Karma Francois is a thirtysomething, California-born BoHo BAP (Bohemian Black American Princess) with Louisiana roots and urban debutante flair. But her life has suddenly taken a drastic turn. Her relationships and the museum curator career that she struggled to form in New York City have crumbled, leaving no viable options to rebuild.
Relocating to Washington, DC, Karma struggles with denial, depression, and debt. A lack of full-time employment opportunities forces her to craft a gypsy existence as a Jill of Many Trades: yoga teacher, art consultant, and freelance curator. Unable and unwilling to appreciate these jobs as gifts, she wallows in a pool of lost identity—and doesn’t see a way to keep from drowning.
When she looks in the mirror, Karma sees a woman whose choices have dishonored her true character. Now, for the first time in her life, Karma must learn to see herself for who she really is.
Love’s Troubadours reveals how our everyday decisions affect our future and explores the healing power of love.
Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke is a yoga teacher, Reiki practitioner, artist, and writer. Her poetry appeared in Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century. Leeke is a graduate of Morgan State University, Howard University School of Law, and Georgetown University Law Center. She lives in Washington, DC.
Yoga + Creativity + Internet Geek = Ananda Leeke. Leeke is a lawyer turned "Jill of many trades": innerpreneur, author, artist, coach, and yoga teacher. She is also the founder of the Digital Sisterhood Network and Digital Sisterhood Month, an annual celebration for social media women in December. Her mission is "Empowering U2BU through creativity coaching, Reiki, self-care, social media, volunteerism, and yoga."
She serves as a Blogger Ambassador for the Heart of Haiti Campaign, a partnership between Macy's, Fairwinds Trading, and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund that was created to provide sustainable income to Haitian artisans impacted by the 2010 earthquake. In February 2011, she travelled to Haiti as a Heart of Haiti Blogger Ambassador. Black Enterprise named her as one of the Black Women in Tech You Should Follow on Twitter in July 2011.
Leeke has served as a moderator, panelist, speaker, workshop facilitator, and/or yoga teacher for the Blogalicious Weekend Conference and DC Meet Ups, BlogHer, Capital BookFest, DC Digital Capital Week, Feminist Majority, Holy Cross Hospital, Howard University, Ignite DC, Latinos in Social Media, Metropolitan Baptist Church, She's Geeky, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Spelman College, Social Justice Camp II, Society for the Arts and Healthcare, Vision Quest Retreats, Washington Hospital Center, Washington National Cathedral's Sacred Circles Conferences, WOMANIFESTING, Women in Film & Television Atlanta, and YWCA.
She penned That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman's Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (2009) and Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One, a novel (2007). Her poetry appeared in Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century (2002). Her six-word memoir was published in It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (2010). She is currently writing Digital Sisterhood (2012), a memoir.
Since 1995, her mixed media collages, wire sculptures, and paintings have been exhibited in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, New York City, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Her artwork was featured in Heart and Soul Magazine in 2001 and often reflects her passion for issues affecting people of color and women. In 2002, she created and donated Our Womanist Spirit and I am my sista's keeper wire sculpture collections to The Women's Collective, an HIV/AIDS direct services organization. She has worked as an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at Howard University Hospital (2003-2009), and is currently serving wounded warriors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Leeke is a graduate of Morgan State University (B.A. in French, 1986), Howard University School of Law (J.D., 1989), and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulation, 1991). Her memberships include the National League of American Pen Women, Yoga Alliance, Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington's Business Volunteer Program, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., All Souls Unitarian Church, and Insight Meditation Community of Washington's People of Color Sangha. She lives in Washington, D.C.
This review is from: Love's Troubadours: Karma: Book One (Paperback)
Love's Troubadours by Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke is an exploration of a sister's spiritual reconciliation. When we meet Karma Francois she has reached a personal low. She has lost her job and her days of shopping, chocolate martinis and hedonistic pursuits may be coming to an end. She is a self-proclaimed bohemian Black American Princess and she can not accept her less than stellar life. She has to relocate and live differently and finds it to be a depressing journey.
Karma relocates from New York to Washington D.C, feeling like a stranger inside her own body. She is constantly depressed and unsure what to do with herself. Her Aunt Jo senses her depression and tells her she needs to seek counseling. Karma is unsure if that is what she wants but her aunt threatens her by telling her she will inform her mother of her status. Since her mother, Hyacinth, who Karma considers the ultimate drama queen, is the last person Karma wants to deal with Karma agrees to see Francis, the therapist. Though reluctant to accept therapy, Karma finds herself on a path to self-acceptance and reliance through her sessions with Francis.
The pages of Love's Troubadours take us on a spiritual, narrative journey into Karma's life. We meet her family members, loves, lovers and friends. We get to see what has formed this woman and what will sustain her. Love's Troubadours is not a breezy, easy book-of-the-month type novel. What it is, is a deep journey into what takes a woman to her lowest and what it takes for her to change her life and reach a spiritual high ground. This novel is a recommended read for all readers interested in a book that makes you think and believe.
Angelia Menchan
APOOO BookClub
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This review is from: Love's Troubadours: Karma: Book One (Paperback)
I finally got a chance to start reading the novel and I'm LOVING it!! Honestly! I can see myself in quite a few aspects of the book. There were even some tears shed, as the novel touches on issues that hit home. I love how detailed/descriptive the author is. And the Bible passages & quotes chosen are so appropriate. What a talented writer!
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This review is from: Love's Troubadours: Karma: Book One (Paperback)
Great artistic efforts do more than just entertain, they enlighten. Love's Troubadours was highly entertaining, but also challenged me to explore the greater context of the world around me, which is in my humble opinion the hallmark of great art. I learned much about my own strivings and angst while perusing life through the eyes of a hip, chic, post-soul, educated yoga-loving, highly spiritual Black American Princess named Karma. There are no canned characters in this masterpiece, only complex women and men dealing with the vicissitudes of life through their inimitable postmodern brands of spirituality and social perspectives. Karma teaches us much about perseverance as well as about self-transcendence and spiritual consciousness. One of the most fascinating aspects of this book is its fresh appropriation of black middleclass sensibilities. Karma is an intuitive and progressive woman and her tastes and interests reflect a mélange of black middleclass tropes often unexplored in contemporary cinema and books. Ananda Leeke fastens our consciousness to a world of black female sophistication, and depicts Karma as an apotheosis of urban-chic and self-transcendence. Leeke takes us on an entertaining and enlightening journey as we watch an incredibly complex protagonist like Karma navigate through the matrices of her personal reformation, negotiate transitional changes, overcome family and relationship challenges and emotional angst, and emerge as a more evolved and emotionally whole woman. This is a well-written book and a fascinating look at an underrepresented portion of contemporary black middle-class life and spirituality.
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