African American Author Expo

I attended  the African American Author Expo, hosted by Pat Johnson.   This well-attended book event was held just outside of Baltimore, Maryland.  My friend and I worked the room, perusing books by independent and self-published authors.  This was a somewhat upscale event, with new authors in attendance, such as jazz keyboardist, Bob Baldwin (yes, Bob wrote a book about the music business) and Snoop Dog’s mother, Mrs. Broadus, who wrote an inspirational memoir.  There was a local radio station broadcasting from the event, and a live musician playing saxophone throughout the day.  There were workshops and seminars going on in several conference rooms.  Surprisingly, there was little, if any, urban fiction or street literature among the authors in attendance.   That was only slightly disappointing (not really), since a few of the young people I know were eager for me to come home with a bag filled with street fiction.   Overall, it was a wonderful event that was very well executed.  I’m glad I went.  I made lots of new connections and had big fun chatting with my table mates.