A Call for Essays on Black Fathers

One of my favorite editors to work with is Kenrya Rankin, the lifestyle editor at Latina magazine.  Kenrya is direct, insightful, funny, and on a quest for truth in all that she does so I am especially excited to share her new project with all of you in the hope that some of you might be interested in participating. 

Here’s Kenrya’s call for submissions: 

As an editor, I’m basically paid to be an avid reader. But in the course of all that reading, I’ve realized that there is an area I haven’t seen much anything about, a topic that’s important to me: Black fathers. Now, wait. I know there are a few books that examine this topic, however, they either approach these men as some quandary to figure out, examining the sociopolitical reasons why fathers are unable to stand by their offspring, or bash the hell out of them. The thing is, I refuse to believe that’s all there is to the story.
 
It’s time that we tell the positive stories, the ones that depict Black dads far outpacing the expected, trampling the norm underfoot as they run toward their children’s futures, Father’s Day ties flapping in the wind, eyes red with hours unslept. My book, Celebrating Black Fathers: Essays and Insights from the Women Who Love Them, will be dedicated to these men—our fathers, our husbands, our brothers—with essays written by the women who know them best, each focused on a different aspect of the positive/complicated/bittersweet/hilarious/awe-inspiring relationships Black women share with the fathers in their lives.

Are you a great writer with a story to tell about a Black dad in your life? It could be your father, your hubby, your brother or the dude you see at the park with his kids everyday—as long as you can tell us about him with an intimacy and wit that the world needs to hear, I want to hear it. Email me at blackdads@gmail.com by Sunday, October 19, 2009, with your:

Résumé (or bio);
2 writing samples (links or attached scans);
And one quick paragraph explaining your essay idea.

If you’re a good fit, your story will appear in the book and you’ll receive a share of the profits.

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Kenrya Rankin Nassel is the Lifestyle Editor at Latina, where she has her plate full heading the health, fitness, travel, family, career, money, technology, entertaining, home, food, political and education coverage. She even edits the monthly essays. Whew! Her Latina highlight? Interviewing Senators Barack Obama and John McCain for her election blowout. Kenrya is also the Sociopolitical Columnist for Parlour Magazine, an international online publication for women in the know. Before joining the Latina team in early 2007, she spent nearly four years editing humor and serving as technology advisor at Reader’s Digest, where her work was translated into 21 languages and published in 50 editions around the world. Kenrya was also the Research Director for UPTOWN Magazine, helping to build the magazine into a national brand in just two years. A quick Google search will reveal that her writing has appeared in several publications, including The Plain Dealer, Vibe’s Prodigy, Soul of Virginia, The Hilltop and The Yard. Her editing expertise also extends to books, including Faces & Voices IV, When Butterflies Kiss, 2nd ed. (copy editing) and Stories of Survival (and Beyond): Collective Healing After Hurricane Katrina (copy editing). And her love of all things beautiful led to the founding of her design company, KMR Words + Design, through which she designs political and e-commerce websites. She was an American Society of Magazine Editors intern and did a five-year stint in public relations in a previous life. Kenrya graduated at the top of her class when she earned her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Howard University, and did it again when she finished her Master of Science in publishing at New York University. She’s proud to be from Cleveland, Ohio, and currently lives with her husband, Tahad, in Manhattan.