They talk all the time, in person, on the phone, at hot dog stands, these men, best friends, who have used their voices to move the national African American agenda forward. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, best-selling authors and great thinkers on the race narrative, talk about living in a promised America, a country free of racism, inequity, poverty and despair. It's a conversation made more urgent by one black man's unlikely bid, then inspired election as the first black president.

This elevated conversation and other social, economic and political themes comes to South Florida on Sunday as Miami Book Fair International's opening-night ''Evening with . . .'' headliners.

''We try to keep each other accountable and moving,'' says West, an intellectual and social critic who authored the epic Race Matters. ``As an elder person, part of my role is to try to keep alive in his mind and heart and soul, the preciousness of history. And he gives me a real sense of the nuances of the new conditions.''

West, 55, a Princeton University professor, and Smiley, 44, a syndicated talk-show host, forged their bond more than two decades ago, largely on the belief that they must serve the black community by speaking directly to the people, to the times.

West's Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (SmileyBooks/Hay House USA, $19.95), a poignant new collection of insights and challenges, was born, in some ways, of his friendship with Smiley.

''I have learned over the years to never be with Cornel without a pen, because he is always saying something brilliant,'' Smiley says. I write what he says on anything I can get ahold of: napkins, airplane tickets, notebooks. Half the stuff he says in Hope on a Tightrope came from those conversations.''

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The Miami Herald interviewed West and Smiley, mostly about the issue of race, last week's presidential election and their own professional projects. Here are some of their responses:

Question to West: What inspired the title of your book, Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom (2008: Hay House, Inc., $19.95) ?

Answer:I thought the term captured the sense of the emergency and the urgency in America today. The title is a metaphor for America's condition right now with the economy nearly collapsing and the war. Our new president will be talking on a tightrope, a slippery rope and he is going to need dexterity, prudence, concentration and the ability to focus.

Question to West: Now that Barack Obama has triumphed, what next?

Answer: Obama will be on the tightrope. The world is watching to see if he comes through. The key is we, the people, have to help him stay on the rope. In the end, we make him and he makes us.

Question to West: What does Obama's election mean on matters of race?

Answer: We will all have to adapt to a new terrain. We will be looking at what black leadership means as a whole. There is some sense that Obama is not a black leader, rather an American leader who is black. There is still room for brothers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who are focused on the specifics of racial abuse. When a Jena Six comes up, we still need a Sharpton. Obama being in the White House does not mean white supremacy won't be around.

Question to West: Why Obama?

Answer: People were so hungry and thirsty for something new and novel, someone that could inspire. The Democratic Party had sister Hillary Clinton, who is a very good politician, but she is tied to an older generation. So here comes this young, brilliant brother, with genius organizational skills and [the movement] just took off. It was not just a spark; he executed this in a serious way.

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