From regarded mental health expert Nicole Russell-Wharton, a guide to disrupt family patterns and heal from inherited trauma so you can break the cycle of silence for generations to come

What if one conversation was able to redirect a person’s life and create a ripple effect of healing that spans generations? It took a near-death experience for mental health expert Nicole Russell-Wharton to realize that after 35 years, she didn't know the body she was living in. After being diagnosed with a rare life-altering genetic condition that others in her family had, Nicole couldn't understand how everyone remained silent. “I’ve suffered through many things in silence over the years,” says Russell-Wharton. “It wasn’t until I started collecting data on generational issues like poverty and trauma that I had this awakening: our healing challenges are rooted in our families’ silence and psychological pathology.”

It's the silence that's harming us.

“Generational silence” is a term applied to families who have experienced suppressed thoughts or repressed emotions for at least two generations. In this book, Nicole speaks from personal experience about how slavery left an intergenerational impact on her family’s emotional and physical health, and it invites readers to explore the legacy of their own family history. This book will help you explore:

• The cycle and impact of issues like substance abuse, religion, racism, education inequality, and parenting
• Research, practical tools, and exercises to begin to explore your family history and open up conversations
• The root of silence in your own life, so you can break the cycle for generations to come

Breaking Generational Silence will help you begin to break the cycle of silence, find the courage to face your family challenges, and become your own best advocate.

One of America’s most celebrated poets challenges us with this powerful and deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society while illuminating the depths of her own heart.

For more than fifty years, Nikki Giovanni’s poetry has dazzled and inspired readers. As sharp and outspoken as ever, she returns with this profound book of poetry in which she continues to call attention to injustice and racism, celebrate Black culture and Black lives, and give readers an unfiltered look into her own experiences.

In Make Me Rain, she celebrates her loved ones and unapologetically declares her pride in her Black heritage, while exploring the enduring impact of the twin sins of racism and white nationalism. Giovanni reaffirms her place as a uniquely vibrant and relevant American voice with poems such as “I Come from Athletes” and “Rainy Days”—calling out segregation and Donald Trump; as well as “Unloved (for Aunt Cleota)” and “When I Could No Longer”—her personal elegy for the relatives who saved her from an abusive home life.

Stirring, provocative, and resonant, the poems in Make Me Rain pierce the heart and nourish the soul. 

The first installment in the Healing Verses series from prolific writer and poet r.h. Sin comes New Moons, a profound collection of restorative poetry woven together to address the intricate journey of healing from trauma.

Through its beautiful narrative and empathetic voice, New Moons: Phases of Healing stands as a testament to the transformative power of words in healing the soul and rebuilding a life touched by trauma. In this collection of reflections and poetry, r.h. Sin takes readers along the journey of heartbreak that led him to a new a joyful place of resilience and self-renewal in hopes that they, too, might find themselves on the other side of hurt and renewed by the promise of new love in all its many forms.
 
Designed to be a beacon of light and hope, the carefully selected writings within these pages explore themes of loss, grief, recovery, and the rediscovery of strength within oneself, making it a compassionate companion for anyone navigating the challenging process of healing. Start your journey today, guided by the light of New Moons.

WASH brutally dissects black womxnhood for all its blood, beauty, sacrifice and strength. Ebony Stewart's praise and pleas for the lives of black womxn create a devotional space for healing.

Stewart's third collection is uncompromising and emotionally raw. Through trauma and recovery, black girlhood comes of age in WASH, journeying through moments of self-discovery, mental illness, love and heartbreak. Stewart reckons traditional definitions of womxnhood, exploring its complications, its communities, and its queerness.

With a distinct, lyrical poetic voice, WASH tells a story of queer, black womxnhood that perseveres. A collection that will bring you to tears and brighten your day, Ebony Stewart's WASH cannot be missed!

Tracing five centuries of exploitation in Latin America, a classic in the field, now in its twenty fifth year

Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx.

Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe.

Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably.
This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende’s inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.

