffany
• LMAO Kim lives in Oregon 
• I am like J. Reynolds. I am a creative as well and I like seeing a finished project of something I’ve created at the end. 

I said the last panel was my favorite, but the Queer and Black On and Off the Page was a strong contender. I found a new author and learned some really great things about the ones I’ve read before.

• Us as black writers don’t get to just push the button. We have to create the button. Make the arc of the button. Create the function and the reaction of the button too. Candice Iloh
• Would they have cried three months ago?” -Candice And the answering ones from Ashley and Leah: Would these lists have been created three months ago? Would anyone would have cared three months ago?” My answer is some of us would have. Those of us that have BEEN pro-Black authors, they don’t market to. Going through the hashtag for upcoming black books and seeing them in the hands of white people while Black people are holding up e-ARC copies while we have sent those emails asking for them? BULLSHIT. 
• Everything looks good now, but 6 months from now we want to remember that they weren’t written for y’all anyways. They were written for the Black kids. So they can have the reality of how harsh and how joyful it can be. 
• We can create something else that we want people to see on the page. 
• Black Fantasy: We’re basically imagining a different future. 
• Claire likes to write contemporaries that show a reality where she is in charge. Where they can still be published and face out in bookstores and libraries etc. 
• YES! The fact that a publisher waited until someone died for them to post their book on Instagram makes Ashley angry. IT MAKES HER ANGRY. People are doing what they need to do to appear woke so they don’t get canceled. SAY THAT GIRL. I LITERALLY SAID THE SAME THING! I WAS BUYING BLACK BOOKS AND SUPPORTING BLACK BOOKS BEFORE IT WAS POPPIN. SO PLEASE, KEEP THIS SAME ENERGY 5 OR 6 MONTHS FROM NOW.

As a Middle Grade reader (and an AVID FAN of Nic and Kwame) I HAD to go to this panel. And after going to this panel, I immediately went and added Genesis Begins Again, Just South of Home, and another book by an author who wasn’t here: A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee. I’ll be buying those as soon as I get paid again lol

• Alicia Williams doesn’t recall any books that were given to her with characters that look like her. And neither does Kwame. 
• Alicia Williams is jealous of the kids now because they don’t have to get a Dick and Jane book. 
• Alicia Williams says she had Imposter Syndrome and all of them agreed. 
• Kwame is also jealous of all of the kids now who have Black mysteries. 
• We give you facts about who you are, but in the end we are only there to lay the foundations. We’re not here to give you a history lesson. We’re here to tell stories. 
• It’s hard to write a book about Black people being humans
• Telling a story in with Blackness is being an activist. It’s forcing people to see that we’re people just like they are. 
• Light skinned people get colorism too. Like my mom tells me to this day, “Stay inside or you’re going to get your summer color” or “You must not be going outside as much because you still have your winter color.” 

So there you have it! My gut reactions from the panels I attended (watched?) yesterday. [I also attended one other, the Jeopardy one, but I didn’t think that needed a recap. But if you want to laugh, go watch it. It was HILARIOUS!] I saw on Twitter L.L. said she wants this to be annual and she’s interested in doing it in Galveston next year, and if that happens, I would LOVE to participate.And don’t forget, grab all these books, today, tomorrow, and even six months from now. And try buying it from Black Owned Bookshops!