All Books
- Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation
Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation
by Marcus Anthony Hunter
$29.99*Ships in 7-10 business days*
A timely groundbreaking book in the vein of Derrick Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well, one of the country's foremost voices on reparations, offers a radical and vital new framework going beyond the current debate over this controversial issue.
For over a century, the idea of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans has divided the United States. However, while the iconic phrase "40 acres and a mule" encapsulates the general notion of reparations, history has proven that the damages of enslavement on the African American community far exceed what a plot of land or a check could repair.
While reparations are being widely debated once again, current petitions to redress the lasting and collateral consequences of slavery have not moved past economic solutions, even though we know that monetary redress alone is not enough. Not only would many wounds be left unhealed, but relying solely on economics would continue a legacy of neglect for African Americans. In this thoughtful and sure-to-be controversial book, Marcus Anthony Hunter argues that a radical shift in our outlook is necessary; we need more comprehensive solutions such as those currently sought by today's educators, historians, activists, organizers, Afrofuturists, and socially conscious citizens.
In Radical Reparations, this conversation shifter, social justice pioneer, change agent, and inventor of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, which redefined the global conversation on racism and social justice, offers a unifying and unconventional framework for achieving holistic and comprehensive healing of African American communities. Hunter reimagines reparations through a profound new lens as he defines seven types of compensation: political, intellectual, legal, economic, spatial, social, and spiritual, using analysis of historical documents, comparative international cases, and speculative parables.
Profound and revolutionary, trenchant and timely, Radical Reparations provides a compellingly and provocatively reframing of reparations' past, present, and future, offering a unifying way forward for us all.
- Lore of the Wilds: A Novel
Lore of the Wilds: A Novel
by Analeigh Sbrana
$18.99A stunning Romantasy debut about an enchanted library, two handsome Fae, and one human who brings them all together.
A library with a deadly enchantment.
A Fae lord who wants in.
A human woman willing to risk it all for a taste of power.
In a land ruled by ruthless Fae, twenty-one-year-old Lore Alemeyu’s village is trapped in a forested prison. Lore knows that any escape attempt is futile—her scars are a testament to her past failures. But when her village is threatened, Lore makes a desperate deal with a Fae lord. She will leave her home to catalog/organize an enchanted library that hasn’t been touched in a thousand years. No Fae may enter the library, but there is a chance a human might be able to breach the cursed doors.
She convinces him that she will risk her life for wealth, but really she’s after the one thing the Fae covet above all: magic of her own.
As Lore navigates the hostile world outside, she’s forced to rely on two Fae males to survive. Two very different, very dangerous, very attractive Fae males. When undeniable chemistry ignites, she’s not just in danger of losing her life, but her heart to the very creatures she can never trust.
- The Blueprint: A Novel
The Blueprint: A Novel
by Rae Giana Rashad
from $18.99In the vein of Octavia E. Butler and Margaret Atwood, a harrowing novel set in an alternate United States—a world of injustice and bondage in which a young Black woman becomes the concubine of a powerful white government official and must face the dangerous consequences.
Solenne Bonet lives in Texas where choice no longer exists. An algorithm determines a Black woman’s occupation, spouse, and residence. Solenne finds solace in penning the biography of Henriette, an ancestor who’d been an enslaved concubine to a wealthy planter in 1800s Louisiana. But history repeats itself when Solenne, lonely and naïve, finds herself entangled with Bastien Martin, a high-ranking government official. Solenne finds the psychological bond unbearable, so she considers alternatives. With Henriette as her guide, she must decide whether and how to leave behind all she knows.
Inspired by the lives of enslaved concubines to U.S. politicians and planters, The Blueprint unfolds over dual timelines to explore bodily autonomy, hypocrisy, and power imbalances through the lens of the nation’s most unprotected: a Black girl.
- Ty's Travels: Showtime! (My First I Can Read)
Ty's Travels: Showtime! (My First I Can Read)
by Kelly Starling Lyons
$5.99Ty rocks out with friends in this new book in the Geisel Honor-winning series!
Join Ty on his imaginative adventures in Ty's Travels: Showtime, a My First I Can Read story by acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Niña Mata. Music, imagination, and play are highlighted, making this perfect for sharing with children ages 3 to 6.
Rap-a-tap-tap!
Thrum, thrum, thrum!
Plink-a-plink-plink!
Ty loves playing the instruments, but something’s missing—his friends! With the help of his vivid imagination, Ty and his friends are onstage in a band making great music together.
With simple, rhythmic text and joyful, bright art, this My First series is perfect for shared reading with a child. Books at this level feature basic language, word repetition, and whimsical illustrations, ideal for sharing with emergent readers. The active, engaging stories have appealing plots and lovable characters, encouraging children to continue their reading journey.
Author Kelly Starling Lyons was selected as the 2021 Piedmont Laureate!
- Jimmy's Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin
Jimmy's Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin
by Michelle Meadows
Sold out*ships or ready for pick up in 7 - 10 business days*
Celebrate James Baldwin’s one-hundredth birthday anniversary with the first-ever illustrated biography of this legendary writer, orator, activist, and intellectual.
