Celebrating Black History Month: Lena Richard, first African American woman to host a TV cooking show

Lena Richard, born September 9, 1892 in New Roads, Louisiana, moved to New Orleans to help her mother and aunt working as domestic servants. She helped them prepare food, and the family who employed her, sent her to Fannie Farmer's School of Cookery in Boston.  After graduating she returned to New Orleans.

She started a catering business, serving parties, weddings, and debutante balls.  She started multiple businesses and worked as a cook at the Orleans Club, an elite organization for white women.

In 1937, Richard and her daughter Marie started a cooking school for black students, teaching them how to succeed as business owners.  As interest in her recipes increased, Richard published Lean Richard's Cook Book in 1939,  She travelled across the country to promote her book, and was featured in the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune. 

She returned to New Orleans, she opened Lena's Eatery in November 1941. In 1946, she started a frozen food business, fully cooked packaged meals flown all over the US.

In 1949, Richard opened her second restaurant, The Gumbo House.  From 1949 to 1950, she hosted a 30-minute cooking show, Lena Richard's New Orleans Cook Book, on TV.  It aired twice weekly, broadcast on New Orleans first television station, WDSU. She was the first African American to host a cooking show, in an era where not many households owned television sets.

Her cooking show continued until she passed away of a heart attack November 27, 1950.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Luis Negrón, Lambda Literary Award winner

Luis Negron, born in Guyama, Puerto Rico in 1970, is a writer, living in Santurce, Puerto Rico.  His debut short story collection, Mundo Cruel, was published in 2010.  Its stories focus on gay life in Santurce, and has been printed five times in Spanish, and an English translation was published in 2013.  

Mundo Cruel won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction at the 26th Lambda Literary Awards in 2014.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Jean Hager, author of Cherokee mystery novels

Jean Hager, born June 2, 1932 in May wood, Illinois, is the author of two series of mystery novels featuring Cherokee sleuths in Oklahoma. One series features Police Chief Mitch Bushyhead, and another feature civil rights investigator Molly Bearpaw.  Both series have been critically acclaimed, and Hager has been inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame.  

I've read all of them and need to read them again!

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Stephen Graham Jones, Native American (Blackfeet) horror/mystery writer

Stephen Graham Jones, born January 22, 1972 in Midland, Texas, is a Blackfoot Native American author of horror, crime fiction, and science fiction.  He earned a BA from Texas Tech University and then earned his Master of Arts degree in English from the University of North Texas in 1996. He completed his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1998.

He wrote The Fast Red Road as his dissertation and it was published in 2000 as his debut novel.  He's won the Jesse Jones Award for Fiction in 2005, and the Bram Stoker Award for Long fiction in 20217.

He contributed an X-Men story to Marvel Comic's Marvel's Voices: Indigenous Voices #1.  

I've included hm since my co-author Max Griffin have used him as the inspiration for our character, Montana Psionic Officer Graham Keller, who will be featured in the upcoming novel, Out of the Ashes.

George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm" 1945

George Orwell first published his satire of the Communist party, Animal Farm, August 17, 1945.  The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story but US publishers dropped the subtitle, but other variations included subtitles like "A Satire" and "A Contemporary Satire".

According to the author, Animal Farm reflects events leading to the Russian Revolution in 1917 and then the introduction of communism into the Soviet Union. 

Time chose it as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923-2005).

I'm going to let Sparky Sweets, PhD, give his unique perspective and review of Animal Farm below.  Nobody says it like he does.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Tony Hillerman, author of Navajo mystery novels

Tony Hillerman, born May 27, 1925 in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, is a best-selling author of mystery novels featuring Navajo Nation police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.  He is noted for including Navajo culture into his writings.

He served in WWII in the 103rd Infantry Division, and was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart.

His first novel The Blessing Way, featuring Joe Leaphorn was published in 1970.  His fourth novel People of Darkness introduced Jim Chee.  Starting with his seventh novel Skinwalkers, Leaphorn and Chee begin working together. 

His second novel Dance Hall of the Dead won the 1974 Edgar Award.  His novels have won many more awards.

Hillerman passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October 2008.

Celebrating Asian-American Heritage Month: Laura Joh Rowland, Chinese-Korean-American mystery author

I have read every book in Laura Joh Rowland's excellent Sano Ichiro, a samurai-detective set in feudal Japan, in the late 1690s to the early 1700s.  I enjoyed them very much and was not happy when she ended the series.  Oh, well.

She is the daughter of Chinese-American and Korean-American immigrants and grew up in Michigan. Her first novel of the Ichiro series Shinju was published in 1994.

Arthur C Clarke, science fiction author, born 1917

Arthur C. Clarke, born December 16, 1917 in Somerset, England, was a science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time.  He wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the best science fiction films ever, for which he garnered an Academy Award nomination.  He won three Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards for his works. 

He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 and was knighted in 2000.  By that time, his health had deteriorated to the point that he could not travel to London from Sri Lanka where he resided until his death in 2008.

The Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction writing is an annual award in England.

Celebrating Pride Month: Lynn Riggs, openly gay Cherokee playwright

Lynn Riggs, born August 31, 1899 near Claremore, Oklahoma to a mother who was 1/8 Cherokee.  He started attending the University of Oklahoma in 1920 and taught English for a year, but developed tuberculosis and did not graduate.  After recuperating in Santa Fe, New Mexico he traveled to New York and began writing plays.

After receiving a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1928, he traveled to Europe and began writing his most famous play Green Grow the Lilacs, while in Paris.

The play went onto become the musical and movie Oklahoma!

Being gay, he was often a non-romantic escort in Hollywood for actresses such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1943.

He passed away in NYC in June 1954 from stomach cancer.

