Avid readers throughout Gainesville had the opportunity to meet a distinguished author Saturday.
A collaboration between The Opinionated Ladies Book Club of Gainesville and the Alachua County Library District brought ReShonda Tate Billingsley to the Headquarters Library to commemorate the book club’s seventh anniversary.
Billingsley, a national best-selling author and NAACP Image Award recipient, started in the journalism industry as a paparazzi member for The National Enquirer. She is now the author of more than 35 books. Her second novel, “Let the Church Say Amen,” was optioned for a movie and will be coming out this fall.
As the last African American working in her division of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, Billingsley also co-founded the publishing company Brown Girl Books.
Brown Girl Books publishes new authors, she said. So far, the company has 15 authors and just started a children’s division.
“We are called Brown Girl Books because two brown girls started it, but we have writers of all races and all walks of life,” she said.
Kinnidie White, an aspiring author and senior at Gainesville High School, attended the program with hopes of getting Billingsley to consider her book. At the end of the event, the two met.
“She was really kind. She complimented and congratulated me,” the 17-year-old said. “I was freaking out. She bought one of my books and asked me to sign it for her.”
Billingsley spoke about her writing process, her many rejections in the industry and even the challenge of getting people to see that her books are for everyone, not just African-Americans.
“I’m really blessed to be living my dream,” she said. “Every minute you spend talking about what you don’t have time to do could be spent doing it.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 2/2/2015 under the headline “Best-selling author visits local library"]
ReShonda Billingsley signs a book for a fan in the Alachua County Library Headquarters on Saturday afternoon. Billingsley was at the library as a speaker for The Opinionated Ladies Book Club of Gainesville’s 7th anniversary.