Steve Cannon’s cult classic novel returns to print

Despite decades of notoriety as one of the “filthiest books in the world,” Steve Cannon’s first and only piece of longform fiction, Groove, Bang and Jive Around, has hardly been read since first being published in 1969. In the words of American poet Ishmael Reed, Cannon’s debut work inspired a generation by breaking with staid literary modernism. Its publication “signaled a resurfacing of the irreverent, underground trickster tradition of Black orature.” This erotic farce follows Annette, a teenage runaway, from the outhouse of a New Orleans juke joint to the psychedelic paradise of Oo-bla-dee―an idyllic country possibly founded by Dizzy Gillespie―by way of bacchanalian voodoo ritual. As Ophelia Press, its original publisher, wrote, Groove, Bang and Jive Around is an absolute necessity “for everyone who wants to know where and how the action takes place in Sex and Soul.”
Steve Cannon (1935–2019) moved to New York City in 1962 and joined the Umbra Workshop. He worked with and was a mentor to many artists and writers. In 1990 he founded the magazine and gallery A Gathering of the Tribes in New York City’s East Village.

One summer bound them. One secret divided them. One reunion could change everything.

As teenagers, Summer Knight and Echo Abara spent one unforgettable summer as camp counselors. Beneath sun-soaked days and starry nights, their bond deepened from easy friendship into something more—an unspoken love neither dared confess. Life pulled them in different directions, yet their souls remained tethered by time, distance, and a shared secret.

Neither has forgotten their connection—nor the secret they swore to keep. When a reunion brings them back together, their lives collide once more, stirring long-buried emotions and unanswered questions. Summer and Echo must confront not only their unvoiced feelings but also the burden of their shared secret—one that could shatter everything they believed about their friendship and the summer that shaped them.

Will they find the courage to embrace what's always been between them? Or will the truth they've guarded destroy their second chance?

2019, Texas Library Association's Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List
Amazon Book Review's Best Comics & Graphic Novels of 2018
NPR's Best Books of 2018
Newsweek's Best Comic Books of 2018
The Advocate's Best LGBTQ Graphic Novels of 2018
Book Riot's Best Comics of 2018
Autostraddle's 50 of the Best LGBT Books of 2018

When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage.

This Jackpot Edition contains over SIXTY PAGES of bonus material, including the talents of MARGUERITE BENNETT (Batwoman) and newcomer BEVERLY JOHNSON, SHAWN PRYOR (Cash and Carrie) and PAULINA GANUCHEAU (Zodiac Starforce), award-winning historical romance author ALYSSA COLE's comics writing debut with SHAE BEAGLE (MOONSTRUCK), GAIL SIMONE (CROSSWIND) and MARGAUX SALTEL (Superfreaks), and AMANDA DEIBERT (Wonder Woman '77) and CAT STAGGS (CROSSWIND), with illustrations from MEGAN HUTCHINSON (ROCKSTARS) and ARIELA KRISTANTINA (InSeXts). Plus a sneak peek of BINGO LOVE, VOL. 2: DEAR DIARY, with an afterword from GABBY RIVERA (America).

Tiny Idols biographies feature BIG stars for the littlest of hands! Introduce your little ones to Beyoncé with this read-aloud biography that’s perfect for BeyHive members young and old.

From Girls Tyme and Destiny’s Child to her Grammy Award–winning solo career, Beyoncé holds an irreplaceable spot in her fans’ hearts. Follow her journey in this inspiring biography for the youngest readers, with an empowering message and fun Easter eggs that fans of any age will love!

From the forest to the pharmacy, the bush to the medicine bottle, explore how plants and traditional practices from the Caribbean have traveled around the world to help heal people of all cultures.

For millennia, people have utilized plants as foods, medicines, hallucinogens, clothing, shelter, perfumes, dyes, and even poisons. In the Caribbean, medicinal and practical use of plants began with its first inhabitants, the Amerindians. New plants and knowledge were introduced through both triangular trade with Asia, Africa, and Europe and the enslavement of Africans and Indians from Southeast Asia, culminating in the modern-day system of Caribbean herbalism.

Caribbean Herbalism tells the rich and complex stories of Caribbean people and the plants that have sustained them. Inside you’ll find:

* A practical guide to a meaningful selection of herbs and their traditional uses
* Botanical field notes and drawings that tell the stories of the Indigenous, African, East Indian, and European plants that inhabit the region
* Culturally important traditions, remedies, and recipes
* Interviews with Caribbean people
* And so much more

This book offers practical tools you need to build a relationship with plants and make common Caribbean herbal remedies like bush teas, bush baths, herbal wines, infused alcohols and oils, and more!

