WASHINGTON, March 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Journalist and author Jesse J. Holland said his “Black Panther” novel, which has earned the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction Writing, was the culmination of a lifelong dream. “The Black Panther: Who Is The Black Panther?” is a novelization in which the production company for the 2018 groundbreaking superhero movie Black Panther commissioned Holland to write a book in tandem with the film’s release to expand on a script in a literary form.
“I’ve always wanted a chance to help mold some of the great Marvel superheroes, and to do that with the Black Panther, one of the first comic book characters I ever read, was incredible," said Holland. "For years, people of color have had very few of these modern mythological heroes that look like us. Our children will see these heroes and be able to say: ‘He looks like me. I can be him.’ And that is so very important.”
Based on the 2005 comic series by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., Holland’s take on the story is described by NBC News as a “richly layered, fleshed out prose adaptation of the story of warrior king T'Challa a.k.a. Black Panther, who finds himself in a battle against an army led by the man who killed his father. The author's hardcover page-turner offers readers a more in-depth view of the narrative.”
The novel helped fuel the Ryan Coogler-helmed worldwide spectacle starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett and Academy Award winners Lupita Nyong’o and Forest Whitaker. Black Panther earned $1.3 billion at the box office, won three Oscars, and was declared socially and culturally significant.
In Holland’s synopsis of the book, he reveals the story of an adored leader whose kingdom is faced with looming challenges from the outside world:
He's known as the Black Panther. His home is Wakanda. Welcome to T'Challa's world. During the last ten centuries, as European colonial powers spread their guns and armies throughout the continent, the African nation of Wakanda stood alone as an unconquerable land inhabited by undefeatable warriors and filled with incredible technological advancements. T'Challa - the latest in a lineage of warrior-kings - is Wakanda's Black Panther, a hero endowed with enhanced speed, strength, and agility - along with a suit made of the metal that secured his country's future: the indestructible Vibranium. Now, outsiders have returned to plunder Wakanda's riches, including its store of the rare metal. Leading this brutal assault is Klaw, an assassin with the blood of T'Challa's father on his hands. Klaw brings with him a mighty army of super-powered mercenaries, all hell-bent on raining death and destruction on this pristine land. Even with Wakanda's might and his own superhuman skills, can the Black Panther prevail against such a massive invading force?
Holland is also the author of the best-selling Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African American History In and Around Washington, D.C. on the slaves that built the U.S. Capitol and The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House, which was honored at the Independent Publisher Book Awards and by Smithsonian.com. Holland is also the author of Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Finn’s Story.
The 2019 NAACP Image Awards will air live on Saturday, March 30 on TV One at 9:00 p.m. EDT.
A respected journalist, author and television personality, Holland is a Race & Ethnicity writer for The Associated Press as well as a former White House, Supreme Court, and congressional reporter. He is also the weekend host for C-SPAN Washington Journal.
Holland served as the distinguished visiting professor of ethics in journalism at the University of Arkansas, taught journalism ethics at Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies. He currently teaches creative nonfiction at Goucher College. Holland earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi, a master’s degree from Goucher College and was awarded a doctorate of humane letters from LeMoyne-Owen College.
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