Just Us Books Celebrates 20th Anniversary
JUST US BOOKS CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY WITH BOOK FAIR FEATURING BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OMAR TYREE
East Orange, NJ (BlackNews.com) – Just Us Books, the nation’s leading independent publisher of Black-interest books for young people, will celebrate its milestone 20th anniversary with a children’s book fair celebration. The event will be held Saturday, October 25, from 11 am to 3 pm at the Whitlock/Lane Cultural Center of Imani Baptist Church, located at 117 Elmwood Ave. in East Orange, NJ.
New York Times best-selling author, Omar Tyree, whose 18 published books, which include the popular novel Flyy Girl, have sold nearly two million copies worldwide, will be the featured author. Tyree is the author of Just Us Books’ newest release, 12 Brown Boys, a collection of short stories that focus on the lives of pre-teen boys. The book fair will also feature other celebrated children’s book authors and illustrators who will be available to autograph copies of their books purchased at the event.
"Just Us Books’ 20th anniversary is not just a celebration of our success as a company," says Wade Hudson, president and CEO of Just Us Books. "It’s a proud recognition of 20 years of children reading, learning, growing, and affirming Black heritage, heroes and culture. We’re proud to celebrate this important milestone in our history with our community and our many supporters."
Just Us Books was founded in 1988 by Wade and his wife Cheryl. As parents, they were on a constant search for children’s books that reflected the diversity of Black history, heritage and experiences. Disappointed by the limited number they found, the couple embarked upon a mission: to produce the kind of positive, vibrant Black-interest books that they wanted for their own two children. The Hudsons developed book ideas and presented manuscripts to publishing houses but they were repeatedly turned down–several publishing professionals even doubting the viability of a market for Black children’s books. So Wade and Cheryl founded Just Us Books to publish the books themselves.
The success of Just Us Books quickly proved doubters wrong. Titles including AFRO-BETS® ABC Book, Book of Black Heroes From A to Z and Bright Eyes, Brown Skin became best-sellers, classroom staples and childhood favorites. And in the years that followed, more mainstream publishers followed Just Us Books’ lead, publishing and widely distributing more Black-interest children’s books themselves.
The company’s two decade history has been marked by numerous accomplishments including the 1992 partnership with Scholastic, Inc, which produced more than a dozen titles including Pass It On: African American Poetry for Children; Just Us Books’ 1997 publication of In Praise of Our Fathers and Our Mothers, an anthology that brought together celebrated authors and illustrators, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Virginia Hamilton, Walter Dean Myers, Jeanne Moutousammy-Ashe, Leo and Diane Dillon, Fred and Patricia McKissack; a 1999 marketing partnership with General Mills; and the 2004 launch of Sankofa Books, the company’s first imprint, which gives a new home to previously out-of-print Black classics from literary luminaries including Camille Yarbrough, Rosa Guy and James Haskins.
Just Us Books continues to make strides in publishing. In March 2008, the company won its first Coretta Scott King honor when the picture book The Secret Olivia Told Me was awarded the Honor Book distinction for illustration. Company founders, Wade and Cheryl Hudson, have also been awarded several honors this year, including the Ida B. Wells Institutional Leadership Award by the Center for Black Literature and the Wheatley Book Award given by the Harlem Book Fair. This fall also marks the launch of Marimba Books, a new children’s book imprint founded by Hudson Publishing Group (which comprises Wade and Cheryl Hudson and their children Katura and Stephan) and Kensington Publishing. And twenty years after its founding, Just Us Books remains one of the nation’s few Black-owned book publishers.
Based in East Orange, NJ, Just Us Books’ titles range from concept books for Pre-K to novels for young adults and can be purchased at book stores and retail shops across the nation and through its web site, www.justusbooks.com.
