Third World Press’s Covenant With Black America rises to No. 2 on N.Y. Times list

(April 5, 2006) In its third week on the New York Times Bestseller List for Paperback Nonfiction (since it debuted at No. 6 on March 25), the anthology COVENANT WITH BLACK AMERICA, essays by African American leaders, advocates and scholars on America's unfinished agenda with its black citizens, with an introduction by radio and TV host and commentator Tavis Smiley, hits No. 2 on the list to be published in the NYTimes Book Review on Sunday, April 9.

The Chicago-based Third World Press, founded in 1967 by poet, essayist, educator and activist Haki R. Madhubuti (above), is the first black-owned independent publisher to ever to land a book on the fabled NYTimes list. COVENANT previously climbed to No. 4 on the April 2 list. Now on the April 9 list, it is  No. 2, and the only book that ranks higher is current Oprah's Book Club choice NIGHT by Elie Wiesel. 

Meanwhile, author Malcolm Gladwell (see BIBR cover story, July/August 2005) remains at No. 5 on the paperback list with THE TIPPING POINT (Back Bay/Little Brown) after 85 weeks, while on the hardcover nonfiction list, Gladwell's BLINK (Little, Brown) drops from No. 7 to No. 9 after 60 weeks on the list

Malcolm Gladwell continues his unprecedented streak on two of the New York Times Bestseller Lists. The Canadian-born son of a Jamaican-born black mother and a British-born white father, Gladwell has achieved an unparalleled New York Times nonfiction bestseller record with his first two books.

Madhubuti, one of two writers honored with the NWBC Literary Legacy Award last weekend at the Eighth National Black Writers Conference at Medgar Evers College, CUNY in Brooklyn, NY, told conference attendees that he was celebrating the best-seller milestone of COVENANT "not because it's in the New York Times, but because it's an important acknowledgement of a black-owned publishing company and black readers." (The New York Times was also a funder for a VIP reception for the Eighth National Black Writers Conference this year, and Black Issues Book Review was an NBWC '06 literary partner.)

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