Released on: February 27, 2008, 7:35 am

Press Release Author: Stacey J. Miller/S. J. Miller Communications

Industry: Entertainment

Press Release Summary: Joanne Leedom-Ackerman shares her perceptions of the Civil
Rights Movement via her works of fiction.

Press Release Body: In time for a Civil Rights Movement milestone, Joanne
Leedom-Ackerman's short story collection, No Marble Angels, and her novel, The Dark
Path to the River, are available in new editions.

The first three stories in No Marble Angels, set the summer and fall of 1968,
illuminate the time in the Civil Rights movement after the assassinations of Dr.
Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, after riots in the cities, a time when
people, particularly the young, were looking to cross the borders that society had
set around them. Stories in the collection reflect other historic moments, such as
the Nashville sit-ins in 1960 and the desegregation of schools in Little Rock,
Arkansas, in 1956.

The Dark Path to the River expands the themes set forth in No Marble Angels into the
international arena. A political thriller, it tells a love story of strong-minded
men and women who do not see the world in the same way. The novel, which moves
between Wall Street and Africa, was a regional bestseller.

Both No Marble Angels and The Dark Path to the River have received excellent reviews
from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and more.

Carolyn See in The Los Angeles Times called No Marble Angels "A valuable
philosophical or political acquisition as well as a literary one," which "should be
sought out and read."

Barbara Kingsolver (author of the Poisonwood Bible and other bestsellers) said, "I
fell in love with the characters in The Dark Path to the River. I didn't want the
pleasure to end." The Washington Post said, "Joanne Leedom-Ackerman knows suspense
like Hitchcock.But what distinguishes the novel is its characters.[They] give this
fine novel its power."

Joanne Leedom-Ackerman will be speaking at bookstores and elsewhere about the new
editions of her books during the coming months. "In fiction," Leedom-Ackerman
explains, "I'm interested in seeing the ordinary life in extraordinary events. We
often hear of the writer who renders ordinary life extraordinary -- an equally
worthy goal, and one I find more engaging in short fiction. In the novel, where the
narrator and the writer must go the distance of 300 - 400 pages, I'm interested in
finding the human face and heart in extraordinary happenings. I like to walk along
the edge of the world discovering the bonds that keep us from falling off."

Through her fiction, Leedom-Ackerman has told stories that resonate today -
particularly, as we commemorate the historic events of 1968.

No Marble Angels
ISBN: 978-0595480098
The Dark Path to the River
ISBN 978-0595478774
By Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
February 2008
http://www.joanneleedomackerman.com

[No Marble Angels and The Dark Path to the River are published as Authors Guild
BackinPrint editions.]


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Web Site: http://www.joanneleedomackerman.com

Contact Details: Stacey Miller
S. J. Miller Communications
http://www.bookpr.com
bookpromotion@gmail.com