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Steve Harvey's Book Is Headed To The Big Screen

Cover via Amazon

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FcQ4SRWUL._SL75_.jpgScreen Gems has acquired rights to turn comedian Steve Harvey's book "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" into a feature.

Harvey wrote the humorous book of advice for women seeking to better understand their male counterparts, an exercise inspired by a segment on Harvey's syndicated morning radio show.

Will Packer will produce, and Harvey will be exec producer. Screen Gems prexy Clint Culpepper will begin canvassing writers to hear different pitches for an ensemble comedy about romantic relationships. Culpepper first worked with Harvey when the latter acted in "You Got Served.""Steve has always provided an easily relatable perspective on men, the way they view women and their seemingly complex but surprisingly simple emotional needs," Culpepper said. Culpepper and Packer flew to Dallas on Sunday to close the deal with Harvey.

Packer recently produced "Obsessed," is shooting "Takers" and prepping a remake of "The Big Chill" for Screen Gems. MORE

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To Tell The Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B.Wells

Born to slaves in 1862, Ida B. Wells became a fearless antilynching crusader, women’s rights advocate, and journalist. Wells’s refusal to accept any compromise on racial inequality caused her to be labeled a “dangerous radical” in her day but made her a model for later civil rights activists as well as a powerful witness to the troubled racial politics of her era. In the richly illustratedTo Tell the Truth Freely, the historian Mia Bay vividly captures Wells’s legacy and life, from her childhood in Mississippi to her early career in late nineteenth-century Memphis and her later life in Progressive-era Chicago.

Wells’s fight for racial and gender justice began in 1883, when she was a young schoolteacher who traveled to her rural schoolhouse by rail. Forcibly ejected from her seat on a train one day on account of her race, Wells immediately sued the railroad. Though she ultimately lost her case on appeal in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, the published account of her legal challenge to Jim Crow changed her life, propelling her into a career as an outspoken journalist and social activist. Also a fierce critic of the racial violence that marked her era, Wells went on to launch a crusade against lynching that took her across the United States and eventually to Britain. Though she helped found the NAACP in 1910 after resettling in Chicago, she would not remain a member for long. Always militant in her quest for racial justice, Wells rejected not only Booker T. Washington’s accommodationism but also the moderating influence of white reformers within the early NAACP. The life of Ida B. Wells and her enduring achievements are dramatically recovered in Mia Bay’s To Tell the Truth Freely.

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NeNe Leakes New Book: Never Make The Same Mistake Twice

Outrageous, captivating, and unafraid to tell it like it is, Nene Leakes shares her wild journey from a scandalous past to the pinnacle of reality television stardom. Lauded by her fans for her refreshing honesty, infectiously genuine style, and clever sense of humor, Nene is an empowered, self-made woman who has not forgotten where she came from and knows exactly where she wants to go.

In this straight-talking and provocative memoir Nene charts her journey from family black sheep to single mother to making good and realizing her dreams. With her charm and bold, self-possessed voice, Nene tackles her painful childhood; the abuse she suffered at the hands of a violent boyfriend; her struggle to support her firstborn son; and her path to true love, self-acceptance, and pride.

In Never Make the Same Mistake Twice, Nene dishes on her cast mates; takes on the rumors about her past; and shares hard-earned and inspiring life lessons in her fierce, no-nonsense, and irreverent style.

Product Details
Touchstone, August 2009
Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4391-6730-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-6730-4

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E. Lynn Harris New Novel To be Published This Fall

E. Lynn Harris' book tour will go forward in honor of the author.

Harris honor: E. Lynn Harris wanted to do a "thank you" tour this fall, meeting with fans in small cities to get back to promoting his novels on a "grass-roots level," says Karen Hunter, whose Pocket Books imprint will publish his novel Mama Dearest in September. MORE

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Author E. Lynn Harris Dies at Age 54

Long before the secret world of closeted black gay men came to light in America, bestselling author E. Lynn Harris introduced a generation of black women to the phenomenon known as the "down low."

Harris endeared such characters to readers who were otherwise unfamiliar with them, using themes and backdrops familiar to urban professionals, conditioned by their upbringings, their church leaders or their friends to condemn and criticize homosexuality in the African-American community. A proud Razorback cheerleader at the University of Arkansas who struggled with his own sexuality before becoming a pioneer of gay black fiction, Harris died Thursday at age 54 while promoting his latest book in Los Angeles.

Publicist Laura Gilmore said Harris died Thursday night after being stricken at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, and a cause of death had not been determined. She said Harris, who lived in Atlanta, fell ill on a train to Los Angeles a few days ago and blacked out for a few minutes, but seemed fine after that.

An improbable and inspirational success story, Harris worked for a decade as an IBM executive before taking up writing, selling the novel "Invisible Life" from his car as he visited salons and beauty parlors around Atlanta. He had unprecedented success for an openly gay black author and his strength as a romance writer led some to call him the "male Terry McMillan."

In 15 years, Harris became the genre's most successful author, penning 11 titles, ten of them New York Times bestsellers. More than four million of his books are in print.

McMillan had just spoken to Harris about a week ago, to tell him she would pay tribute to him in her upcoming book by having a character read one of his titles, "And This Too Shall Pass."

"He was thrilled," McMillan said. "I loved his spirit and generosity. I loved that he found his own niche in the world of fiction, and I'm grateful to have known him. This just breaks my heart."

He went on to mainstream success with works such as the novel "Love of My Own" and the memoir "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted." MORE

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Stephen L. Carter Loves to Keep His Readers Guessing

Yale Law School professor Stephen L. Carter leads a double life — his best-selling novels include The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White. His latest, Jericho's Fall (Knopf, $25.95), revolves around Jericho Ainsley, a disgraced and dying former CIA director, and his onetime lover. Carter, 54, spoke with USA TODAY from his office in New Haven.More

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