Land of the Black Squirrels: A Bronx Boheme Novel(1 Bronx Boheme)

Master storyteller, Mwalim weaves a vibrant and epic Hip-Hop Jazz folktale about the spirits that dwell within the jazz clubs, art galleries, performance spaces, and warehouse lofts transformed into underground dance clubs around New York City. Our tale begins in 1969, when Black squirrels began to appear in the Bronx. Obatunde Bey -a jazz musician and painter- leaves his desk job at the New York City Parks Department to open an arts academy in his Northeast Bronx neighborhood, "The Valley." Little did he know that his art house would quietly become the launch-pad of an underground arts movement. "The Bronx Boheme" made its debut at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe in New York City in 2003 as a long-form storytelling piece. Land of the Black Squirrels is book one of the BRONX BOHEME series.

About the Author :
Mwalim *7) "DaPhunkee Professor" (Morgan James Peters) is a multi-award-winning storyteller/spoken word artist, playwright, oral historian, singer, songwriter, music producer, and filmmaker. Born in Bronx, NY., and raised in both New York and Mashpee, MA, he is a graduate of Music & Art High School (now known as LaGuardia), he is a trained violist, jazz pianist and composer. Performing at Carnegie Hall before the age of 14, and by 16, one of the youngest studio session players in EMI history; he is currently, the keyboardist and a singer for the multi- Grammy nominated soul-funk band The GroovaLottos. As an iconic part of the east coast underground art and music scenes for over 30 years, his stages have included theaters, schools, street corners, libraries, galleries, museums, festivals, powwows, jails, nightclubs, temples, community centers, and colleges throughout the country. His plays, solo performance pieces, and experimental films have been presented throughout the USA and Canada as well as the Caribbean and U.K. Mwalim earned his BA in Music and MS in Film from Boston University, and his MFA in Writing from Goddard College. He received his formal training in theater arts and arts education from New African Company in Boston. Mwalim is a two-time recipient of the Yen Fellowship, several New England Urban Music Awards for jazz, the Healey Grant, the Osborne Fellowship, and a three-time recipient of the Ira Aldridge Theatre Fellowship. He is a tenured Associate Professor of English & Communications and Black Studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where he teaches playwriting, fiction writing, oral traditions, spoken-word, Black aesthetics, Black American cinema, and digital filmmaking. Land of the Black Squirrels is his first novel.

Review :
"...Land of the Black Squirrels is a book about music, about life, and about much much more than that. It contains multitudes if I dare say. " - OnLineBookClub.org