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Photo By Wendy Uhlman
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Your Negro Tour Guide Kathy Y. Wilson speaks the
truth in black and white.
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Kathy Y. Wilson has a voice, and she's not afraid to use it.
Regular readers of Your Negro Tour Guide, Wilson's weekly CityBeat column providing insights into political and social issues affecting the African-American community and the city as a whole, know this all too well. Her deft use of language and brazen outspokenness is unmistakable and sparks quite a chord in readers. They love her. They hate her. She's brilliant. She's ignorant. She's been accused of hating whites and not being an appropriate spokesperson for blacks. (For newbies to the wonderful world of Wilson, check out Your Negro Tour Guide.)
Come spring of 2003, there's going to be a whole lot more of Wilson to love (or loathe, depending on which side of the fence you fall on). She has gone the independent route through local publisher About Time Press to release Your Negro Tour Guide: The Truth in Black & White.
Though the book concentrates on Wilson's best columns since Your Negro Tour Guide began in July 2000, it's a whole lot more than another greatest hits package. Her columns will be interspersed with transcripts of pieces Wilson has recorded for National Public Radio's All Things Considered, an article she wrote for Newsday and four essays written specifically for the book.
"I think it's going to be killer. And I have a healthy fear of success. Ask my therapist," Wilson says, letting loose a fun-loving, self-deprecating laugh, loud enough to register a high score on the Richter scale.
But her joking doesn't undermine her seriousness or belief in the book's success. "I think it's going to be really, really phat -- with a P-H!" she says.
Local publishing house F&W Publications for a brief time considered Your Negro Tour Guide: The Truth in Black & White for their Walking Stick Press imprint, but ultimately couldn't make it work.
Subject matter proved to be a potential hotbed. Wilson has, after all, raised the ire of everyone from Vice Mayor Alicia Reece to factions of Cincinnati's gay community. "Maybe some of the things I write are taboo, which is hysterical to me," Wilson says of F&W's decision to turn the Negro Tour Guide loose.
But now Wilson can publish in the same way she navigates her column -- without the rules, a little more money and a lot more stress that come with larger publishing houses.
Working with a small, independent house suits Wilson's style and pushes her creatively. "As an artist, you're a lot more vested in the project," she explains. "Now I'm just going to hit it out of the park. I have nothing to lose now."
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