The Blank Canvas welcomes Bahamian author Wendy Coakley-Thompson PhD into the studio. Wendy is the President of Duho Books and brings almost two decades in traditional and self-publishing to the company.
She began her career as a self-published author in 2002. In 2004, she signed a two-book deal with mainstream publisher Kensington Books. Dissatisfied with the mass production nature of Big Publishing, she returned to self-publishing in 2008. She is the author of “Writing While Black,” “Triptych,” “Back to Life” (2004 Romantic Times Award nominee), and “What You Won’t Do For Love” (optioned for cable television).
Duho Books was born out of the belief that traditional publishing sells readers short by not introducing them to authors who do not fit neatly into industry boxes. Wendy experienced this repeatedly, as exemplified by this quote from a rejection of her novel, “Triptych”: “…So much of the action of the book happens in the Bahamas, and with commercial novels like this it can sometimes be tough to get readers to want to read outside their geographic location.” This prevailing view, coupled with a bruising legal fight with a previous publisher, led Coakley-Thompson to create a space for authors to create, thrive, and prosper: Doho Books.
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Thank you so much, Amanda! I so enjoyed hanging out with you and talking books, art, the Bahamas, and being a child of the 80s!