Mr. Free Spirit had the pleasure last weekend to attend the 9th Fresh Book Festival in Daytona Beach Fl. This was a new venture for Mr. Free Spirit and much to my surprise it was an amazing venture. The First night was a VIP welcome and a showing of 3 films. Let me give you some insight on FRESH BOOK:

F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival was developed to assist young inspiring authors with their marketing and to introduce them to veterans of the book business at the festival. Most first time book writers are eager to learn more about the business, and the F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival gives them the opportunity to receive information from other authors, publishers, script writers, and editors.  F.R.E.S.H. is a boutique festival that has the ability for authors to interact on a personal level with their fans and can-do workshops on their books while introducing the book to the community.

Donna M. Gray-Banks is the Founder and Director of the F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival, which is one of the largest book festivals held in Volusia/Flagler Counties in the State of Florida.  The Festival began in 2011, and the City of Daytona Beach began sponsorship of the Festival in 2012.  Gray-Banks is the author of a very successful trilogy, Ila’s Diamonds. She is currently working her fourth book, The House that Jack Built.

Gray-Banks is also the host of a weekly radio show, “A F.R.E.S.H. Conversation” on Joy 106.3 FM Daytona Beach.  The show airs each Monday night from 8:00 – 9:00 PM.

Ms. Banks is the proud mother of Gregory Taylor Banks.  Her siblings:  Christine Hogan, Gilbert Gray, and Jackson Gray, Jr., are the rocks on which she stands. Donna resides in the beautiful City of Palm Coast, Florida. ​

Additionally, Mr. Free Spirit got another surprise, I met a BLACK book publisher.  Ladero Press, is a publishing company.  The Owner is L.D. Robinson, I met L.D. and that was another FANTASTIC experience, here is a tidbit about L.D.

L.D. Robinson is an author, publisher, speaker, and former process improvement/IT consultant. As a primarily independent consultant for almost two decades, L.D. was fortunate to work with companies of varying sizes, as well as, working on several U.S. Department of Defense engagements. Her work as a consultant afforded her an up-close look at organizational operations.

She is now the owner of Ladero Press, a publishing company which is in Central Florida. Ladero Press has been an active publisher since Spring 2017. L.D. had been seeking a way to publish her first novel, Hot Enough to Melt Chocolate, written under a pen name, and believed that starting a publishing company was the call she was destined to answer. She realized that the next chapter in her career would be different from the previous one in which she had been a consultant.

Since starting Ladero Press, L.D. has published the works of four other authors and signed several more. She is excited about the future as she continues to learn more about the world of publishing.

While L.D. continues to write fiction and non-fiction, her main desire is to ensure that authors flourish under Ladero Press, experience great success, and delight readers across every genre.

As you all know Mr. Free Spirit is always in a mode to motivate others, therefore I called Mr. Gary Johnson and suggested we include both Donna and L.D. in the BMIA.com family. Gary agreed, so I developed a structure to include some interesting particular’s about Black authors around the U.S.

The birth of the Literary Corner in BMIA.com is born!!!