Bios

Ferentz Lafargue is the author of Songs in the Key of My Life. Prior to completing his PhD in African American and American Studies at Yale University, Ferentz earned his B.A. in Africana Studies and English at Queens College, CUNY. Ferentz matriculated at Queens through S.E.E.K. and was later awarded the prestigious Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship, and an internship at the Village Voice. 

His essays have appeared in the collections Starting With I (Persea Books, 1997) and Strong Teens, Strong Neighborhoods (2007), the inaugural issue of Bronx Biannual (Akashic Books 2006), and at 215mag.com. Ferentz currently shares his thoughts on contemporary events and politics on the blogs The Nightshift Chronicles and Pelerin89.  Ferentz now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Ferentz's Topics of Interests:

Felicia Pride is a writer, literacy advocate, and hip-hop baby. She’s the author of The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs (Thunder’s Mouth Press, October 2007); Everybody Hates First Girlfriends (Simon & Schuster, September 2007), a chapter book in the book series based on the award-winning television show Everybody Hates Chris; and coauthor of the young adult anthology Hallway Diaries (Harlequin/Kimani Tru, September 2007).

Felicia is also the book blogger for AOL Black Voices’ book blog, More than Words, a frequent contributor to Publishers Weekly and the managing editor of Mosaic literary magazine. She’s also the founder of BackList (www.thebacklist.net), an organization and literary website dedicated to keeping books in style. Her writing about hip-hop, books, publishing, and pop culture has appeared in various publications including the Baltimore Sun, VIBE, PopMatters, and the Baltimore City Paper. As a literacy advocate, Felicia has been an invited speaker at various publishing and literary panels. She also conducts publishing workshops to empower emerging writers and serves on the board for the Literary Freedom Project. She has an M.A. in writing and publishing from Emerson College. Visit her website at www.feliciapride.com.

Felicia's Topics of Interest:
hip-hop as a tool of self-empowerment; finding one’s creative voice; the connection between hip-hop and literature; the writing life; book publishing and the challenges facing writers; African American literary scene;