LIFE DOESN'T FRIGHTEN ME

(25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

RELEASE 9 JANUARY 2018

It's official: The release date of LIFE DOESNT FRIGHTEN ME (Twenty Fifth Anniversary Edition) is set for JANUARY 9, 2018.


Beloved by so many children and adults and still in print, this classic has been refreshed with updated graphics, updated biographies of both of these icons of American creativity, Dr. Maya Angelou and Jean-Michel Basquiat plus an afterword by me as to why I created this book, and new resources to check out the work of both of the poet and artist.

So excited by this.

There will be more to come but know at present that I am hoping to be out and about with the book, for book signings and some events, at the least in February, Black History Month and beyond.  We were delighted to be so generously advised by Caged Bird Legacy, the Estate of Dr. Angelou, that there will be events surrounding what would have been her 90th (!) birthday this coming April 2018.  BTW, April is also Poetry Month, so fitting for this powerful poet.  What a gift to all of us she has been.

Just before her death, Dr. Angleou recorded several of her writings, including LIFE DOESN'T FRIGHTEN ME and we are so happy to be able to hear it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6yAhMOnMpM

As well, there is great new publicity for Jean-Michel Basquiat, always contemporary, involving his current exhibition in London at the Barbican, a new documentary focusing on his teen years and then, next year an exhibition, again in Europe, at the startling and vital Foundation Vuitton in Paris, an awe-inspiring museum designed by our own Los Angeles architectural genius, Frank Gehry.

We - Abrams Books, myself the creator/editor of LIFE, Caged Bird Legacy - the powerful presence today of the Estate of Maya Angelou - and those so involved in continuing the focus of one of the great artists of the 20th Century, Jean-Michel Basquiat - are so proud that we can bring this book out to all you new readers and those that have known it as a classic for so long.

More to come!!!

If you would like to know where I will be, especially in February, email me and/or check into this blogger post!

Readying for SCBWI

Guess I might call myself again an author!

It is Summer 2018 and while continuing heavily with photography, I am about to join fellow authors and illustrators, many old friends and hopefully many new, at the annual Society of Children's Book Writers And Illustrators (SCBWI) conference here in Los Angeles.  It's time to recommence working on my craft.

And this with news:


LIFE DOESN'T FRIGHTEN ME: Still in print after its release to acclaim in 1993, my pairing of the expressive artwork of the late artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat with a 1978 poem by one of our American idols, Maya Angelou is about to be re-marketed by Abrams Books for Young Readers in a 25th Anniversary Edition, to be released next January 2018.

In this edition, I have the privilege of writing and adding an afterword, updating the biographies and resource materials and helping create a new look for this classic.  Here is the proposed cover!

 

COME FLY A KITE: SATURDAYS AT THE BEACH WITH TYRUS WONG:

 

My friend, Tyrus Wong, died at the end of last year 2016 at the venerable age of 106.  I last photographed him out at Southern California's Santa Monica Beach last summer when he was 105.

At his death, his life was celebrated worldwide, including the front page of the New York Times with my photographic portrait of him, and in the documentary by filmmaker Pamela Tom, set to broadcast  on PBS American Masters on 8 September this year.  

The major retrospective of Tyrus' artwork, including his early drawings for Walt Disney's Bambi was held at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco in 2013 and again at the Museum of Chinese in America in NYC.  In both exhibitions, I was asked to create the photographic "story" of Tyrus and his kites.    A small version of that exhibition - many of the kites and my photographs - is now on view in Malibu, CA at their City Hall through the end of July.

I am so pleased to announce that I am working on a book for youth on Tyrus' 40+ years after he retired  and learning how to make and fly his artistic kites!  I had created a promo book about them as part of my photographic project process (can be seen online at https://issuu.com/sarajaneboyersphoto/docs/sjboyers_goflyakite_1)  and now, it seems time to share the work and Tyrus' amazing life with young readers.  Look soon for further news!!!!!

OTHER BOOK PROJECTS: 

 Much of the work I hope to do now revolves around my favorite format: illustrated picture books.  Presently my goal is to write and photo-illustrate. With major interest and investment in the arts  throughout my life, it feels that this is where I fit.

I hope some of you, former readers and new ones, will join me in this exploration. Whether for youth or, as in the case of my two long-term photo projects - FINDING CHINATOWN: AN AMERICAN STORY and DETROIT:DEFINITION - that I am merging as well into books (and of course, exhibition), there are always stories to present for a variety of ages. 

It is good to be back.


OTHER NEWS, PART BOOK AND PART PHOTOGRAPHY:

A written essay by me, " .... No, It's Not the East," will be published this summer by Belt Publishing in their DETROIT NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK.

An article on a house designed by the respected mid-century California-based architect, Pierre Koenig, and featuring my photography was just published in the Summer2017 issue of MODERN MAGAZINE, to be online soon but now on the racks!