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August 2006
First Black Female POW Tells Her Story
Former Iraq prisoner of war Shoshana Johnson has signed a deal with Dafina Books to publish One Wrong Turn, The Story Of Shoshana Johnson, The First American Woman Of Color To Be Taken Prisoner Of War
Shoshana was one of five soldiers in the 507th Maintenance Company captured when the caravan of armored vehicles in which she was traveling made a wrong turn into a deadly ambush by Iraqi insurgents that killed nine members of her unit in March 2003.
Two other female soldiers also were captured, Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch and Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, who did not survive her injuries.
In One Wrong Turn, Shoshana will share details of her life—her young adulthood, the ambush, her captivity and her injuries, her disability, her ongoing emotional trauma, her post-Iraq day-to-day life and the latest about her family.
“We couldn’t be happier than to have Shoshana’s inspirational and intensely moving story as part of our Dafina list,� Laurie Parkin, vice president and publisher of Kensington Books, said in a statement last week. “It’s an account of true heroism from a remarkable woman, and a testament to the power and endurance of the human spirit.�
Dafina is Kensington’s African American books imprint.
Johnson and the other POWs spent 22 days as prisoners until Marines rescued them. They returned to the United States to great fanfare and instant celebrity.
Johnson appeared on talk shows and even got to drop the ball in New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2003.
But Lynch got a million-dollar book deal and more in disability payments from the military than Johnson. Some said it was an issue of race. Johnson didn’t.
Kensington hasn’t said how much Johnson will be paid for her story.
Johnson was shot through both legs. Her return home lacked the fanfare and media hype that Lynch’s return received.
Lynch was discharged with an 80 per cent disability benefit. Johnson got a 30 per cent disability benefit from the army for her injuries.
Johnson has for the most part declined to discuss the disparities. Perhaps she will do so in the book, slated for publication in May 2007.
I’m interested in what she has to say. How about you?
Will you still be interested in her story four years after the fact? WIll you buy the book?
E. Lynn Harris: Pursue YOUR Dreams
On Saturday, New York Times bestselling author E. Lynn Harris received the Terrie Williams Inspirational Award at the National Book Club Conference in Atlanta.
Harris, author of nine novels including Invisible Life, A Love of My Own, and I Say a Little Prayer, took the opportunity during his acceptance speech to inspire the audience to pursue their passion, be true to themselves and to live their own dreams, not someone else’s.
Harris quit an executive job and self-published Invisible Life, a novel about about outwardly straight black men secretly sleeping with other men, in 1991 and sold it at black-owned bookstores, beauty salons and book club meetings when he couldn’t find a publisher. The novel was eventually picked up by a major publisher and went on to become a bestseller.
Harris, who has admitted attempting suicide because he didn’t feel good about himself as a gay man, told the audience that he wrote his way out of depression and into a wonderful life. His words were very inspirational. Click 
here to listen to Harris speak at the conference.
(By the way, if you listen to the audio and want to know why the audience erupts in laughter when Harris says, “When people say they love you, make sure they know who they’re loving,” it’s because author Terry McMillan, who learned that her husband was gay and subsequently divorced him, is cuttin’ up in her front row seat at E. Lynn’s statement!
Terry McMillan Gets Her Brain Back!
Last weekend, New York Times bestselling author Terry McMillan was on hand at the National Book Club Conference in Atlanta to present an award named in her honor.
During her time at the mic, Terry elicted laughter from the hundreds of book lovers and fellow authors in the audience when she joked about taking a chance on love again, this time with a straight man. A reference, of course, to her now ex-husband Jonathan Plummer’s homosexuality.
She said after much time focusing on her divorce, she’s finally got her brain back!
(Click here to listen to Terry speak.)
She also talked about what she calls “backlash” in the publishing industry against black authors.
Terry also read excerpts from author Kalisha Buckhanon’s debut novel Upstate, a love story told through letters between two teenagers who try to maintain a relationship while the young man, 17, is incarcerated.
Buckhanon, 27, received the National Book Club Conference’s Terry McMillan Young Author Award. (Click here
to hear Kalisha’s acceptance.)
Later during the conference, a generous Terry offered to purchase health insurance for two young men brought to the conference by author and public relations guru Terri Williams, a founder of the Stay Strong Foundation. The foundation is a national movement designed to support, educate and inspire America’s youth. The young men, Dashaun “Jiwe” Morris, author of the upcoming, “The War of the Blood In My Veins,” and a friend, are former gang members who met and became friends while attending Delaware State University and now serve as spokesmen for the foundation.
McMillan also offered to open checking accounts and purchase secured credit cards for them.
“That’s what money is for,” Terry said when her gift was announced.
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