October's Book Club Selection...

We will be meeting on Friday, October 30th at 7 pm for dinner to discuss Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Because part of the book is about Africa, the proposed meeting locale is Awash, an Ethiopian restaurant on 106th and Amsterdam. Feel free to comment with other suggestions.

Our selection for the month of November is Push: A Novel by Sapphire. The film, which is entitled Precious opens on November 6th, and we will schedule a date to see the film together at the next meeting.

Oprah's Book Club Selection

The Real “Queen of All Media,” Oprah Winfrey (or rather, her team of minions at Harpo) has decided on her Next Official Book Club selection.

“Say Your’e One of Them” by Uwem Akpan.

The book is a series of short stories told through the eyes of African children in five different countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin and Ethiopia) and delves into the the horrors and tragedies they encounter in their war-torn and impoverished homes. Oprah’s Book club has become much less of a priority since its inception in 1996 (when books were chosen on an almost monthly basis), and “Say Your’e One of Them” has been the only selection thus far in 2009. Oprah will no doubt use this as an opportunity to relaunch not only the club but her interest in the welfare of children in Africa, and there will probably be a whole series of fundraising and awareness initiatives surrounding the book. This is also the first time that Oprah’s Book Club has selected either a short story collection or a book by an African author, and it won’t take long for the Oprah effect to turn Akpan, a Nigerian Jesuit priest, into a multi-millionaire. Hopefully the book not only changes the author's life, but the minds of his readers and the lives of his subjects as well.

The New Yorker Festival

The 10th annual New Yorker Festival will be taking place from October 16th-18th this year in New York City showcasing a variety of authors, actors, directors, politicians, and musicians through Q&A’s, readings and concerts. Some particularly interesting events include:

A reading by Edwidge Danticat (who’s short story collection Krik?Krak! was a previous OLC selection) and Junot Díaz

A Q&A with Madea himself (and director of last weekend’s #1 film I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF), Tyler Perry.

And an advance screening of "Precious", our November selection, followed by a panel featuring the Director, Lee Daniels and the author, Sapphire.

What is the Onyx Literary Club?

The Onyx Literary Club was born out of a book club among friends in the summer of 2009. This blog is a resource for information on book club selections, meeting times and locations, and other information associated with literature and cultural events. Welcome.