Book Party!

There will be a group book party on Friday, May 9th at a local, independent bookstore, A Room of One's Own. I'm very excited!

Z720.A63 W48

My book is now in the Library of Congress catalog and has been assigned a call number, LC classification: Z720.A63 W48 2014, and subject headings.

Subjects:	Andrews, Regina.
	New York Public Library. 135th Street Branch --Biography.
	Library directors --United States --Biography.
	African American women librarians --United States --Biography
	Harlem Renaissance.
	African Americans --New York (State) --New York --Intellectual life.
	African American theater --New York (State) --New York --History --20th century.
	Discrimination in employment.
	SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies.
	SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women’s Studies.
	BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General.
	Harlem (New York, N.Y.) --Intellectual life.

A Regina Andrews' Children's Picture Book

I was recently awarded a Public Works grant from my institution, the University of Wisconsin's Center for the Humanities. The grant is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is designed to "support faculty who wish to rethink their research in order to reach a broader public." The workshop will bring together experts in children's books to review my manuscript and to offer feedback. The goal is to publish a children's book about Regina Andrews and to introduce her story to a whole new audience.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble

I just discovered that my book is now available for pre-orders on both amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Very exciting!

The Cover!

On Monday I received the image of the cover from the art director at the university press.

Jacket copy for the book

Regina Anderson Andrews, Harlem Renaissance Librarian

Ethelene Whitmire 

The first African American to head a branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL), Regina Andrews led an extraordinary life. Allied with W. E. B. Du Bois, Andrews fought for promotion and equal pay against entrenched sexism and racism and battled institutional restrictions confining African American librarians to only a few neighborhoods within New York City. 

Andrews also played a key role in the Harlem Renaissance, supporting writers and intellectuals with dedicated workspace at her 135th Street Branch Library. After hours she cohosted a legendary salon that drew the likes of Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, and Zora Neale Hurston. Her work as an actress and playwright helped established the Krigwa Players and Harlem Experimental Theater, where she wrote plays about lynching, passing, and the Underground Railroad.

Ethelene Whitmire's new biography offers the first full-length study of Andrews' activism and pioneering work with the NYPL. Andrews established her career at a time when librarianship had just been recognized as a profession. Whitmire's portrait of her sustained efforts to break down barriers reveals Andrews's legacy and places her within the NYPL's larger history.

Ethelene Whitmire is an associate professor of library and information studies at the University of Wisconsin.

Black Studies

"[A] much-needed, essential study. By placing Regina Andrews' life and work in historical and familial context, the author provides insight into Andrews' significant contributions to the twentieth century and the Harlem Renaissance."

--Verner Mitchell, coauthor of Literary Sisters: Dorothy West and Her Circle, A Biography of the Harlem Renaissance 

ISBN 978-0-252-03850-1

Page proofs

Last week I received the page proofs from the university press. Now the book has been formatted and looks like the final version. I have to check for errors. I am allowed to find up to 16 (based upon the size of the book) at no cost to me. I also have to create an index for the book. Some authors pay someone and other authors like to create their own. I decided to do my own after looking at other examples in biographies. I came up with categories this summer per instructions from the press and now I can add the page numbers from the proofs. Initially the press thought the proofs would be ready in November but they were done quite early. Very exciting to see the whole book manuscript as proofs! Below is the title page.