Make music with this hands-on introduction to the four instrument families: drums, horns, strings, and voice in this new board book series by a world-renown music educator.

What do a trumpet, a tuba, and a conch shell have in common? They are all horns! This first introduction to instruments in the horn family begins with a simple explanation of what defines a horn. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of brass and wind instruments and are encouraged to find horns of their own in the world around them.
 
Each title in the THIS IS MUSIC series features an interactive novelty musical element that invites the reader to "play" the book!

From the New York Times bestselling team behind Parker Looks Up comes a paperback boxed set of six exciting Level 1 Ready-to-Reads about Parker’s adventures.

Come along for six amazing adventures with Parker Curry as she takes trips, has a sleepover party, plants a garden with her grandmothers, and much more in this boxed set with a carry-along handle. Young readers can take these books along on their adventures!

This paperback boxed set contains:
Parker Dresses Up
Your Friend, Parker
Parker Grows a Garden
Parker’s Big Feelings
Parker’s Slumber Party
Parker’s Big Trip

From the New York Times bestselling author of Almost There, a second chance romance between two dog lovers, perfect for readers of Abby Jimenez and Jasmine Guillory.  

From the outside, veterinarian Evie Williams appears to have the perfect but boring life. She is desperate to figure out a way to shake it up, but gets more than she bargained for when she finds her fiancé in bed with another woman. Suddenly, Evie is without a fiancé or a job, and isn’t sure what her next steps should be. That is, until her college crush, Bryson Mitchell, returns to town.  

Now, a nationally recognized veterinary surgeon, Bryson is stunned when he encounters Evie Williams for the first time in half a decade. When they learn the animal shelter where they used to volunteer is in danger of closing, the two must work together to save it. It has Bryson wondering, can he and Evie also save the friendship they once shared and finally bring it to the next level?

Follow a day in the life of a young Black child and learn the different ways we experience love every day with this striking illustrated children’s book.

Created in 1993, Black Love Day is celebrated annually on February 13. This holiday was created to demonstrate love, forgiveness, and acceptance among Black people. Throughout the course of a day, a young boy observes and experiences many different kinds of Black love—the romantic love between his parents, the familial love of his siblings and family, the admiration for a teacher at school, the respect for community leaders, and more. 
 
Celebrate Black love, culture, and achievements by implementing the five tenets:

1. Love toward the Creator
2. Love toward Self
3. Love toward Family
4. Love within the Black Community
5. Love for the Black race

Black Joy is an inspiring story showcasing how these tenets can be used every day throughout the year to express love, gratitude, and positivity for everything in life.

Booker T. Washington’s famous 1901 memoir, Up From Slavery, charts Washington’s rise from an enslaved child with a passion for learning to the nation’s most prominent Black educator and first president of Tuskegee University. A tireless advocate for Black economic independence, Washington attempted to balance his public acceptance of segregation with behind-the-scenes lobbying against voter disenfranchisement and financing anti–Jim Crow court cases. His memoir is both a crucial American document and an exercise in understanding the “double consciousness” coined by W.E.B. DuBois, himself one of Washington’s most vocal critics.

This debut novel by the two time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys wowed critics and readers everywhere and marked the debut of an important American writer.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

It is a time of calamity in a major metropolitan city's Department of Elevator Inspectors, and Lila Mae Watson, the first black female elevator inspector in the history of the department, is at the center of it.  There are two warring factions within the department:  the Empiricists, who work by the book and dutifully check for striations on the winch cable and such; and the Intuitionists, who are simply able to enter the elevator cab in question, meditate, and intuit any defects.  

Lila Mae is an Intuitionist and, it just so happens, has the highest accuracy rate in the entire department.  But when an elevator in a new city building goes into total freefall on Lila Mae's watch, chaos ensues.  It's an election year in the Elevator Guild, and the good-old-boy Empiricists would love nothing more than to assign the blame to an Intuitionist.  But Lila Mae is never wrong.

