Donna Hill

Visit http://thereviewmagazine.net to check out our interview with award winning author Donna Hill.

We have to do BETTER.......

My daughter just celebrated her 14th birthday. She and a few friends celebrated at a local arcade/restaurant, and I was really amazed at how many parents actually drop their kids off (ALONE). A friend and I sat and watched young ladies strutting around with their hind parts hanging out of their pants or short skirts, boys on their arms or just standing behind them smiling away at what their seeing. How does a parent think that this attire is OK? Ok some may say that the kids may actually be hiding this other set of clothing from the parent, but as a parent do you check on your kids?? What's going into the washer or being hung in the closet? The later it got the more kids we saw coming in ...unaccompanied. How do you drop your 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 year olds off where so much mischief can happen? OK I'm not naive here I know if a kid wants to do something they will make it happen, but why make it easy for them??

Harlem Book Fair

The Review Magazine will host a bus tour to the Harlem Book Fair in July 16-17. We are trying to get a head count of those who may want to attend. There will be more information to follow in the next few weeks on ticket, and hotel arrangements. Please provide the following If your... part of a book club # attending.
please email: info@thereviewmagazine.net
***Bus will leave Chesapeake, VA****

A Review Reader said...........

I just got a chance to read the interview. Enjoyed it!!! DeBerry and Grant are now two authors I enjoy reading. A couple of weeks ago I got the book "What doesn't Kill you", just picked it up on a wime. Finished that novel and got "Gotta Keep on Tryn' " which I did my fiction report in my english class. So I am
really looking forward to the new novel and plan to venture back and read
Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made.

The Review Mag reader A. Peyton

March Contest

Review Mag– March Contest


Here’s your chance to win a copy of DeBerry & Grant’s new book “UPTOWN”. Answer the following questions with the correct book title to be entered into a drawing for 1 of 5 copies of “UPTOWN”. Forward your answers to reviewmag@thereviewmagazine.net
The winner will be announced on March 22 here on our blog.



1. What prompted the decision to write a sequel to Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made?

2. What is it that drives Tiffani to go to Marcus?

3. What inspired you to write a novel set in the world of real estate development in New York City?

4. Tell me about the YOUR BEST BROKE STORY

5. What is DeBerry/Grant’s 7th book???

Black History Fact #28

1951 - New York City Council passes bill prohibiting racial discrimination
New York City Council passed bill prohibiting racial discrimination in city-assisted housing developments.

Black History Fact #27

Phillis Wheatley was a slave child of seven or eight and sold to John and Susanna Wheatley in Boston on July 11, 1761. Her first name was apparently derived from the ship that carried her to America, The Phillis.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: During her life, while it was not common for American women to be published, it was especially uncommon for children of slaves to be educated at all. Her gift of writing poetry was encouraged by her owners and their daughter, Mary; they taught Phillis to read and write, with her first poem being published at the age of twelve, "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin." The countess of Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, was a friend of the Wheatley's who greatly encouraged and financed the publication of her book of poetry, Poems. Obour Tanner, a former slave who made the journey through the middle passage with Phillis also was one of the chief influences and supporters of Phillis' craft.

She was especially fond of writing in the elegiac poetry style, perhaps mirroring the genre of oration taught to her through the women in her African American tribal group. Her elegy on a popular evangelical Methodist minister, George Whitefield, brought her instant success upon his death. She also was well versed in Latin which allowed her to write in the epyllion (short epic) style with the publication of "Niobe in Distress."

Phillis' popularity as a poet both in the United States and England ultimately brought her freedom from slavery on October 18, 1773. She even appeared before General Washington in March, 1776 for her poetry and was a strong supporter of independence during the Revolutionary War. She felt slavery to be the issue which separated whites from true heroism: whites can not "hope to find/Deivine acceptance with th' Almighty mind" when "they disgrace/And hold in bondage Afric's blameless race."

Phyllis is remembered for many first time accomplishments from a woman of her day:

First African American to publish a book
An accomplished African American woman of letters
First African American woman to earn a living from her writing
First woman writer encouraged and financed by a group of women (Mrs. Wheatley, Mary Wheatly, and Selina Hastings.)