American author Jack London born 1876

Iconic American author Jack London, born January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, is one of first writers to become famous world-wide and make lots of money writing.  He traveled to the Klondike in 1897 with his brother-in-law to join the gold rush.  It became the setting for his first successful works.

London died in November 1916 in what has been labeled a suicide but this has been disputed.  There are claims he died of natural causes after taking an accidental over-dose of morphine, which he had been taking for pain caused by a host of ailments.

Celebrating Black History Month: Toni Morrison, first African-American woman to win Nobel Prize

Toni Morrison, born February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, is the first African-American woman to win a Nobel Prize.  She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 for her Beloved trilogy.  The first novel Beloved, released in 1988 and she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. 

The second novel in the trilogy, Jazz, was released in 1992 and the following year she won the Nobel Prize in Literature even before the third novel was released.

In 2008, she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Mike Mullane!

Richard "Mike" Mullane, born September 10, 1945 in Wichita Falls, Texas, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights and has spent over 2 weeks in space.  As a colonel in the Air Force, he flew combat missions in the Vietnam War in 1969.  He was chosen by NASA to become an astronaut in 1978. 

His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-41-D) as mission specialist in August-September 1984.  During this flight, three commercial communications satellites were deployed.

His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-27) as mission specialist in December 1988.  During lift-off, the heat shield was damaged and impacted the right wing.  They managed to complete the mission successfully and land on December 6 without incident.  However, this same scenario proved fatal for the crew of Columbia 15 years later.

Mullane's third and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-36) as mission specialist February-March 1990.  It carried a classified payload for the Department of Defense, like his previous mission.

After retiring from NASA, he wrote a book, Riding Rockets:  The Outrageous Tales of a  Space Shuttle Astronaut, which describes his experiences as a space shuttle astronaut.

Celebrating Black History Month - Winston Scott, Space Shuttle astronaut

Winston Scott, born August 6, 1950, is the veteran of two space shuttle missions.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in music from Florida State University but then went into Aeronautical Engineering and got a Masters from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

He first went into space aboard Endeavour (STS-72) in January 1996 as mission specialist.  He performed his first EVA during the flight.

His second mission was on Columbia (STS-87) in November-December 1997, when he performed two more EVAs.

Scott wrote a book Reflections From Earth Orbit, which is about his experiences in space.

Happy birthday, Skylab 4 astronaut Edward Gibson!

Edward Gibson, born November 8, 1936 in Buffalo, New York, made one trip into space aboard Skylab 4, the last manned mission to the space station.  With Commander Gerald Carr and Pilot William Pogue, he spent 84 days in space, which was a record at that time.  It was the only flight for all three men.

After his retirement from NASA, he wrote two novels, Reach and In The Wrong Hands, both science fiction about space travel.

Soyuz 24 Cosmonaut Yury Glazkov born 1939

Yury Glazkov, born October 2, 1939 in Moscow in the former Soviet Union made one trip to space on board Soyuz 24 in February 1977 to Salyut 5 with fellow cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko.  It was the third and last trip to the space station.  He attained the rank of Major General in the Soviet Air Force and wrote several science-fiction novels.

He passed away December 9, 2008 in Moscow.

"The Hobbit" published 1937

J. R. R. Tolkein's classic, children's fantasy novel The Hobbit was published September 21, 1937, to critical and financial acclaim.  His publishers were so impressed by its success they requested a sequel.  Tolkein complied and wrote the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a classic tale that is enjoyed today.  The Hobbit has never been out of print and has been adapted for stage, television, movies, radio and even video games.  It is estimated that The Hobbit might have sold up to 100 million copies since 1937.

Donald E. Westlake, crime fiction author, born 1933

Donald Westlake, born July 12, 1933, was a prolific and diverse author.  He specialized in crime fiction, but also dabbled in science fiction and even non-fiction.  He is one of very few authors who have won three Edgar Awards in three different categories.

Several of his works have been made into movies.  I remember reading one of his books back in college but, for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was. :D

He passed away December 31, 2008 from a heart attack.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Westlake

E. B. White, children's books author, born 1899

Elwyn Brooks (E.B.) White, born July 11, 1899, is probably best known for his book Charlotte's Web.  It is a must-read for every person and has been voted the top children's novel in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers.

Before writing, White worked as an editor of the Cornell Daily Sun, a cub reporter for the Seattle Times and was on staff at the New Yorker after it was founded in 1925.  It wasn't until the late 1930's that White began writing children's books and published Stuart Little in 1945, and, in 1952, Charlotte's Web, which receiveda Newbery Honor from the American Library Association.

White went on to win the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1970.  His third novel, The Trumpet of the Swan won the Sequoya Award from Oklahoma.  I was 8 years old when it was published, but I have never heard of this one.

He passed away October 1, 1985 from Alzheimer's disease.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._B._White

Happy birthday, Greg Kihn!

Baltimore native Greg Kihn, born July 10, 1949, enjoyed a hey-day in the 1980's with his band.  His first big hit, The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) went to #15 in 1981, but his biggest hit, Jeopardy, went to #2 in 1983.

After going solo and working in radio, Greg has started a literary career, with his first novel, Horror Show, being nominated for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award, for best new novel.  He wrote a mystery novel, Rubber Soul, in 2013 which features the Beatles.

David Eddings, sci-fi/fantasy writer, born 1931

David Eddings, born July 7, 1931, is best known as a science fiction/fantasy author, who wrote the Belgariad series, featuring Aunt Pol.  I read the first two books, Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery back in the 80's.  I especially enjoyed the fantasy adn magic aspects of the stories. I suppose I should probably finish the series and the rest of his books.

Eddings passed away June 2, 2009 in Carson City, Nevada, from natural causes.