The sudden appearance of excerpts from the lost notebooks of Intuitionism's founder, James Fulton, has also caused quite a stir.  The notebooks describe Fulton's work on the "black box," a perfect elevator that could reinvent the city as radically as the first passenger elevator did when patented by Elisha Otis in the nineteenth century.  When Lila Mae goes underground to investigate the crash, she becomes involved in the search for the portions of the notebooks that are still missing and uncovers a secret that will change her life forever.

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto!

An illustrated, practical guide to navigating your financial life, no matter your financial situation

"a potent mix of deeply practical and wonderfully empathetic" —Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial

"one of the most approachable financial books I've ever read." —Refinery 29

We are all weird about money. Whether you have a lot or a little, your feelings and beliefs about money have been shaped by a combination of silence (or even shame) around talking about money, personal experiences, family and societal expectations, and a whole big complex system rigged against many of us from the start. Begin with that baseline premise and it’s no surprise so many of us find it so difficult to save enough money (but way too easy to get trapped in ballooning credit card debt), emotionally draining to deal with student loans, and nearly impossible to understand the esoteric world of investing.
 
Unlike most personal finance books that focus on skills and behaviors, FINANCE FOR THE PEOPLE asks you to examine your beliefs and experiences around money—blending extremely practical exercises with mindfulness, and including more than 50 illustrations and diagrams to make the concepts accessible (and even fun). With deep insider expertise from years spent in many different corners of the financial industry, Paco de Leon is a friendly, approachable, and wise guide who invites readers to change their relationship with money. With her holistic approach you’ll learn how to:
  •  root out your unconscious beliefs about money
  •  untangle the mental and emotional burden of student loans to pay them off
  •  use a gratitude practice to help you think differently about spending
  •  break out of the debt cycle and begin building wealth
 
This book is for anyone who feels unseen, ignored, or bored to death by the way personal finances are approached and taught, and is ready to go on a journey of self-discovery and step into their financial power.

Historian and civil rights activist proves how progressive movements can flourish even in conservative times.

Despair and mourning after the election of an antagonistic or polarizing president, such as Donald Trump, is part of the push-pull of American politics. But in this incisive book, historian Mary Frances Berry shows that resistance to presidential administrations has led to positive change and the defeat of outrageous proposals, even in challenging times. Noting that all presidents, including ones considered progressive, sometimes require massive organization to affect policy decisions, Berry cites Indigenous peoples’ protests against the Dakota pipeline during Barack Obama’s administration as a modern example of successful resistance built on earlier actions.

Beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Berry discusses that president’s refusal to prevent race discrimination in the defense industry during World War II and the subsequent March on Washington movement. She analyzes Lyndon Johnson, the war in Vietnam, and the antiwar movement and then examines Ronald Reagan’s two terms, which offer stories of opposition to reactionary policies, such as ignoring the AIDS crisis and retreating on racial progress, to show how resistance can succeed.

The prochoice protests during the George H. W. Bush administration and the opposition to Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, as well as his budget cuts and welfare reform, are also discussed, as are protests against the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act during George W. Bush’s presidency. Throughout these varied examples, Berry underscores that even when resistance doesn’t achieve all the goals of a particular movement, it often plants a seed that comes to fruition later.

Berry also shares experiences from her six decades as an activist in various movements, including protesting the Vietnam War and advocating for the Free South Africa and civil rights movements, which provides an additional layer of insight from someone who was there. And as a result of having served in five presidential administrations, Berry brings an insider’s knowledge of government.

History Teaches Us to Resist is an essential book for our times which attests to the power of resistance. It proves to us through myriad historical examples that protest is an essential ingredient of politics, and that progressive movements can and will flourish, even in perilous times.

Fan favorite villain Katrina is back in the romantic thriller What's Done in Darkness from USA Today bestselling author Kayla Perrin.

Jealousy is a strong motive. People kill for love every day...

Jade Blackwin feels like she's losing her mind. After burying both her parents-and being left by her boyfriend for her scheming best friend-she totally loses it. At college graduation, she confronts her man, slaps her BFF, then crashes her car. Now everyone thinks she's crazy. Even her sister, who convinces Jade to take a job in beautiful, restful Key West.

