Welcome to Street Fiction

Street Fiction is dedicated to reviewing street fiction, also known as urban fiction, street lit, or gangsta fiction. One of the fastest growing genres, these books expose the reader to drugs, violence, sex and and the gritty realities of street life in urban America.

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Kensington Acquires Holloway House Backlist

Kensington Publishing has acquired most of the publishing assets of Holloway House Publishing in Los Angeles, the original publisher of such classic black crime writers as Donald Goines, adding an historic trove of gritty African American popular literature to its publishing program. The acquisition includes about 400 backlist titles which will become part of a new imprint at Kensington called Holloway House Classics. Holloway House also publishes a range of popular fiction and nonfiction titles including biographies of famous African Americans.
Kensington’s Holloway House Classics will begin releasing titles in mass market and trade formats, in addition to releasing original urban fiction that complements the line. Holloway House Classics will join Kensington’s growing list of African American oriented imprints like Dafina, Urban Soul and Vibe Street Lit.

The acquisition does not include seven titles by Robert Beck, better known as Iceberg Slim, a former pimp turned bestselling author, whose books sold millions of copies. He is the author of such titles as Trick Baby and Pimp and his works are credited with providing the inspiration for the Blaxploitation film era of the 1970s and are often cited as influences by both hip-hop artists and Urban Fiction writers. Holloway House and the Beck estate will retain the rights to his books and Kensington will act as a distributor of Iceberg Slim titles.

Kensington CEO Steven Zacharius credited the deal to a strong market for classic black crime fiction and cited Kensington’s expertise and distribution muscle in the market for African American commercial reading. Zacharius said that the market for the kind of urban fiction Halloway offers, “is stronger today than when these books were first released.”And he said that Kensington’s sales and distribution channels will allow it “to bring Holloway House’s classic works of fiction to a much wider audience.”

Source: Publishers Weekly

Street Fiction and Teens

With all of the debate over street fiction inspired from the McMillan email, I was happy to read today the wise words of Vanessa Morris:

“These books engage readers and help promote literacy to an audience that normally would not turn to mainstream media,” said Morris. “Street lit helps empower teens as they learn the importance of self-expression and literacy.”

Here’s the full article:

Westchester Library System (WLS) and Westchester Literacy and Learning Alliance (WLLA) kicked off its second annual “Engaging All Kinds of Readers” series recently with a presentation by Vanessa Morris of the University of Pennsylvania on Where We Live: Becoming Literate about Our Own Lives.

The program was attended by over a dozen local librarians.

Ms. Morris addressed ways to optimize teen interest in “street lit” as a tool for making meaning of their own lives. She reviewed the evolution of hip hop music and the incorporation of its themes into a genre of literature that she calls “urban street fiction.” Once an underground movement, urban street fiction has crossed over to large publishers because of its popularity. Morris noted that urban street fiction addresses tough themes and helps teens escape from the poverty and environment of the ghetto. “These books engage readers and help promote literacy to an audience that normally would not turn to mainstream media,” said Morris. “Street lit helps empower teens as they learn the importance of self-expression and literacy.”

 Source

Who was the original Street Fiction author?

I am looking back at the origins of Street Fiction and want to know your thoughts. Who do you think wrote the first urban fiction / street lit book and what was the title of the it?

Please click on Comments and share with us who you think wrote the first Street Fiction book!

Ghetto Literature 101 (video)

Here’s an interesting video that’s critical of ghetto lit that I found on YouTube. What do you think?

 Ghetto Literature 101 (YouTube)

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