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Portsmouth Book Fair Will Feature Authors Wade & Cheryl Hudson

   Award-winning children’s book authors Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson will be the featured guests at the 19th Annual Children’s Book Fair, sponsored by the Gamma Delta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Just Us Books. The book fair will be held Sunday, May 18, 2008 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Portsmouth Public Library’s main branch, located at 601 Court St. in Portsmouth. Admission is free.
    Cheryl, a native of Portsmouth, and Wade are founders and owners of Just Us Books, leading publisher of Black-interest books for young people. The husband and wife team founded the company in 1988 to fill a need for quality children’s books that celebrate the diversity of Black culture, history and experiences. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Just Us Books remains one of the nation’s few independent, Black-owned publishers, and the only one dedicated exclusively to publishing books for young people.
   In addition to their work as publishers, Wade and Cheryl Hudson have each written or edited 20 books for children. Wade Hudson’s titles include the award-winning young adult book Powerful Words and the picture book classic Jamal’s Busy Day.
   Cheryl Hudson’s Come By Here Lord: Everyday Prayers for Children was named Children’s Book of the Year. She’s also the author of the bestseller Bright Eyes, Brown Skin.

Posted May 14, 2008

    The couple collaborated on In Praise of Our Fathers and Our Mothers, an anthology that celebrates the Black family, and Just Us Books’ popular AFRO-BETS® series.
    The Hudsons also recently launched the Knowledge is Power Project (501 c 3), a non-profit youth literacy organization that brings children and books together through book donation programs, author/illustrator visits, book fairs, literacy symposia and other initiatives.
    The Hudsons’ contributions to children’s publishing have earned them a number of honors including induction into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent and 2006 Publishers of the Year by the African American Pavilion at Book Expo America. They were most recently honored with the Ida B. Wells Institutional Leadership Award in March 2008 by the National Black Writers Conference.
    At the 19th Annual Children’s Book Fair, the Hudsons will share the story of their journey of writing and publishing children’s books. Books for young people of all ages will be available for purchase. The authors will also read from a few of their titles and autograph books purchased at the event.
    Just Us Books’ titles can be purchased at book stores and retail shops across the nation and through its web site, www.justusbooks.com.

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