At first, Key West is everything Jade could hope for. The lime margaritas are heaven on earth. Her boss at the coffee shop, Katrina, is friendly as can be. And a gorgeous stranger named Brian is just the thing to help Jade forget her ex. But why is a crime writer asking so many questions? Why does Katrina explode into fits of rage? And why is a killer lurking in the shadows, ready to kill again? No one knows what's done in darkness. But Jade knows she's not crazy. She's next...

"Perrin weaves a compelling story...a great cliffhanger tale of suspense." -New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham on We'll Never Tell

"One wild ride! Perrin is an author who belongs on your must read list."-Romance Reader at Heart

In less than a decade, Jean-Michel Basquiat went from being a teenage graffiti artist to an international art star. His meteoric rise to fame coincided with the outrageous excess of the heady ’80s art boom. A fixture of the downtown scene, with its explosive mix of music, fashion, art, and drugs, he soon became involved with some of its most celebrated personalities, including Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Madonna. 

Basquiat fulfilled that cynical aphorism: Die young and leave a beautiful corpse. But Basquiat did more than that: he left a beautiful corpus. With each passing year, the remarkable energy, perspicacity and originality of his work increases in power. 

In a world where Black Lives Matter and the imperative need for diversity are among the driving forces of our time, Basquiat’s success in the 1980s white art world, and his ongoing universal celebrity, have made him a significant role model for generation of artists to come. 

From the rise and fall of the graffiti movement, to the East Village art scene, to the art dealers and out-of-control auction houses, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art, the definitive biography of the young painter, is a vivid portrait of both the artist and his time. 

Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art includes 12-14 photographs.

Raised in the steamy bayous of New Orleans in the early 1900s, LeRoi "King" Tremain, caught up in his family's ongoing feud with the rival DuMont family, learns to fight. But when the teenage King mistakenly kills two white deputies during a botched raid on the DuMonts, the Tremains' fear of reprisal forces King to flee Louisiana.

King thus embarks on an adventure that first takes him to France, where he fights in World War I as a member of the segregated 369th Battalion—in the bigoted army he finds himself locked in combat with American soldiers as well as with Germans. When he returns to America, he battles the Mob in Jazz Age Harlem, the KKK in Louisiana, and crooked politicians trying to destroy a black township in Oklahoma.

King Tremain is driven by two principal forces: He wants to be treated with respect, and he wants to create a family dynasty much like the one he left behind in Louisiana. This is a stunning debut by novelist Guy Johnson that provides a true depiction of the lives of African-Americans in the early decades of the twentieth century.

A definitive edition of the landmark book that forever changed our understanding of the Civil War’s aftermath and the legacy of racism in America

Upon publication in 1935, W.E.B. Du Bois’s now classic Black Reconstruction offered a revelatory new assessment of Reconstruction—and of American democracy itself. One of the towering African American thinkers and activists of the twentieth century, Du Bois brought all his intellectual powers to bear on the nation’s post-Civil War era of political reorganization, a time when African American progress was met with a white supremacist backlash and ultimately yielded to the consolidation of the unjust social order of Jim Crow.

Black Reconstruction is a pioneering work of revisionist scholarship that, in the wake of the censorship of Du Bois’s characterization of Reconstruction by the Encyclopedia Britannica, was written to debunk influential historians whose racist ideas and emphases had disfigured the historical record. “The chief witness in Reconstruction, the emancipated slave himself,” Du Bois argued, “has been almost barred from court. His written Reconstruction record has been largely destroyed and nearly always neglected.” In setting the record straight Du Bois produced what co-editor Eric Foner has called an “indispensable book,” a magisterial work of detached scholarship that is also imbued with passionate outrage.

Presented in a handsome and authoritative hardcover edition prepared by Foner and co-editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Black Reconstruction is joined here for the first time with important writings that trace Du Bois’s thinking throughout his career about Reconstruction and its centrality in understanding the tortured course of democracy in America.

Featuring a star-shaped die-cut and shiny mirror that peeks through the cover, this sweet story encourages little ones to dream big, shine bright, and always reach for the stars!

Dream big, my little one,

wherever you go,

Never be afraid

to learn and grow

An eye-catching new mirror novelty board book from author-illustrator, Lala Watkins, You Are My Shiny Star is a charming story that celebrates the importance of dreaming big, being brave, and embracing your creativity. A sweet book full of little life lessons, this inspiring read-aloud shows kids that dreaming big has the power of unlocking a magic spark inside of their own hearts.

