2017 Local Authors Expo Spotlight: Chandra Sparks Splond

Author Chandra Sparks Splond

Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
Books: Spin It Like That, The Pledge, The Promise, The Greatest Gift of All, He’s Got Game, Make It Work, You’ve Gotta Have Faith, Black Girl Dreaming: Poems About Love, Life and Loss, It’s Like That
How to Reach the Author: Read her blog at www.bookofsplond.com, visit her website at www.chandrasparkssplond.com, or e-mail her at cssplond@gmail.com
Quote about the Local Authors Expo: “I spent a lot of time in the Birmingham Public Libraries growing up, so it is an honor and very humbling for me to be selected as this year’s keynote speaker. I am so excited to connect with authors and readers and to let them know if my dreams can come true, theirs can too.”

The Local Authors Expo will be held Saturday, August 19, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., at the Central Library. Splond is the 10:30 a.m. keynote speaker.

Chandra Sparks Splond first gained her love of reading as a young child by visiting the Central Library and her neighborhood libraries in West End and Five Points West.

So it should come as no surprise that as an adult Splond is an editor, speaker, and award-winning author and blogger. Her young adult novel Make It Work was named Alabama's Great Read 2017, and Spin It Like That was chosen as a Popular Paperback for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).

Another of her books, The Pledge, was a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Black Pearls Magazine also honored Splond as a 2017 Legends & Leaders for her blog, Book of Splond (formerly known as Magic City Momma).

Splond is the owner of West End Publishing, LLC, and Live Life Creations, a personalized gift and party boutique. In addition to working for Kensington Publishing as the consulting editor for Arabesque romance, Splond has also done work for Random House, Moody Publishers, Kimani Press (formerly known as BET Books), and Hyperion.

She has edited books for several New York Times, USA Today, and Essence bestselling authors. Splond has interviewed New York Times bestselling authors Karen Kingsbury, Kimberly Lawson Roby, Eric Jerome Dickey, and actress Meagan Good. She has also worked for Good Housekeeping, Black and Married with Kids, Brides Noir, Weddingpages, Newsday, The Morning Call and Romantic Times.

Splond says she uses this quote by Henry David Thoreau as a guide to her personal and professional life: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.”

Come meet Splond and the nearly 30 other authors at the Local Authors Expo on August 19.

It’s Like That
After suffering a tragic loss ten years ago, twenty-six-year-old Jasmine Richardson has traded her love of lyrics for writing legal briefs. It only takes one encounter with the microphone for Jasmine to realize the music is still in her heart—if only it could pay the bills. After making some bad decisions, Jasmine is thrown into a tailspin. She is forced to consider taking a case that could make her legal career from someone from her past. Suddenly, Jasmine finds herself questioning her future. When the music is still in your heart, sometimes life forces you to make some tough decisions. Sometimes…it’s like that.

Black Girl Dreaming: Poems about Love, Life and Loss
As a child growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, author and blogger Chandra Sparks Splond spent many days in her room dreaming of forever and writing about someday. In Black Girl Dreaming: Poems about Love, Life and Loss, Splond shares some of her most cherished and personal work on her journey to learning to love herself and others.

Make It Work (Named Alabama’s Great Read 2017)
Sixteen-year-old Reagan Davis has landed her dream job, an internship at FIRE 107.1, the hottest radio station in town. It doesn’t take Reagan long to realize that between competitive coworkers and trying to ignore her growing feelings for her oh-so-cute coworker Jayden, there’s more drama at FIRE than she’s ever experienced at school. That might be okay if she could go home and relax, but her mother is acting weird and her father is keeping secrets. Even with all the madness at home, Reagan can’t deny that radio is in her blood, and whatever it takes, this summer she’s determined to…make it work.

You’ve Gotta Have Faith
Destini Daniels is excited she is going to be adopted—or is she? When she gets a bad grade and learns her foster mother has a secret that could put her adoption in jeopardy, Destini starts to lose faith she’ll get a forever family—or pass science. When someone volunteers to tutor her, Destini begins to believe she may not only get an “A,” but maybe she’ll get a forever mom—and dad.