Throughout the year ,
ESSENCE will select a recently released, classic fiction or non-fiction title
by an African-American author to be highlighted.essence.

ABOUT ESSENCE:
With more than seven million readers , ESSENCE is the preeminent lifestyle
magazine for African American women. It also features interviews , insights, works from great
authors, and literary resources. A $4,000 Narrative Prize is awarded
annually for the best short story, novel excerpt, or work of literary
nonfiction published in Narrative by a new or emerging writer.

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NEW YORK, ESSENCE magazine will launch The ESSENCE
Book Club Recommended Read program and a national reading campaign. It was
announced today by Angela Burt -Murray, editor-in-chief of the preeminent
magazine for more than seven million African Americans . The
Essence Best-Sellers List, which appears each month in the magazine and
on-line, is the foremost measure of book sales within the African American
community. Jones are among the
dozens of authors who launched their writing careers in the pages of the
magazine. Also, the recently announced ESSENCE Short Fiction Contest received
more than 2,000 entries from regions as far as Africa and Japan. Bass and photographer and artist Karen Pugh coauthored
In Our Own Image: Treasured African-American Traditions , Journeys and Icons
(Running Press, 2001). New Orleans madeleines."
The current installment of Bass's Diezmo takes place after a band of
renegade Texans has been defeated in an invasion of Mexico and taken prisoner
to face the diezmo -- a punishment in which one of every ten in their company
will be chosen by lottery for execution.

About NarrativeMagazine .

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Individuals can sign-up by logging on to http://www. Cleage
is also the lead author profile in ESSENCE 's upcoming March 2006 issue, which
goes on sale February 7.
Patrik Henry Bass, books editor for ESSENCE magazine, has been an integral
part of this evolution and thus has become the voice of African American
literature.,
it is the leading source of cutting-edge information relating to every area of
African American women's lives.
The current issue also includes "Oysters," an excerpt from humorist Roy
Blount Jr. For a free
subscription go to http://narrativemagazine.

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The far-reaching
campaign is designed to inspire adults, teens and children to read more,
underscore the importance of parents reading to their children, and to
stimulate public support for libraries that are sorely lacking resources in
urban areas. In
addition, each selected title will feature The ESSENCE Book Club Recommended
Read logo on the book's cover, which will be sold in bookstores throughout the
country. "The Book Club
provides a key place for the African American community to share its thoughts
about the books that inspire them the most. Ehrhardt, Shann Ray, Krystn Lee Yang, and an excerpt from
a first novel-in-progress by noted young playwright and journalist Chandler
Burr, whose latest book on the mystery of the sense of smell, The Emperor of
Scent, was a recent bestseller.

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"
Details about other components of the yearlong campaign, including a
parent's challenge to read to their children and ways to support public
libraries, will be announced in the coming weeks. Published by Essence Communications Inc. The conclusion of the novel will
appear in the April issue.

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Since its
inception, ESSENCE has been the leading portal of introduction for emerging
African American literary talent, celebrating established authors and
reflecting publishing trends within the African American community. He is also the author of Like A Mighty Stream, The
March on Washington, August 28, 1963 (Running Press, 2002).

New Rick Bass Novel The Diezmo Serialized in Narrative Magazine

"My memory," Blount writes, "is
jogged by oysters.com
Narrative is the leading literary online fiction and nonfiction magazine.

author authors

Book Club members will
receive a monthly e-mail containing details of the most recent book selection,
links to exclusive author forums, interactive internet chats, chapter
previews, upcoming book news and prizes. Terry McMillan, Gloria Naylor and Edward P.
"We are thrilled that Pearl Cleage's newest book is the first selection of
The ESSENCE Book Club Recommended Read program," said Bass.
Narrative, founded in 2003 and operated not-for -profit by noted literary
editors and authors Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian, is considered by authors and
readers to be the best and most popular online literary publication available
today. A literary archive of all work published in
Narrative is available at no charge.

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ESSENCE is the authority on African American literature. For more information about
The ESSENCE Book Club Recommended Read program, see the upcoming March 2006
issue of ESSENCE magazine or visit http://www. For more than 35 years, ESSENCE has celebrated
personal achievement, chronicled social movement, documented struggles ,
showcased beauty, defined and set trends.Humorist Roy Blount Jr.5 million hits, some 300,000 page views, and
30,000 unique visits, a readership that exceeds that of most exclusively
literary publications in print.

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The first selection is New York Times best-selling author Pearl Cleage 's
newest book, Baby Brother's Blues (One World/Ballantine Books, $24."
In addition, there are exclusive interviews with directors of two of
America's top university creative writing departments: Frank Conroy, retiring
director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Geoffrey Wolff, retiring director
of the Graduate Writing Program at the University of California, Irvine.
"Our goal with Narrative ," said co-founder Jenks, "is to encourage
literary values and provide the magazine to our readers for free.
The newest issue also carries stories by four diverse, emerging writers --
Alma Garcia, Pia Z.

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"Reading strengthens education," said Angela Burt-Murray, editor-in-chief
of ESSENCE magazine, the preeminent lifestyle magazine for more than seven
million African-Americans . "Education increases achievement and impacts social
change.com. He is an award-winning writer and editor, with an extensive
background in publishing covering books, lifestyle and popular culture . He has
also written and edited for a number of publications including The New York
Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, The Washington Post, Time
Out New York, Brooklyn Bridge, Entertainment Weekly and BET Weekend, where he
was a founding editor. Last year, it logged 1. The future of publishing is at the
intersection of literature and the Web, and we hope to help provide a sense of
continuity and excellence.com.

authors science

ESSENCE Announces ESSENCE Book Club Recommended Read Program and Launches National Reading Campaign

ESSENCE editors will also provide
online discussion questions and reader guidelines about the featured book.'s New Book on New Orleans Excerpted; Plus, Interviews
With Frank Conroy, Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Geoffrey Wolff, UC Irvine's
Graduate Writing Program

SAN FRANCISCO, Narrative Magazine, the leading
periodical for online fiction and nonfiction, continues in its most recent
issue the exclusive serialization of acclaimed author Rick Bass's new novel,
The Diezmo.
The magazine publishes first-rank, first -run writing from the most gifted
writers today.

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' s new book about New Orleans. In an age
of hypertext and lowered literacy, we feel there is nonetheless a strong
audience for literature online.

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This important campaign is an opportunity to affect large-scale
progress."
The main element of the campaign is The ESSENCE Book Club Recommended Read
program, one of the largest book clubs of its kind.essence.com.