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When Loganville resident Michael A. Carson and his 12-year-old son Matthew found themselves at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, they made productive use of their time.
In 2021, the Carson’s wrote and published “African-American Musicians That Changed Music Forever,” and their partnership resulted in yet another book, “How Did Black History Month Begin?” which came out in January.
“We collaborated from beginning to end on our musicians book,” said Carson, a native New Yorker who has lived in Gwinnett County for 18 years. “That book came out of our love of music. At the time when we came up with the idea, COVID had just hit in 2020 and we had to cancel our vacations and summer programs and the world was going in a different direction, so we were home all the time.
Credit: Michael A. Carson/Handout
Credit: Michael A. Carson/Handout
“We brainstormed and decided to write a book together on a subject we both enjoy — music. We bounced ideas off one another and it covers 100 musicians that changed music for everyone. It took about five or six months to put together.”
After publication, father and son hosted an event at the Boys & Girls Club and gave out more than 100 copies of their book on music.
Carson, the owner of Grayson-based Double Infinity Publishing, added that when Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday last year, the idea for a second collaboration with his son began to percolate.
“Last year, when Juneteenth became a federal holiday, Matthew asked me how Black History Month came about,” Carson said. “So I gave him the answer and then he was doing more research and he asked if we could write a book about it. He was intrigued and wanted to collaborate on another book.”
Co-authors work together in many different ways, and Carson said he and Matthew tend to select chapter subjects and then create an outline before exploring the subjects.
“We went to the Grayson branch of the [Gwinnett County Public] library and spent hours researching and writing,” said Carson. “Then we brought it back home and went to the computer and put it together that way.”
Credit: Michael A. Carson/Handout
Credit: Michael A. Carson/Handout
The father and son held another book giveaway on March 5 at the Snellville Barnes & Noble, handing out hundreds of copies of “How Did Black History Month Begin?” to customers at the store.
Creating a book is definitely a family affair for Carson, who has written two other books — one on African-American inventors which came out in 2017 and a reference book on “This Day in African-American History” which was released in 2019. He said his wife Shenika serves as his copy editor and added he’s starting to plan another co-write with Matthew.
“Matthew has expressed interest in wanting to write another book and wants to work with me, but we haven’t come up with a theme yet,” said Carson, whose books are available through Amazon and other e-retailers. “He really enjoys the writing process and he enjoys people reading words he wrote and learning from them.”
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
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