2019 Author Line Up

2019 Keynote Speaker - Kwame Alexander, poet, educator and New York Times bestselling author of 28 books, including Swing, Solo and Rebound. Kwame is also the 2018 NEA Read Across America Ambassador, the host and producer of the literary variety/talk show, Bookish, which airs on Facebook Watch, the ...

Mary Monroe is a New York Times bestselling fiction author and the 2019 BARR Literary Icon. Her first novel, The Upper Room, was published in 1985. She is best known for her novel God Don't Like Ugly and the series revolved around the characters first introduced in this book. Mary was the first per...

Yona Deshommes ~ Associate Director of Publicity at Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Shuster. Yona's area of expertise in publicity in the book publishing industry is the AA market. Her clients include Bishop TD Jakes, Zane, and Kevin Hart.

Troy Johnson ~ the founder and webmaster of AALBC.com (The African American Literature Book Club). Launched in 1998, AALBC.com is now the largest and most frequently visited web site dedicated to books by and about people of African descent.

Latoya C. Smith - Agent and Editor Extraordinaire!

Rochelle Alers ~ has been hailed by readers and booksellers alike as one of today’s most prolific and popular African American authors of romance and women’s fiction.

Alma Atkinson - a new author and contributor to an anthology.

Cheryl Barton, Author of 31 romance novels, 3 inspirational novels and more. She was a 2018 Finalist of the Literary Trailblazer of the Year award, given by the Author Legacy Awards.

Brian W. Smith is the award winning, best selling author of more than a dozen novels and short stories. He has been awarded the Male Author of the Year award from multiple literary organizations and has had several novels land on prominent best sellers lists.

Steven Van Patten ~ A member of the Horror Writer's Association will bring us both his vampire and serial killer series.

Victoria Kennedy is a writer whose work engages in the complexities of Black love.

KR Bankston, a nonconformist novelist, writes in a multitude of genres.

Blacc Topp -award winning author of 9 novels including his debut novel, The Hustle Chronicles.

Regina Brown, a Christian and Visionary, self-published her first book title "Level Up", a vision planning devotional journal.

Joy Copeland's most recent work is a contemporary novel "What Simon Didn't Say".

Lakesa Cox is a multi-genre, award winning author and screenwriter.

Tamiya Davis

Tracee Garner ~ Best-selling, award-winning author, speaker and writing coach.

Ti'Juana Gholson, author of Girl! What you Gonna DO with Your Money

Donna Gray-Banks, author of the successful trilogy Ila's Diamonds, I, II and III.

National Best-selling author K. L. Hall has penned over two dozen urban fiction novels and two children's books.

Best-selling author Terri Johnson - whose first novel is Faith Alone.

Dante Jones debuted his first book, a poetry collection in 2017 and his first novel in 2018.

Landis Lain - who writes in several genres, YA, Fantasy and Romance.

Asante McGee - will share her new bestseller "No Longer Trapped in the Closet".

Glen Mourning - Author of Crunchy Life Kids, 4 part series.

DrTrina VisionStrategist

Elizabeth Savage

Donald R. Simpson, illustrator and writer of fantasy/fiction and horror.

Stephanie Simon, author of "About Her, a Novel", has a special love of all things with words.

Haikeem Stokes ~ After three books of spoken word, his latest creation is a book that dives into the sometimes complicated relationship tween sons and absentee fathers "The Purple Orchard Syndrome".

Chaute Thompson - Best selling author and Restoration Expert.

YA Author, J.B. Vample, author of The College Life Series".

Joan Vassar - author of the highly acclaimed "Black" series.

The Black Authors & Readers Rock Conference (BARR)

October 4 and 5, 2019

Harborside Hotel 6400 Oxon Hill Road, Oxon Hill, MD

Register! Purchase Tickets! Buy Ad Space! All at ~

@ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/barr-2019-tickets-51261414270