Vickie Stringer: The Queen of Hip-Hop Lit

• Is this something you’re looking to do in other bookstores as well?
Stringer: I think they should. If Barnes & Noble knows what I know. … Barnes & Noble continues to be very conservative. So I don’t know. I would love to approach other marketing departments, to talk to them to say, “This is what you should be doing … .” … I told [my son] I got my own shelf in Borders and Waldens. He said, “Mom, you already have one in Barnes & Noble. I go passed the African-American section, and all your books are there. You already got a shelf.” … I think they’re doing it, but Borders and Waldens are doing it the right way, in the supportive way. They’re putting our name on the shelf. They’re doing it the marketing way because, guess what, they want to make money.

• Triple Crown is getting ready to move into films. Tell me more about this.
Stringer: We just launched our film division, called Triple Crown Films. We are doing three of our novels straight to DVD with the hopes of getting a shelf at the video store. We’re in the bookstore, so why not the video store? … [It’s] wonderful because now I’m giving [screenwriters] and directors opportunities. That’s the most fun part … to give a person an opportunity. That’s so important to me because, you see, I lived my life feeling [like I had no opportunities], and I just felt nothing was available to me. I remember being so mad at God because I was like, “Can’t you do something? Why do I have to live in the ghetto? Why do I live like this? Can you open a door please?” So now I’m able to give people a chance. We’re actually using first-time screenwriters and first-time directors. We have some great scripts and B-list actors who are attached and interested, and you never know because we could be working with the next [director Quentin] Tarantino. … To be able to just broaden the field a little bit is wonderful because there’s talent out there that, sadly, people are never going to be exposed to.