“I
have to entertain, because if I don't entertain you, you're not going to
continue reading. But if I'm not out to enlighten, or change your mind about
something, or change your behavior, then I really don't want to take the
journey.” – Bebe Moore Campbell
Born in Philadelphia on this date in
1950 (she died of cancer in 2006), Campbell was an author, journalist and
teacher who wrote 3 New York Times bestsellers: Brothers and Sisters,
Singing in the Comeback Choir, and What You Owe Me. The latter also won the Los Angeles Times
"Best Book of 2001" award.
Campbell, whose essays, articles,
and excerpts appeared in many anthologies as well as in many of the nation’s
leading magazines and newspapers, also authored Your Blues Ain't Like Mine. The book was a New York Times Notable
Book of the Year and winner of the NAACP Image Award for Literature. 
Her interest in mental health was the catalyst for her first children's book, Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry, named for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Outstanding Literature Award of 2003. The book tells the story of how a little girl copes with being reared by her mentally ill mother.
Campbell said she hoped that her
writing would serve as a way for readers to not only learn about things but also to begin a dialogue. “Despite what I said, there’s no point
in writing merely to entertain," she said.
“Race, redemption and healing – that’s my thing.”
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