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MyHotCommentsFor the past 20 years, Cindy Brown Austin’s literary voice has echoed the voice of tyranny and triumph of urban New England life in dozens of newspapers and magazine articles across the country. Before she entered Saint Joseph College in West Hartford to pursue a degree in English and sociology, Austin, 42, a Hartford native, had been awarded with distinction numerous times from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists, was chosen as a recipient fellow by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, had been a featured subject in the New York Times, the featured guest on a variety of local television and radio shows, and had enjoyed some 17 years of writing editorials and cover stories for the Hartford Courant, the state’s largest continuously published newspaper (circulation 500,000), on the commentary of urban life.The outspoken African American woman who had married at 17, had three babies in pampers by 19, and had no formal training, had become a literary marvel to Connecticut’s literary audiences who were moved by her ability to tell city stories.Stunned by Austin’s gifts, the Hartford Courant gave her the privilege of her own column in their Sunday magazine, Northeast. It became a celebrated and award-winning spot inside the Courant’s Sunday paper.A licensed minister of the Apostolic Faith, Austin has been published by Reader’s Digest, Essence Magazine, Priority!, and a number of other national publications. She is a sought-after lecturer who teaches writing workshops and preaches in churches across the country.But what qualifies her to speak?The answer for Austin is simple. “I was spared to tell our stories,” she writes. “I survived a world where entire generations were wiped out due to poverty, crime, violence, and legislated genocide, and I refuse to allow the dyings of those I loved, be in vain. It is my moral responsibility. I have been called into the kingdom for such a time as this.”Although Connecticut is one of the smallest states in the country, known for its historical conservatism and high per capita incomes, its capital, Hartford, reflective of the neighboring New York City, is a place plagued by violence and disenfranchisement. Austin was raised there, in one of the worst housing projects in America. The Charter Oak Terrace housing projects made the FBI’s worst housing project list and Austin understands first hand, why. Drug abuse, illiteracy, stark poverty and murders, especially murders, are what Austin remembers most.Now, Austin has written a mesmerizing novel that captures the brutality but also the humanity of Hartford’s urban life. By the Rivers of Babylon, published by Strebor Books International, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is an enchantingly romantic read that describes a world only an insider would know. Austin’s book is, writes Jess Maghan, PhD, director of the Forum for Comparative Corrections, and author of Hate Crime: The Global Politics of Polarization: “…a breathtaking and fast paced journey into the dynamics of a wrenching love story seeded on the banks of a dark river snaking through a bleak housing project in the urban backyard of American politics. Austin’s book is loaded with slick semiotics, parody, pain, bravado and yearning..."Using Toni Morrison as a continued source of literary inspiration, Austin, a licensed minister who resides in Windsor, Connecticut with her husband and four daughters, is at work on her second novel she presently calls, “Oracle.”TO CONTACT CINDY TO SCHEDULE SIGNINGS, WORKSHOPS & OTHER ENGAGEMENTS, PLEASE EMAIL HER AT [email protected]."By the Rivers of Babylon," is available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Walden Books, Books-a-million, Amazon.com, and wherever fine books are sold. It can also be ordered directly through the Black Print Book Store in New Haven, CT.TO HEAR CINDY'S ON-AIR RADIO INTERVIEW WITH RADIO HOST STAN SIMPSON ON WTIC 1080 AM, CLICK ON LINK BELOW:http://www.wtic.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Ep isode&audioId=1148422 Cindy Brown Austin at SimonSays, official publisher's site-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------