With simple heartfelt text and adorable illustrations on every page, this inspiring board book is a must-have for every first library!

Little Hamster is very upset! None of his friends will let him join in any of their games. That’s because when Little Hamster gets mad, he hits HARD—and that hurts. Will he learn how to play nicely? This gentle, endearing story helps toddlers understand why it’s so much better—and more fun!—to treat others with kindness and respect.

Never before available, the unexpurgated last interview with James Baldwin

“I was not born to be what someone said I was. I was not born to be defined by someone else, but by myself, and myself only.” When, in the fall of 1987, the poet Quincy Troupe traveled to the south of France to interview James Baldwin, Baldwin’s brother David told him to ask Baldwin about everything—Baldwin was critically ill and David knew that this might be the writer’s last chance to speak at length about his life and work.

The result is one of the most eloquent and revelatory interviews of Baldwin’s career, a conversation that ranges widely over such topics as his childhood in Harlem, his close friendship with Miles Davis, his relationship with writers like Toni Morrison and Richard Wright, his years in France, and his ever-incisive thoughts on the history of race relations and the African-American experience.

Also collected here are significant interviews from other moments in Baldwin’s life, including an in-depth interview conducted by Studs Terkel shortly after the publication of Nobody Knows My Name. These interviews showcase, above all, Baldwin’s fearlessness and integrity as a writer, thinker, and individual, as well as the profound struggles he faced along the way.

Celebrating the Centenary of James Baldwin's birth, a box set of Baldwin's principal novels, featuring Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, and If Beale Street Could Talk.

These deluxe editions feature new introductions by Roxane Gay, Kevin Young, and Brit Bennett.

Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was James Baldwin's first major work, based in part on his own childhood. With lyrical precision and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a Pentecostal storefront church in Harlem.

Giovanni's Room is set in the Paris of the 1950s, where a young American expatriate finds himself caught between his repressed desires and conventional morality. One of the first novels to openly explore the theme of homosexuality, it paved the way for generations of gay and lesbian novelists.

And If Beale Street Could Talk is a stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime --a profoundly moving novel about love in the face of injustice that is as socially resonant today as it was when it was first published.

This stunningly designed slipcase with art by Baldwin's friend and contemporary Beauford Delaney will make the perfect perennial gift and keepsake.

An expansive volume featuring over two decades of incisive reflections on race, art and pop culture by one of the greatest artists working today

This long-awaited and essential volume collects writings and interviews by Glenn Ligon, whose canonical paintings, neons and installations have been delivering a cutting examination of race, history, sexuality and culture in America since his emergence in the late 1980s. No stranger to text, the artist has routinely utilized writings from James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Pryor, Gertrude Stein and others to construct work that centers Blackness within the historically white backdrop of the art world and culture writ large. Ligon began writing in the early 2000s, engaging deeply with the work of peers such as Julie Mehretu, Chris Ofili and Lorna Simpson, as well as with artists who came before him, among them Philip Guston, David Hammons and Andy Warhol. Interweaving a singular voice and a magical knack for storytelling with an astute view of art history and broader cultural shifts, this collection cements Ligon's status as one of the great chroniclers of our time.
Glenn Ligon was born in the Bronx in 1960. He began as an abstract painter but shifted to text-based works which often incorporate quotes from Black authors. His work can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The bestselling Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents trade paperback books, complete with French flaps and deckled edges, together in a premium boxed set—a perfect gift for readers.

Parable of the Sower:
Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding social chaos and anarchy caused by climate change and economic crisis. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy—a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions.

Precocious and clear-eyed, she must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith ... and a startling vision of human destiny.

Includes a foreword by LeVar Burton and an afterword by N. K. Jemisin.

Parable of the Talents:
In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction and ruin of everything she knew. Her peaceful community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president. Under his rule, Lauren's colony—a minority religious faction led by a young Black woman—becomes a target for the president’s reign of terror and oppression.

Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew. As she searches for answers, she struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.

Includes a foreword by Akwaeke Emezi.

A dedicated single mother and a librarian with a secret write their own sweet and sexy love story in this small-town rom-com about family, friendships and embracing the next chapter.

