Vocal Expressions

This is the first time I’m reading anything by Tony Dunbar and it won’t be the last. Although this is the sixth book in the Tubby Dubonnet series, I am already loving Tubby. So, let’s meet him. Tubby is a lawyer who has given up booze, looking for his pay day from prior clients, and is now embroiled in a doozy of a case while on the brink of a potential love interest.  The doozy of a case involves Judge Al Hughes who calls Tubby because he is caught in a bind with District Attorney Marcus Dementhe who confronts him with dates, times, and places of having sex with a young lady (Sultana Patel). Judge Hughes is worried about his wife finding out as well as appearing before a special grand jury the DA is convening to nail corrupt judges. However, if the judge cooperated in getting dirt on his colleagues, the DA might work out a deal with him.  When Tubby connects with Sultana to find out what she told the DA, he learns that she was paid to come on to the judge at a party. Her ...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, novelist, poet, short story writer, and artist, Sandra Cisneros. She is a pivotal figure in Chicano literature and her work explores the formation of Chicano identity, the challenges of being caught between two cultures (Mexican and Anglo-American) and experiencing poverty. Her first novel, The House on Mango Street (1983) is a coming-of-age novel that has been translated worldwide and is taught in U.S. classrooms. She is also known for her short story collection, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991).   She has garnered multiple awards, notably receiving fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1981 and 1988), an American Book Award (1985), and a MacArthur fellowship (1995). In 2017, she was awarded one of 25 new Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowships. She has a strong sense of commitment to community and literary causes having established the Macondo Writers Work...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, poet, writer, and educator, Lucille Clifton. Born Thelma Lucille Sayles, in Depew, New York, she moved with her husband James Clifton and family to Baltimore, Maryland in 1967. In 1969, she published her first poetry collection, Good Times , that was listed by The New York Times as one of the year’s ten best books. Her collection of poems dealt with social, racial and political issues as well as her identity as a woman and as a poet. From 1971 to 1974, she was poet-in-residence at Coppin State University and from 1979 to 1985, she was Poet Laureate for the state of Maryland.  She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist for poetry (twice).  Some of her notable works include Good News About the Earth: New Poems (1972), An Ordinary Woman (1974), Two-Headed Woman (1980) that won the Juniper Prize, her children’s book - Everett Anderson’s Good-bye that won the 1984 Coretta Scott King Award , a...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, author, journalist, Min Jin Lee. She is a Korean American author (former lawyer) who has written novels, short stories, and essays that have garnered praise and won several awards. Her debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires was published in 2007 and was named one of the Top 10 Novels by The Times of London, NPR’s Fresh Air , and USA Today; a notable novel by the San Francisco Chronicle; and a New York Times Editor’s Choice and other awards. In January 2021, it was announced that Lee and screenwriter Alan Yang had teamed up to bring Free Food for Millionaires to Netflix as a TV series.   Some of her notable works include Pachinko (2017), which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; Axis of Happiness, which won the 2004 Narrative Prize from Narrative Magazine; and Motherland which won the Peden Prize for Best Short Story.  S...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, civil rights activist, author, publisher, journalist, and lecturer, Daisy Bates. She was the co-publisher (and owner along with her husband, L. C. Bates) of the Arkansas State Press, a weekly statewide newspaper with its first issue appearing on May 9, 1941. It primarily focused on advocacy journalism and was modeled off other African-American publications like the Chicago Defender and The Crisis . The newspaper was punished for supporting desegregation (Little Rock Segregation Crisis – The Little Rock Nine) and lost advertising dollars except for money that came directly and through advertisements from the NAACP national office. Unfortunately, the newspaper couldn’t sustain itself and the last issue was published on October 29, 1959. In 1960, Daisy Bates moved to New York City and wrote her memoir, The Long Shadow of Little Rock , which won a 1988 National Book Award. She was definitely a tr...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, author and philosopher, Jean Houston, Ph.D. She is a visionary thinker and one of the founders of the Human Potential Movement which centers on the belief that humans can experience an exceptional quality of life through developing their human potential. She is an advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development and has worked around the world (over 100 countries) with many spiritual leaders including the Dalai Lama in India. Since 2003, she has been working with the United Nations Development Program, training leaders in human and cultural development.   She has written 26 books including Jump Time , A Passion for the Possible , Search for the Beloved , Life Force , The Possible Human , Public Like a Frog , A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story , and Manual of the Peacemaker . She has also created personal development courses including “Unlock Your Quantum Powers.” Additional...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you novelist, Kiran Desai. In 1998, her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard received many accolades from literary figures such as Salman Rushdie. It won the Betty Trask Award, a prize given by the Society of Authors for best new novels by citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations under the age of 35. Her next novel, The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award.  In May 2007, she was the featured author at the inaugural Asia House Festival of Cold Literature. In August 2008, she was a guest on Private Passions , the biographical music discussion show hosted by Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3. She was awarded a 2013 Berlin Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin. And in January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 “most influential” global Indian women. Check out her quote about writing according to a s...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month, I would like to present to you, journalist, writer, and filmmaker, Nora Ephron.   After participating in a class action suit against Newsweek for sexual discrimination (the magazine told her they didn’t hire women writers), she went on to enjoy a prolific career in journalism and screenwriting. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films for which she received various accolades and awards (a British Academy Film Award, nominations for three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and three Writers Guild of America Awards).  Some of her notable works include Silkwood (1983), Heartburn (1986), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) , You’ve Got Mail (1998), Bewitched (2005), and Julia & Julia (2009). She also produced and co-authored plays: Imaginary Friends (2002) and Love, Loss, and What I Wore (2008). In 2013, Ephron received a posthumous Tony Award n...

Hello book lovers! In celebration of Women’s History Month , I would like to present to you, poet and essayist, Rita Dove. In 1987, she received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Thomas and Beulah , a collection of poems loosely based on the lives of her maternal grandparents. In 1993, she was named United States Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress, a position she held until 1995. She has won several awards and collaborated on many creative projects including a live reading at the Lincoln Memorial, accompanied by John Williams’ music – a poem to Steven Spielberg’s documentary The Unfinished Journey .  Some of her other notable works include her play The Darker Face of the Earth that premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in 1996 and premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London in 1999; her poetry collections - Sonata Mulattica published in 2009 and Playlist for the Apocalypse published in 2021; and various short stories and essays. Check out her...