2008 Featured Speakers
Special appearance by Grand Central Publishing, Linda Duggins. Linda Duggins is the publicist for some of this industries leading authors and speakers including Karrine Steffans, Faith Evans, Lolita Tademy, Terri Woods, Pynk and a lot more. She is also one of the founders of the Harlem Book Fair. She will host a special “Questions & Answers” Engagement for upcoming authors.
Susan Jeffers
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Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. has helped millions of people throughout the world
overcome their fears, heal their relationships, and move forward in life
with confidence and love.
She is the author of many internationally renowned books including Feel
the Fear and Do It Anyway®,
Feel the Fear. . .and Beyond, Feel the Fear Power Planner, End the Struggle
and Dance With Life, Dare to Connect, Opening Our Hearts to Men, Losing
a Love...Finding a Life, Thoughts Of Power and Love, The Little Book of
Confidence, Embracing Uncertainty, Life is Huge! plus her "Fear-less
Series" of affirmation books and tapes (Inner Talk for Peace of Mind,
Inner Talk for a Confident Day, and Inner Talk For a Love That Works).
Her latest book is The Feel the Fear Guide to Lasting Love, which was
published in the UK in May 2005 and in the US and Canada by her own publishing
company, Jeffers Press, in October 2005.
As well as being a best-selling author, Susan is a sought-after public
speaker and has been a guest on many radio and television shows internationally.
She lives with her husband, Mark Shelmerdine, in Los Angeles.
Stephanie Mills
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Stephanie Mills first came to fame as "the little girl with the
big voice" as the star of the hit Broadway play, The Wiz, an adaptation
of L. Frank Baum's classic book, The Wizard Of Oz. She had many R&B
hits such as "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love,"
"I Feel Good All Over," "(You're Puttin') A Rush On Me,"
"Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel)" and "Home"
along with one certified million selling single, "Never Knew Love
Like This Before." In addition, she also had five gold albums: Whatcha
Gonna Do With My Lovin', Sweet Sensation, Stephanie, If I Were Your Woman
and Home.
The Charlotte Literary Festival will award the “Stephanie Mills
Scholarship” to a student during the “Kick off to Writing”
ceremony during the festival.
Karrine Steffans
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Karrine Steffans released her complicated, yet, thrilling former life and lifestyle are captured in the pages on her memoir, Confessions of a Video Vixen, making a biography almost obsolete. Since Confessions debuted on June 28, 2005, Karrine and her enthralling story has been on the lips and minds of most everyone. Among many other media outlets Paula Zahn, Donny Deutsch, Tyra Banks, Bill O'Reilly, and the queen of daytime herself, Oprah Winfrey have sought Karrine and helped propel her into the limelight. Karrine's current memoir, and yet another New York Times bestseller, entitled The Vixen Diaries, published September 2007.
With her newfound success, Karrine finds joy in paying it forward. A constant at University speaking engagements and celebrity panels, Karrine fights vigorously to raise the awareness of young women across the world in the ways and dangerous of the entertainment industry and even in their own neighborhoods. She encourages young women to speak out against abuse, to stop the cycle and learn how to no longer abuse themselves. Karrine uses her past as an example of what not to do.
Terrie Williams
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After working for a number of years as a social worker, Williams founded the Terrie Williams Agency in 1988 after meeting Miles Davis in the hospital. She began representing him, and her next big client, Eddie Murphy. Since then, Williams has gone on to represent superstars such as Janet Jackson, Russell Simmons, Johnnie Cochran, Stephen King and Sally Jesse Raphael, as well as organizations such as HBO and Essence Communications. Today, the Terrie Williams Agency is a division of PGP Communications, where she serves as vice chair.
Williams is also the author of three books: The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today's Fast-paced Business World, Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens and A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues and her latest Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting. Stay Strong has been used nationwide in schools, and was the catalyst for launching the Stay Strong Foundation, a nationwide non-profit organization for youth.
Williams is also a highly sought-after speaker, and has had speaking
engagements with Fortune 500 companies, universities and numerous other
organizations. She is the recipient of several awards, including the New
York Women in Communications Matrix Award, where she was the first African
American woman to win the award, and the Citizen's Committee for the New
York Marietta Tree Award for Public Service.
This year The Charlotte Literary Festival will feature bestselling author,
Terrie Williams along with her mentee Dashaun "Jiwe" Morris(featured
in the April issue of Essence magazine). Please visit www.healingstartswithus.net
for more info on Terrie Williams.
Omar Tyree
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Omar Tyree, a New York Times best-selling author, a 2001 NAACP Image
Award recipient for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, and a 2006 Phillis
Wheatley Literary Award winner for Body of Work in Urban Fiction, has
published 15 books and has sold more than 1.8 million copies worldwide.
With a degree in Print Journalism from Howard University in 1991, Tyree
has been recognized as one of the most renown contemporary writers in
the African-American community. He is also an informed and passionate
speaker on various community-related and in tellectual topics. Soon to
enter the world of feature film making, self-help / business books, and
urban children's books, Tyree is a tireless creator and visionary of few
limitations.
Susan L Taylor
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Susan L. Taylor has been the driving force behind one of the most celebrated African American owned business success stories of the past three decades. She is the senior editorial executive at the venerable communications company and writes the popular In the Spirit column each month.
A fourth-generation entrepreneur, Taylor was the founder of her own company,
Nequai Cosmetics, before becoming ESSENCE's fashion and beauty editor
and, in 1981, its editor-in-chief. She is the author of three books: In
the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor, Lessons in
Living and Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives,
the latter coauthored with her husband, Khephra Burns. She is also a greatly
sought-after speaker, delivering inspiring messages of hope and possibility
that encourage us to reclaim and reorient our lives and society and create,
peaceful, productive, sustainable communities.
Mike Minter
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Mike Minter has been a pillar of the Carolina Panther defense since joining
the team in 1997. Known as one of the most consistent performers in professional
football, Minter is a rare breed having spent his entire career with one
organization. He has seen the highs of playing in the Super Bowl and the
lows of a team that won but one game in a 16 game season. As a motivational
speaker, Mike's insights are unique, his delivery impeccable, his credentials
unparalleled. He makes his listeners laugh, he makes them think and, above
all, he encourages them to become everything that God intended for them.
Dr. Rev. Michael Beckwith & Rickie Beckwith
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Michael Bernard Beckwith is a world leader and teacher in the New Thought–Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality. He is the founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, cofounder of the Association for Global New Thought, and the Season for Nonviolence, which are extensions of his vision of one human family united on a foundation of peace, based on the spiritual origin of every man, woman, and child. As seen on the Oprah Winfrey Show and part of the movie "The Secret". He and his wife, Rickie Byars Beckwith will speak at the literary festival. Dr. Beckwith teaches meditation, scientific prayer, and speaks at conferences and seminars. He is the originator of the Life Visioning Process, a time-tested technique offering its practitioners a method for putting a stop to being a passive tourist in one's life. He is author of Inspirations of the Heart (currently nominated as a finalist for the Nautilus Book Award), Forty Day Mind Fast Soul Feast, A Manifesto of Peace, and Living from the Overflow.
The “Best of the Best” African American Christian Authors Panel
Including:
Michele Andrea Bowen — author of Church Folks, Second Sunday & the Holy Corner.
Jacquelin Thomas — award winning, best selling author with twenty-five titles in print including Young Adult.
Victoria Christopher Murray— Essence best selling author of six Christian-based fiction novels including Young Adults.
Sharon Ewell Foster— bestselling, award-winner of gospel novels.
SPEAKING EANGAMENT TIMES, TO BE ANNOUNCED!
