Writers & Readers Literary Tea to be Held

The Westchester Library System (WLS) announces the authors for the Ninth Annual African-American Writers & Readers Literary Tea. The Tea will take place from 3:15 p.m. to 6: 00 p.m. on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 15, 2007 at Abigail Kirsch’s Tappan Hill in Tarrytown, New York. This annual event is co-sponsored by Bank of America and the Journal News in association with the Westchester County Chapter of The Links, Inc. The Tea kicks off a month-long celebration of African-American history, literature and culture in the County’s 38 public libraries.
“This event has become a wonderful tradition,” commented Siobhan A. Reardon, WLS Executive Director. “The enthusiasm of the sponsors, authors and committee members make this event unique in Westchester. This year, we are thrilled to announce that the event will be hosted by Rodney J. Reynolds, President of RJR Communications, Inc, and Chaired by Marlene E. Furtick, Executive Director of Westchester County Youth Bureau.”

The authors to be honored at the 2007 WLS African-American Writers & Readers Literary Tea include: Kellye Davis is the author of The Bliss Principle and wrote a column called “Natural Health” for the New York Daily News as well as articles for Essence, CosmoGirl!, Black Enterprise and Spa magazines. She has been a yoga instructor for more than a decade and can be seen on CBS’s “The Saturday Early Show.” Davis has also appeared on the Discovery Network’s “Home Matters.” A graduate of Northeastern University, Ms. Davis lives in Westchester County, New York.

Flores A. Forbes is the author of Will You Die With Me? and was recently profiled in Grain’s New York Business. He is the Chief Strategic Officer of the Abyssinian Development Corporation in New York City. A graduate of New York University’s, Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, Forbes lives in New York City.

William C. Rhoden, the author of 40 Million Dollar Slaves, has been a sportswriter for The New York Times since 1983 and has written the paper’s “Sports of the Times” column for more than a decade. He serves as a consultant for the ESPN’s “SportsCentury” series, and occasionally appears as a guest on the ESPN show “The Sports Reporters.” In 1996, Rhoden won a Peabody Award for Broadcasting as writer of the HBO documentary Journey of the African-American Athlete. A graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Rhoden lives in New York City’s Harlem with his wife and daughter.
Erica Simone Turnipseed most recently authored Hunger. Her debut novel was A Love Noire, which won the Atlanta Choice Award Author of the Year from the Atlanta Daily World. In addition, Turnipseed was nominated for Breakout Author of the Year by the African American Literary Awards Show Open Book Awards. A full-time writer, Turnipseed is also the founder and co-chair of the “Five Years for the House Initiative,” a fundraising drive for the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale. She has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. from Columbia University, both in Anthropology. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.