books

Award-winning Boston-based journalist Carmen Fields grew up in a house full of music. Her father, Ernest (Ernie) Lawrence Fields, was a trombonist, pianist, musical arranger and bandleader who toured in the Southern United States with an orchestral territory band.

Admirers and diehard devotees of Terry McMillan gathered to hear the best-selling author speak at the Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library earlier this month.

Three women in an urban beauty salon scheme and plot against the manipulative owner to get their due in a madcap mix of social, romantic and material ambition. Everything, of course, goes terribly wrong but terribly funny in Dutch novelist Najoua Martin’s darkly comedic debut, which draws on Black beauty and barbershop humor.

Free Soil Arts Collective has debuted a book of interviews with Black residents of Lowell. “Hidden in Plain Sight: Stories of Black Lowell,” published Dec. 13, delves into the history of the city that’s often left behind in archives and dialogues.

The second annual National Antiracist Book Festival is a one-day event taking place this Saturday, April 24 through Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research. Due to the pandemic, last year’s event was cancelled, and this year it will be virtual.

Candelaria Norma Silva is a creative powerhouse. A community arts and culture advocate, consultant and writer, the Dorchester resident has been crafting children’s stories for years. The 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns finally gave her the time and headspace she needed to publish her first standalone children’s book, “Stacey Became a Frog One Day.”

The annual Well-Read Black Girl Festival begins virtually on Friday, Nov. 6 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 8. This year’s theme is “Black Political Power: Past & Present,” and the weekend will include multiple panels, workshops, author conversations, and tributes to Octavia Butler and Nikki Giovanni.

Author Claudia Rankine recently took part in a virtual conversation hosted by Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge. Joining her in the online event was Kierstan Carter, a doctoral student in African and African American Studies at Harvard.

Reading has long been an escape from the challenges of everyday life. While Bostonians stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s become more important than ever.

Former Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett may have the legacy of a football player, but he has the soul of an artist. Bennett has produced films, books and apps all with the goal of inspiring young people. His latest children’s book “Dear Black Boy” debuted this year.

On Tremont Street in Lower Roxbury there is a building with a mural on it. It features the likeness of Frederick Douglass. Who was Frederick Douglass?

On October 24 local journalist and hip-hop historian Brian Coleman will debut his latest book “Buy Me Boston: Local Ads and Flyers Vol. 1.” The collection of over 390 color and black and white ads from Boston area newspapers provides a history of the city through the products being marketed to it.