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Payback Press
The Payback Press was a specialist imprint of Canongate Books devoted to (initially) reprints of essays on Black culture, which later branched out into contemporary Black fiction and classic crime novels. Of the former category, the first three novels published by the imprint were "Blues People" by Amiri Baraka, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), "Black Talk" by Ben Sidran, and "The New Beats" by S. H. Fernando Jr., S.H. Fernando, Jr. Notable fiction and classic crime novels included Chester Himes and Clarence Cooper Jr and Iceberg Slim. The imprint's name references the James Brown song "The Payback", The Payback (song), which, explained by James Byng, Jamie Byng, head of Canongate Books, addressed the need of "repaying a debt by making people more aware of the tremendous importance of black culture and its role in our lives." Payback Press is credited for potentially saving certain books from obscurity, either relaunching books that had gone out of print or had never been published in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canongate Books
Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prize winning novel '' Life of Pi'' (2001). Canongate was named the British Book Awards Publisher of the Year in 2003 and 2009. Origins Canongate was founded in 1973 by Stephanie Wolfe Murray and her husband Angus Wolfe Murray. Originally a speciality press focusing on Scottish-interest books, generally with small print runs, its most major author was Alasdair Gray. In 1994, it was purchased from the receiver in a management buyout led by Jamie Byng, using funds provided by his stepfather Christopher Bland and his father-in-law Charlie McVeigh, and began to publish more general works, including the '' Pocket Canons'' editions of books of the Bible, as well as the '' Payback Press'' and '' Rebel Inc.'' imprints. Byng is CEO of the company. In June 2010 it was announced that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Perry (author)
Charles Perry (1924–1969) was an African American author whose only published novel was '' Portrait of a Young Man Drowning''. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but moved to Brooklyn when he was still in grade school. During the 1940s, he was a co-star of the hit radio series ''New World A-Coming''. ''Portrait of a Young Man'' ''Portrait of a Young Man Drowning'' draws heavily on Perry's first hand research of gangsters and juvenile delinquents in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. An homage to James Joyce's '' Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'', the novel is written in the first person and tells the story of Harold. He is a young man who gets sucked into Brooklyn's underworld scene, while living with an overbearing mother. The novel was considered ground-breaking when it was first published in 1962 because it was one of the first novels written in the first person by a black author with a white protagonist. Perry soon began work on a semi-autobiographical An autobiog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, was chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2015 until 2022, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trustees two years later, having previously been appointed one of the museum's fellows. He was awarded the 2019 PEN Pinter Prize. He has written a number of books and plays. Early life Sissay's mother, Yemarshet Sissay, arrived in Britain from Ethiopia in 1966. Pregnant at the time, she was sent from Bracknell in Berkshire to a home for unmarried mothers in Lancashire to give birth. His birth father, Giddey Estifanos, was a pilot for Ethiopian Airlines, who died in a plane crash in 1972. Sissay was born in Billinge Hospital, Wigan, Lancashire, in 1967. Norman Goldthorpe, a social worker assigned to his mother by Wigan Social Services, found foster parents for Sissay while his mother returned to Bracknell to finish her studies. Goldthorpe n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Szwed
John F. Szwed (born 1936) is the John M. Musser Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, African American Studies and Film Studies at Yale University and an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar in the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University, where he previously served as the Center's Director and Professor of Music and Jazz Studies. Szwed is the author of many books on jazz and American music, including studies of Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Alan Lomax, Billie Holiday and Harry Everett Smith. Career Szwed received a B.S. in business administration and economics from Marietta College in 1958. He also studied trombone and music theory and played professionally for twelve years; as an undergraduate, he worked in a steel mill and performed at roadhouses, country clubs, college dances and speakeasies in Ohio and West Virginia. Thereafter, he enrolled at Ohio State University, where he earned a second bachelor's degree in communications in 1959, an M.A. in communications in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Peery
Nelson Peery (June 22, 1923 – September 6, 2015) was an American political activist and author. Peery spent over 60 years in the revolutionary movement, and was active in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), the Provisional Organizing Committee to Reconstitute the Marxist–Leninist Party (POC), the Communist League (CL), the Communist Labor Party (CLP), and the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA). He grew up in rural Minnesota, the son of a postal service worker in the only black family in the town. His older brother was the physicist and astronomer Benjamin Peery. He hoboed across the western United States and joined the U.S. Army in World War II. These experiences, which became the subject of his memoir ''Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary'', shaped his ideas about racism and the American economy. In his sequel ''Black Radical: The Education of an American Revolutionary'', Peery wrote about his re-entry into civilian life following the war. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history,See the 1998 documentary ''Triumph of the Underdog'' with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Eric Dolphy. Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize jazz ensemble, ensembles to pioneering the post-bop style on seminal recordings like ''Pithecanthropus Erectus (album), Pithecanthropus Erectus'' (1956) and ''Mingus Ah Um'' (1959) and progressive big band experiments such as ''The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady'' (1963). Mingus's compositions continue to be played by contemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty (b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beneath The Underdog
''Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus'' is the autobiography of jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus. It was first published in 1971, by Alfred A. Knopf. Background Mingus worked on his autobiography for more than two decades. One newspaper indicated in October 1961 that the book "is due out in a couple of weeks". The following year, ''The New York Times'' reported that author Louis Lomax was collaborating with Mingus in the writing and editing of "an eight-year-old, portly, angry manuscript of 1,500 pages", and that publishers in France and Japan had bid for the book. The original proposed title was ''Memoirs of a Half Yellow Schitt Covered Nigger''. It was finally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1971. The published form, edited by Nel King, reduced the original manuscript by more than two thirds.Harrington, Richard (June 2, 1993) "Mementos of Mingus: Library of Congress Acquires Works of Composer". ''The Washington Post''. p. B1. Before editing, the typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blues People
''Blues People: Negro Music in White America'' is a study of Afro-American music (and culture generally) by Amiri Baraka, who published it as LeRoi Jones in 1963. In ''Blues People'' Baraka explores the possibility that the history of black Americans can be traced through the evolution of their music. The book documents the effects of jazz and blues on American culture, at musical, economic, and social levels. It chronicles the types of music dating back to the slaves up to the 1960s. ''Blues People'' argues that "negro music"—as Amiri Baraka calls it—appealed to and influenced new America. According to Baraka, music and melody is not the only way the gap between American culture and African-American culture was bridged. Music also helped spread values and customs through its media exposure. ''Blues People'' demonstrates the influence of African Americans and their culture on American culture and history. The book examines blues music as performance, as cultural expression, eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a member of the rock supergroup Prophets of Rage. He has released several solo albums, most notably '' Autobiography of Mistachuck'' (1996). His work with Public Enemy helped create politically and socially conscious hip hop music in the mid-1980s. '' The Source'' ranked him at No. 12 on its list of the Top 50 Hip-Hop Lyricists of All Time. Chuck D has been nominated for six Grammys throughout his career, and has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of Public Enemy. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 as a member of Public Enemy. Early life Ridenhour was born on August 1, 1960, on Long Island, New York. When he was a child, his mother played Motown and showtunes in the home and his father be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paula L
Paula or PAULA may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Paula, in television sitcom ''Dr. Cándido Pérez'' * Paula, in video game ''EarthBound ''EarthBound'', originally released in Japan as is a 1994 role-playing video game, role-playing video game developed by Ape, Inc., Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the second e ...'' * Paula, in ''The Larry Sanders Show'' * Paula Campbell (EastEnders), Paula Campbell (''EastEnders''), in 2003 Film and television * Paula (1915 film), ''Paula'' (1915 film), a silent film * Paula (1952 film), ''Paula'' (1952 film), an American drama * Paula (2011 film), ''Paula'' (2011 film), a Canadian animation * Paula (2016 film), ''Paula'' (2016 film), a German film * Paula (TV series), ''Paula'' (TV series), 2017 Music * Paula (album), ''Paula'' (album), by Robin Thicke, 2014 * Paula (Zoé song), "Paula" (Zoé song), 2006 * "Paula", a 1972 song by Monica Versch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John A
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the Fathers of Confederation, dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political career that spanned almost half a century. Macdonald was born in Scotland; when he was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston, Ontario, Kingston in the Province of Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario). As a lawyer, he was involved in several high-profile cases and quickly became prominent in Kingston, which elected him in 1844 to the legislature of the Province of Canada. By 1857, he had become List of Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada, premier under the colony's unstable political system. In 1864, when no party proved capable of governing for long, he agreed to a proposal from his political rival, George Brown (Canadian politician), George Brown, that the parties unite in a Great Coalition to seek fede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the early 2020s. His feature film debut, ''The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' (1967), was based on his own French-language novel ' and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut ''Watermelon Man (film), Watermelon Man'', in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker. In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', which led to the creation of the blaxploitation genre. although critic Roger Ebert did not consider this example of Van Peebles' work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
