Childs, Faye

PERSONAL: Children: four children.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o St. Martin's Press, 175 5th Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Founder and president of Blackboard, Columbus, OH, 1991–.

WRITINGS:

(With Noreen Palmer) Going Off: A Guide for Black Women Who've Just about Had Enough, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Faye Childs is the founder of "Blackboard," a list of bestselling books written exclusively by African-American authors that has been a bi-weekly feature of Essence and other publications since its inception. Childs founded the list because black writers were not included on traditional lists, due to the fact that black-focused bookstores were not used in data collection. The list names the top five books in fiction and nonfiction in both hardcover and paperback. Booklists have long been followed by book buyers, and as more African-American buyers shop in ever-increasing numbers of black-focused bookstores, the market share for African-American authors has increased. The dollars spent by black book buyers nearly doubled during the 1990s, with ninety percent of books being bought by women. The "Blackboard" list plays a significant role in promoting African-American authors.

Childs co-wrote Going Off: A Guide for Black Women Who've Just about Had Enough with psychotherapist Noreen Palmer. They study the "triggers" that anger African-American women, such as discrimination, and others that create that response in all women, including betrayal, stress, and overwork. Childs and Palmer discuss ways to suppress and deal with anger and suggest counseling to women who have difficulty controlling their emotions on their own.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2001, review of Going Off: A Guide for Black Women Who've Just about Had Enough, p. 65.

ONLINE

Africana.com, http://www.africana.com/ (December 12, 2000), Njeru Waithaka, "Black Writers Cracking the Booklist."