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  <title>Lit Chat Interview with Bestselling Author &amp;amp; Emmy-Winning Director Jeffrey Blount</title>
  <description>Jeffrey Blount&amp;amp;nbsp;is the award-winning author of four novels, including&amp;amp;nbsp;Almost Snow White,&amp;amp;nbsp;Hating Heidi Foster,&amp;amp;nbsp;The Emancipation of Evan Walls, and&amp;amp;nbsp;Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way. He is also an Emmy award-winning television director and a 2016 inductee to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of&amp;amp;nbsp;Meet The Press,&amp;amp;nbsp;The Today Show,&amp;amp;nbsp;NBC Nightly News, and major special events. He is the first African American to direct&amp;amp;nbsp;The Today Show. He was a contributor for&amp;amp;nbsp;HuffPost&amp;amp;nbsp;and has been published in&amp;amp;nbsp;The Washington Post, The Grio.com and other publications, commenting on issues of race, social justice, and writing. Interviewer&amp;amp;nbsp;Fati D. Ashley&amp;amp;nbsp;is a Ghanaian-American literary and visual artist who resides in Florida.&amp;amp;nbsp;She holds a Master of Arts in English (Rhetoric and Composition) from the University of North Florida.&amp;amp;nbsp;Her poem “Cape Coast” was performed in&amp;amp;nbsp;Echoes of Us, a series of curated monologues, directed by Tony Award nominee Michele Shay in 2022. She is the Editor-in-Chief for&amp;amp;nbsp;The Banyan Review,&amp;amp;nbsp;a 2023 Best of the Net nominee, and&amp;amp;nbsp;a 2023 Fellow of The Craft Institute, &amp;quot;a non-profit organization dedicated to curating culturally inclusive ecosystems throughout the world of arts and entertainment...&amp;quot; Ashley consults and facilitates workshops for Authors Roundtable of North Florida and teaches creative writing at Jacksonville Arts and Music School.&amp;amp;nbsp; READ Check out&amp;amp;nbsp;Jeffrey's work from the library:  https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=%22jeffrey+blount%22&amp;amp;amp;te=&amp;amp;nbsp;  THE LIBRARY RECOMMENDS More books about finding yourself and your community:  The Gone Dead, by Chanelle Benz The Heaven &amp;amp;amp; Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers  --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at&amp;amp;nbsp;https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates&amp;amp;nbsp; Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite:&amp;amp;nbsp;https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/  Twitter:&amp;amp;nbsp;https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary  Facebook:&amp;amp;nbsp;https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/  Instagram:&amp;amp;nbsp;https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/  YouTube:&amp;amp;nbsp;https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl  Contact Us:&amp;amp;nbsp;jplpromotions@coj.net&amp;amp;nbsp; </description>
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