It’s official!

The ink is dry on the contract!

Beacon Press will publish the book that my friend and new writing partner Sharon Leslie Morgan and I are co-authoring. I’m excited to be associated with this prestigious publisher AND to have the opportunity to work again with Gayatri Patnaik, who did such a brilliant job of editing my first book, Inheriting the Trade. Sharon and I will write the book over the coming year and it will be published sometime in the fall of 2012.

We’ve also launched a new blog together using the working title of our book: Gather at the Table. Please subscribe (subscription tab is located on the right side of the page, near the top) in order to receive email notices whenever we post a new essay.

We plan to share anecdotes of our writing process, travels and travails over the coming year.  For now, you can learn About the Book and About the Authors there. Sharon wrote the first essay, “Let’s Get This Party Started” about our successful first steps together as co-authors. I’ve since also posted my first essay, “Fat on Fresh Blood” about one challenging wildlife encounter during our recently concluded 2-week writing retreat in Tobago in January.

2011 will be a busy and fascinating year. And yeah, as far as New Year’s Resolutions go, I want to lose weight, exercise more, and all that. But mostly in the coming year, I want to write. And working with Sharon and Gayatri, I have plenty of incentive to do so.

Learn more about Sharon at Our Black Ancestry and at her personal blog.