Author Eleanora Tate Shares Her Latest Children’s Offering, Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance
On UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, August 1, at 9:30 PM

In Eleanora Tate’s new children’s book Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance, Celeste Lassiter Massey must travel to Harlem to live with her actress Aunt Valentina. She's not thrilled at all to leave her friends, home and Poppa in comfortable Raleigh, North Carolina for New York's 1921 fast life. While Celeste absorbs the grit and glamour of Aunt Valentina's lifestyle and the excitement of the Harlem Renaissance, she constantly wonders and worries about Poppa, her friends, and even her cranky Aunt Society back home. Will Celeste ever see North Carolina again?

In an all-new episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin, premiering Friday, August 1, at 9:30 PM, Tate shares her latest award-winning children's offering with local ties.

Throughout the half-hour, Tate reveals her rich knowledge of the child’s mind and Celeste’s unique experiences as “a fully realized heroine, whose world expands profoundly as she’s exposed to both the cultural pinnacles and racial prejudices of her era” (Publishers Weekly).  

“I’ve studied children’s literature by reading tons of children’s books over the years, ever since the 1960s when I decided I wanted to be a children’s book author.” says Tate. “I enjoyed writing about my childhood when I was child…and there was something magical about it. I’ve found you can turn your real life experience into fictional ones as long as you’re willing to make that fiction become larger than life.”

Eleanora E. Tate’s middle grade books reveal the hopes and humor, trials and triumphs of America’s families and communities. In addition to being a children’s book author, she’s also a folklorist, short story writer, creative writing instructor and former newspaper reporter. Her eleventh book, Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance, is an American Association of University Women’s 2007 North Carolina Book Award winner in Juvenile Fiction. It also is a 2008 International Reading Association (IRA) “Teachers’ Choice Award” winner.

Don’t miss DG Martin’s all-new interview with Eleanora E. Tate on North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, August 1, at 9:30 PM, with an encore episode airing Sunday, August 3, at 5 PM.

During the 26-week season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests also include: Frances Mayes (A Year in the World), Rob Christensen (The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics), Robert Morgan (Boone), Eric Wilson (Against Happiness), Wayne Caldwell (Cataloochee), Theda Perdue (The Cherokee Nation and The Trail of Tears), Bernie Harberts (Too Proud to Ride a Cow), Jean Anderson (A Love Affair with Southern Cooking), Joe Glatthaar (General Lee's Army), Tony Earley (The Blue Star), JD Rhoades (Breaking Cover), Therese Fowler (Souvenir), Cindy Ramsey (Boys of the Battleship North Carolina), Anna Rubino (Queen of the Oil Club), Nancy Peacock (A Broom of One's Own), Louise Hawes(Black Pearls), and Nortin Hadler (Worried Sick).

For additional information about series guests and airdates, plus links to the Bookwatch blog and online book club, please visit: www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh’s independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV’s ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV’s other original productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.