“[Such] HAWT sex scenes.… Every touch, kiss, caress, feels incredibly real and deliciously sexy.”—Autostraddle on The 7-10 Split

Nothing cures a lonely heart quite like a good book

and an unexpected crush…

For Dani, life is a juggling act. As a single mom devoted to her son and family, she barely has a moment to herself. But when her sister announces she’s moving out of the house, the ache of loneliness creeps in, and Dani can’t help but wonder if there’s something else she’s been missing in her life…

Zoey came to Peach Blossom eager to start her new job as the town’s librarian and do a little research for her next book. Yet she never expected to find inspiration in fellow book club member Dani, whose captivating brown eyes tell a story of their own. Before they know it, lingering glances over their favorite fiction turn into first dates and sizzling nights.

As their connection deepens, the two women must decide if they should turn the page on what their lives used to look like or if this thrilling plot twist is the happily-ever-after they’ve been chasing all along.

From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles…

Peach Blossom

Book 1: The 7-10 Split
Book 2: The Relationship Mechanic
Book 3: The Secret Crush Book Club

A Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by PEN America, Lit Hub, BookPage, and Ms. Magazine

The wife of a popular and powerful megachurch pastor upends her charmed “rags-to-Rolex” life when her secret past comes roaring into the spotlight—in this "funny and juicy and sexy and delicious peek behind the pulpit" (Samantha Irby) from the acclaimed and beloved author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

From the moment Scharisse Freeman ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor fifteen years her senior, she’s been labeled too brash and too “of the world” by church folks who grudgingly accepted her into their fold, and too holy by her estranged childhood bestie Petra. Schar doesn’t have many allies, but that hasn’t stopped her from building an enviable business empire spanning books to clothing to branded products, and living the comfortable life her husband's power affords her.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the final bit of validation she’s always dreamt of: a coveted invitation to participate in the First Lady USA pageant. This is her chance to be accepted by the other pastors’ wives—First Ladies—who are “like Jesus’ disciples if they had been a group of mean girls.” Finally, blissfully, the ice between Schar and the other First Ladies begins to thaw.

But as the pageant nears, a sensational scandal breaks with Schar at its center, and her carefully curated life implodes. Schar faces down shame and terrible secrets from her childhood and is reminded that in the eyes of the church, optics can matter more than the truth.

Unflinchingly funny, frank, and packed with surprising turns, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman exults in the luscious, messy pleasure of finally feeling free.

"Deesha Philyaw has already established herself as one of the greatest short story writers, but in The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman she cements herself as the most soulfully entertaining writer of her era." - Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy and Long Division

Find the joy―no matter how big or small―in every moment!

In the midst of stress and turmoil, it can be easy to miss the daily opportunities we have for delight. Cheerful poet David Larbi reminds us that in every season of life and the year, there is the possibility for joy―if only we would claim it.

Through bright poems, moving meditations, and inspiring journal prompts, this book offers you a chance to reflect on the happy happenstances all around you and build a deeper habit of noticing and appreciating life's simple and profound pleasures. Whether it's raising an indoor chili plant, getting a new hairstyle, setting boundaries, or embracing challenge, every day holds the potential for more meaning, connection, and lasting fulfillment.

A dance with vengeance. A dangerous new world. And a trial of acceptance.

Joceline Fuentes wanted one night of fun. But when a little indulgence at the Avery Hotel turns deadly, she wakes up to find herself in a pool of her own blood, forced to come to terms with her new existence as a vampire Protégé.

Saved by Rhys, her vampire Lord, she joins him in the underworld of Dallas, full of Brutes, Mystics, Paramours, and more. Maneuvering her transition proves to be more difficult than she imagined as she balances the intricacies of vampire society with her new abilities. Throughout her journey, she finds unlikely allies, a budding tension between them, and a thirst for more than just blood. Haunted by her trauma, Joceline is guided by revenge to find the one who stole her mortality.

To find the retribution she seeks, Joceline must rediscover her humanity while battling the anguish of her death. But will she lose the last of it in her pursuit of vengeance?

Blood Of My Blood is a paranormal psychological thriller and sensual drama about a woman’s quest to find herself after a debilitating trauma that causes her to lose all she had left, including her life, while seeking her humanity in the most unlikely place—revenge.