Meet BIBR's regional editors.

In its first five years of existence, BIBR has become a critical link to the world of black books for at least 75,000 readers. As part of a strategy to strengthen BIBR's position and influence in the next five years, a team of five regional editors has been appointed to deepen the magazine's coverage and presence in key markets. The names of these regional editors may be familiar to many longtime BIBR subscribers because they are all regular contributors to the magazine. Now as regional editors, they will also represent BIBR at special events, readings and book signings that the magazine will cosponsor in their local communities. (Consult SIGHTINGS & SIGNINGS in every issue and the BIBR Web site at www.bibookraview.com for a complete schedule of regional activities.) We present them below, and we look forward to many of you meeting them personally in the future.

QURAYSH ALI LANSANA (Chicago/Midwest) As BIBR's poetry editor, Q has been a key influence in every issue, but especially for this Sixth Annual Poetry Issue. He is currently director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing and an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at Chicago Slate University. He also serves as Poetry Editorial Review Board Director for Third World Press. He earned his MFA in creative writing at New York University. His most recent publication credits include Blood and Bone: An Anthology of Black Southern Writing and Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam. He lives in Chicago with his wife, storyteller/educator Emily Hooper Lansana, and their two sons.

GWENDOLYH E. OSBORNE (Chicago/Midwest) A Chicago based freelance writer, Gwen has contributed many feature stories, reviews and MARKET BUZZ columns to BIBR over the past five years. She began her journalism career as a reviewer for the Detroit Free Press and worked as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News and as lively arts editor for Pioneer Press Newspapers. She also has extensive publishing experience in positions at Scott, Foresman & Co., Rand McNally and ABA Press.

KATHRYN V. STANLEY (Atlanta/Southeast) Kathryn continues to serve as the Atlanta-based editor of BIBR's FAITH section. Her work has also appeared in Essence, Emerge, The Smiley Report and Atlanta Goodlife Magazine. A former criminal defense attorney, she is a graduate of Spelman College and of the University of Virginia College of Law.

DR. SHEILA S. WALKER (Atlanta/Southeast) Dr. Walker, the William and Camille Cosby Endowed Professor in the Social Sciences at Spelman College and an anthropologist of the African Diaspora, served on BIBR's founding Board of Advisers aim wrote a feature essay for BIBR's Fifth Anniversary issue in January/February 2004. She most recently edited the 2001 volume African Roots/American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas and made the 2002 video documentary Scattered Africa Faces and Voices of the African Diaspora. Dr. Walker has a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, studied at the Sorbonne aim the Institut d'Etudes Politques in Paris, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from tire University of Chicago.

VICTORIA CHRISTOPHER MURRAY (Los Angeles/Pacific) Victoria writes BIBR's SELF-PUBLISHING column covering entrepreneurial writers. She launched her own career as a successful author of Christian fiction by self-publishing her novel Temptation in 1997. In 2000, Temptation became an Essence best seller and was nominated for an NAACP image Award. Her second novel, Joy, was also an Essence best-seller and won the 2002 Gold Pen Award for Best Inspirational Fiction. She lives in Englewood, California, and attends Bible Enrichment Fellowship International Church.