Janelle Harris Dixon
The Root
Washington, DC, United States
Contact Janelle
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Past articles by Janelle:
8 New Books to Pick Up for Kids and Young Adults (and Less Young Adults Who Like Young Adult Books)
It’s no secret that in recent years, the Young Adult—or “YA”—book category has been booming. But not everyone who browses young adult books is making a purchase for the teen or tween in their life. Half of these titles—some available for pre-order, some already on sale—are as excellent as reading choices for folks over 18 as they are for folks under 18. → Read More
For Literature-Loving Black Women, Online Book Clubs Have Lessened the Social Distance
If there was ever a time to cocoon yourself in the escapism and solace of books, it’s been this three-quarter year pandemic. We’ve had more unscheduled free time available for reading, a hobby that gets so easily de-prioritized in our gotta-be-here, need-to-do-that schedules, and in a presidency and COVID-embattled year that feel more sci-fi than real-life themselves, online book clubs have… → Read More
Here’s an Exclusive Excerpt of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Newest Fiction (You’re Welcome!)
For Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie fans, it’s been a long seven years since Americanah, her last novel, and winner of the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. She’s been active on Instagram and it’s always a joy to revisit her catalog of beautiful writing—Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, The Thing Around Your Neck, among them. Thanks to the pandemic, HBO’s adaptation of… → Read More
A Love Letter to Used Books (and Tips on How to Shop for Them)
Every other month, I go to the Books for International Goodwill sale in Annapolis, Md. It starts at 8 am and I’m an early riser anyway, so I drive the 40 minutes from southeast Washington, DC on a virtually trafficless highway to get there when the only other people are a few solo shoppers and the chipper tribe of senior volunteers. For an hour, sometimes longer, I cruise the warehouse aisles,… → Read More
Black Authors Will Be the Standouts at This Year’s (Virtual) National Book Festival
In 2001, when the Library of Congress’ inaugural National Book Festival kicked off in Washington, D.C., some 50 award-winning authors, illustrators and storytellers peopled the pop-up tents on the East Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to read excerpts of their work, sign their books and interact with fans. That was September 9. Two days later, our national sense of normalcy and security were toppled by… → Read More
Cole Brown's Greyboy Illuminates the Intersection of Being Young, Wealthy and Black
Cole Brown has lived his entire 24 years of life at the intersection of privilege and Blackness. The son of a Fortune 100 exec and the grandson of the first female senator in Ethiopia, he was born into the Jack and Jill, exclusive private school, summering in Martha’s Vineyard African American elite. That might be foreign to the people who live outside the inner circle of access but in Greyboy,… → Read More
Turning a New Page, the Schomburg Literary Festival Is Going Virtual—and Global—for 2020
OK, so let’s articulate the obvious: There will be no tents or stages at the Schomburg Literary Festival this year. There will be no road-tripping or traveling to New York City’s beloved Harlem or electric anticipation in the line for in-person author signings. There will be no flipping through the fresh, crisp pages of a new book (maybe accidentally sniffing them, too?) and deciding, on the… → Read More
Toni Morrison Did Not Find Success Overnight
This is what we know: More than once, Toni Morrison was a woman picking her way through a reinvention of her life. She’d been Chloe Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, the daughter of a mother who loved books… → Read More
How to Be Productive Without Burning Out
Far from being burned out, some of us are fired up and keeping busy during the pandemic. → Read More
How Black Women on Capitol Hill Are Dealing with Trump
With white supremacists rising under a right-wing president, black women in the halls of power are looking out for each other and the causes they care about. → Read More
Black People Need More Representation And Fewer 'Representatives'
Every black girl should be able to see themselves in all their glory. → Read More
Young Black Men Are Missing in DC, Too, and They’re Not Coming Home as Quickly
Weeks ago, as social media alerts from Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department ignited an outcry about the number of missing black girls in the District, we witnessed the synergism of our community at work. → Read More
The Affordable Care Act Remains a Defining Moment in Obama’s Presidency
His Lasting Legacy: Many people tried, but President Barack Obama succeeded in passing health care reform in the United States. → Read More
Black Girls in Durham, NC, School Denied Right to Honor African Heritage
What began as a celebration of Black History Month in Durham by wearing African head wraps, is now a protest over expression. → Read More
Women Writers Pay Homage to Zora Neale Hurston on Her 125th Birthday
Black women writers owe a debt of gratitude to the wordsmith who paid their freedom of expression forward. → Read More
How To Network in Any Situation
Learn to network in any situation: Even shy wallflowers can follow these tips to get the most out of networking mixers and conferences. → Read More
10 Things I’ve Learned Since I Lost My Job
Today is my own personal independence day, when I lost a regular paycheck but gained some valuable life lessons. → Read More
Dear Black Girl: Letters From the Souls of Black Women
How long has it been since you wrote a letter? Not an inbox message, not an email, not a mega-marathon text that breaks itself up into five installments, but a dear-you, love-me letter? The Beautiful Project, a Durham, N.C.-based collective shifting how black women and girls see themselves and how... → Read More
Black Women, This Is What Self-Care Looks Like
In A Burst of Light, her aptly titled collection of essays, Audre Lorde famously wrote, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Almost 30 years after she put that oft-quoted, oft-referenced and oft-memed thought to paper, black women are still... → Read More
Cherica Adams Would Have Been 40 Years Old Today
She had soulful eyes. Her face was an effortless kind of pretty, accented by a sunny-bright smile and a soft, suede complexion. But in all of the photos of Cherica Adams—those throwback pictures of her with beehived, sky-touching hair, the signature style of the ’90s that she’d have probably rather... → Read More