Author Eleanora Tate Shares Her Latest Children’s Offering, Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, August 1, at 9:30 PM

In Eleanora Tate’s new children’s book Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance, Celeste Lassiter Massey must travel to Harlem to live with her actress Aunt Valentina. She's not thrilled at all to leave her friends, home and Poppa in comfortable Raleigh, North Carolina for New York's 1921 fast life. While Celeste absorbs the grit and glamour of Aunt Valentina's lifestyle and the excitement of the Harlem Renaissance, she constantly wonders and worries about Poppa, her friends, and even her cranky Aunt Society back home. Will Celeste ever see North Carolina again?

In an all-new episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin, premiering Friday, August 1, at 9:30 PM, Tate shares her latest award-winning children's offering with local ties.

Throughout the half-hour, Tate reveals her rich knowledge of the child’s mind and Celeste’s unique experiences as “a fully realized heroine, whose world expands profoundly as she’s exposed to both the cultural pinnacles and racial prejudices of her era” (Publishers Weekly).

“I’ve studied children’s literature by reading tons of children’s books over the years, ever since the 1960s when I decided I wanted to be a children’s book author.” says Tate. “I enjoyed writing about my childhood when I was child…and there was something magical about it. I’ve found you can turn your real life experience into fictional ones as long as you’re willing to make that fiction become larger than life.”

Eleanora E. Tate’s middle grade books reveal the hopes and humor, trials and triumphs of America’s families and communities. In addition to being a children’s book author, she’s also a folklorist, short story writer, creative writing instructor and former newspaper reporter. Her eleventh book, Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance, is an American Association of University Women’s 2007 North Carolina Book Award winner in Juvenile Fiction. It also is a 2008 International Reading Association (IRA) “Teachers’ Choice Award” winner.

Don’t miss DG Martin’s all-new interview with Eleanora E. Tate on North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, August 1, at 9:30 PM, with an encore episode airing Sunday, August 3, at 5 PM.