Max Rodriguez

Max Rodriguez is a second generation Latino from Puerto Rico. He is the Founder and Director of the Harlem Book Fair, the nation’s largest African American book festival, televised nationally on C-SPAN’s Book-TV and is the most consistently called expert in African American literature called upon by C-SPAN.

He is Publisher of QBR/The Black Book Review, the online literary review that features writers of the African Diaspora and publisher of QBR Publishing, targeted to African American and Latino readers and writers.

Mr. Rodriguez is the author of the acclaimed Sacred Fire: The QBR 100 Essential Black Books (John Wiley & Sons, 1999) and is the editor of the QBR website (www.QBR.com). He has been inducted into the Writer’s Hall of Fame at Chicago State University for his pioneering work in the advocacy of African American literature and publishing. He is the host of ‘Everything WORD’, the internet podcast radio show featuring writers on the urban cultural edge.

Recognized and respected as an innovator and expert in audience and writer development and publishing, he has served as moderator and keynote speaker at American Booksellers Association events, Book Expo America, American Publishers Association conferences, and the New York Times author series.  He has served on the Board of Directors of Poets & Writers, the nation’s largest literary non-profit organization, and serves on the Board of Directors of City University of New York Television (CUNY-TV), the National African American Read-In (Dallas, TX.) and serves as Advisor to the Teachers & Writers Collaborative, an educational advocacy non-profit organization, in New York City.

Areas of Expertise

   Literacy:

• The New Literacy and the Future of Our Families

• We Speak Two Languages

    Literature:

• Our Latino Story: Our Journey as Told in Books

Entrepreneurship:

• Successful People Say “Yes!”

• Where Do We Go Next and How Do We Get There?

• Making Something from Nothing: Building Brand ‘You’

• From Inspiration to Publication: How to Become a Bestselling Author