News
7 BEST YOUNG ADULT AND MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS THIS FALL
Rebel teen Roberta Forest – a smart poet who is black and Catholic – is questioning Godand the adults in her life. She’s finding solace in writing poetry and reading about Malcolm X, but when she becomes ineligible to enter the school essay contest, she explodes....
17 EXCELLENT SHORT STORIES BY BLACK AUTHORS
Roberta Forest is a 13-year-old Philly poet who doesn’t mind speaking her mind. Even at her Catholic school, she didn’t hesitate to call out the racism during a class on Thomas Jefferson, which resulted in a nun calling her a racist name. Set in the 1970s, this story...
A Timely Debut
In the opening scene of Robin Farmer’s debut young adult novel, “Malcolm and Me,” Roberta Forest is in a class at the Catholic school she attends. The teacher, a nun, asks how Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence when, at the time, he held...
Two Richmond-area debut authors getting national attention for their first books
Two Richmond-area authors have been gathering national attention for their debut novels. Robin Farmer’s forthcoming “Malcolm and Me” was recently hot-listed by BuzzFeed, while Rachel Beanland’s first novel sizzled over the summer as a Barnes & Noble Book Club...
12 Most Anticipated YA, MG, And Children’s Books For Back To School
Roberta Forest doesn’t see the world in black and white. She is a feisty, teenage girl conflicted about being young, smart, Black, and Catholic. As she begins to question her faith, she focuses on poetry, an upcoming essay contest, and reads The Autobiography of...
Richmond area resident wins national publishing competition
Freelance writer Robin Farmer is set to release her first book, “Angel Dressed in Black,” in 2021 after winning a nationwide indie publishing contest. The Hanover County resident was one of two women whose manuscripts were selected by She Writes Press and SparkPress...