Books 9

This Round-Up keeps you updated on works reflecting the imagination and creativity, and the problems and potential, of Black writers, artists, philosophers and activists, entrepreneurs, media leaders and politicians.

Books

Courttia Newland. Snakeskin. Abacus-Time Warner Books. 2002. A sometimes confusing tour d'horizon of urban Blacks in a white society that features the double life of of a murdered beautiful, high achieving law student and the exploits of private investigator Ervine James to uncover who-dun-it. Along the way Newland, called a rising star of Brit-lit, coins a new word for blacks who "sell-out". In a final burst of awareness and self-pity a Newland character realises too late that "I was nothing more than a snake amongst other snakes, not black or white, shedding my skin for each race, trying to convince them all I was like them." (See our Books 7 new section for a profile of Newland and his earlier works).

Linton Kwesi Johnson. Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems. Penguin Modern Classics series, May 2002. The internationally famous dub poet is back in book form "wid mi riddim, wid mi rime, wid me ruff base line, wid mi own sense a time". LKJ can also be reached at www.lkjrecords.com, and tel/fax +44-(0) 20 7738 7647.

Clayborne Carson, ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Abacus, reprint 2001. The author's credentials for this work are impeccable. He listened to and was moved by the speech of Martin Luther King, Jr at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Then, the 19-year-old college student went on to become a foot soldier in the movement King symbolised and he acknowledges that he and many of his generation walked through the doors of opportunity made possible by the civil rights campaigns. Now the Stanford University historian has paid his dues. Invited by the King family to head a long-term project of editing King's papers, Carson has produced a unique tribute to the first African American honoured with a national holiday.

Special selection from Blossom at www.multiculturalbooks.co.uk

An anthology of Black Authors In The English- Speaking World Of the 18th Century Ed Vincent Carretta- - Price £13.99 (PB) + p&p £1.99 This book makes available many of the unheard voices from the eighteenth century. Its lucid introduction and copious notes should prove to be a truly valuable student source book.

Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity & the American Dream Ed Don Belto - Price £12.99 (PB)+ p&p £1.99. Black men live in a social world made extremely difficult by the forces of racism, yet they remain ordinary (albeit soulful) creatures who are born, eat sleep, mature, love, pray, and-work- just like everyone else, says the New York Times. This illuminating book which has three reprints since 1995, looks at contemporary Black American men's lives from their own vantage point- as men with proper names, distinctive faces and familial past.

Thurgood Marshall By Lisa Aldred - Price £7.99 (PB)+ p&p £1.99. Lawyer. Judge and civil rights leader, Thurgood Marshall is the first black American to serve on the United States Supreme Court and was appointed solicitor general under President Lyndon Johnson. Shrewd and tireless, Marshall successfully challenged centuries of racial discrimination.

Black History Print - Price £8.50 (PB) +p&p £1.99. This print depicts 20 historical images with cameos. There are brief biographies and information on important events which serve to inspire. Images include Martin Luther king; Malcolm X; Haile Selassie; Lewis Latimer- Pioneer in electric lighting; Alexander Pushkin, - father of Russian Literature

Available from: Ms Blossom, Multicultural Books ltd P O Box 107 Greenford Middlesex UB6 9QY. Tel No 0208 813 1978 Fax 0208 575 6181 www.multiculturalbooks.co.uk. email. custeng@multicultural.demon.co.uk

CDs

Relaxation and Healing Meditation. Arielle Essex and Nicholas Pole, with music composed by Ellen Blair. New-age ideas and music combine in this unique invitation to relax and explore the main energy centres of your body. Essex and Pole are therapists and personal trainers at the London-based Integration Training Centre.They are skilled in the practical psychologies of the West and the healing beliefs of the East.The music of versatile composer, Blair, aids the listener's healing journey. She is a violinist and educator who has appeared with the Echo String Quartet and the pop band Soul II Soul.

Details and price from: nickpole@madasafish; tel: 0207-622-4670

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