Before he became a writer, James “Jimmy” Baldwin was a young boy from Harlem, New York, who loved stories. He found joy in the rhythm of music, family, and books.
But Jimmy also found the blues, as a Black man living in America.
When he discovered the written word, he discovered true power. Writing gave him a voice. And that voice opened the world to Jimmy. From the publication of the groundbreaking collection of essays The Fire Next Time to his passionate demonstrations during the civil rights movement, Jimmy used his voice fearlessly.
Michelle Meadows, author of Brave Ballerina and Flying High, introduces young readers to the great American novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, orator, and artist James Baldwin, who, with the fire of his pen, dared a nation to dream of a more equitable world filled with love. Brought to life with warm illustrations by Jamiel Law, Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues chronicles the life of an incredible visionary who left an indelible mark on American literature and history.
- Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness
Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness
by Zanele Muholi
$85.00“These feel like images you might have dreamed, both of the kind that slip away and the ones you manage to keep tenuously in your grasp, slippery, otherworldly. . . . Before our eyes, Zanele Muholi transforms into a mother, a domestic worker, an Afrofuturist, an oracle. It’s fiction and it is not.”―Yrsa Daley-Ward, The New York Times Book Review
Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness is the long-awaited monograph from one of the most powerful visual activists of our time. The book features over ninety of Muholi’s evocative self-portraits, each image drafted from material props in Muholi’s immediate environment. A powerfully arresting collection of work, Muholi’s radical statements of identity, race, and resistance are a direct response to contemporary and historical racisms. As Muholi states, “I am producing this photographic document to encourage individuals in my community to be brave enough to occupy spaces―brave enough to create without fear of being vilified. . . . To teach people about our history, to rethink what history is all about, to reclaim it for ourselves―to encourage people to use artistic tools such as cameras as weapons to fight back.”
With more than twenty written contributions from curators, poets, and authors, alongside luxurious tritone reproductions of Muholi’s images, Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness is as much a manifesto of resistance as it is an autobiographical, artistic statement.
- And Then We Rise: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Self
And Then We Rise: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Self
by Common
$30.00*Ships in 7-10 business days*
From the multi-award-winning performer, author, and activist, a comprehensive program for addressing mental and physical health—and encouraging communities to do the same.
Common has achieved success in many facets of his life and career, from music to acting to writing. But for a long time, he didn’t feel that he had found fulfillment in his body and spirit.
And Then We Rise is about Common’s journey to wellness as a vital element of his success. A testimony to the benefits of self-care, this book is composed of four different sections, each with its own important lessons: "The Food" focuses on nutrition. "The Body" focuses on fitness. "The Mind" focuses on mental health. And "The Soul" focuses on perhaps the most profound thing of all—spiritual well-being.
Common’s personal stories act as the backbone of his book, but he also wants to give his readers the gift of professional expertise. Here, he acts as the liaison to his own nutritionist and chef, his own physical trainer, and his own therapist, as well as to those who act as his spiritual influences.
Wise, accessible, and powerful, And Then We Rise offers a comprehensive, holistic approach to wellness that will allow readers to transform their thinking, their actions, and, ultimately, their lives.
- The Kingdom of Gods: Book 3 (The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Kingdom of Gods: Book 3 (The Inheritance Trilogy)
by N. K. Jemisin
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 business days*
The incredible conclusion to the Inheritance Trilogy, from one of fantasy's most acclaimed stars.
For two thousand years the Arameri family has ruled the world by enslaving the very gods that created mortalkind. Now the gods are free, and the Arameri's ruthless grip is slipping. Yet they are all that stands between peace and world-spanning, unending war.Shahar, last scion of the family, must choose her loyalties. She yearns to trust Sieh, the godling she loves. Yet her duty as Arameri heir is to uphold the family's interests, even if that means using and destroying everyone she cares for.
As long-suppressed rage and terrible new magics consume the world, the Maelstrom -- which even gods fear -- is summoned forth. Shahar and Sieh: mortal and god, lovers and enemies. Can they stand together against the chaos that threatens?
Includes a never before seen story set in the world of the Inheritance Trilogy. - The Broken Kingdoms: Book 2 (The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Broken Kingdoms: Book 2 (The Inheritance Trilogy)
by N. K. Jemisin
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 business days*
A man with no memory of his past and a struggling, blind street artist will face off against the will of the gods as the secrets of this stranger's past are revealed in the sequel to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the debut novel of NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.
In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a strange homeless man on an impulse. This act of kindness engulfs Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. And Oree's guest is at the heart of it. . .
- The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
The Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump
by Clay Cane
from $17.99Part history and part cultural analysis, The Grift chronicles the nuanced history of Black Republicans. Clay Cane lays out how Black Republicanism has been mangled by opportunists who are apologists for racism.
After the Civil War, the pillars of Black Republicanism were a balanced critique of both political parties, civil rights for all Americans, reinventing an economy based on exploitation, and, most importantly, building thriving Black communities. How did Black Republicanism devolve from revolutionaries like Frederick Douglass to the puppets in the Trump era?
Whether it's radical conservatives like South Carolina Senator Tim Scott or Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, they are consistently viral news and continuously upholding egregious laws at the expense of their Black brethren. Black faces in high places providing cover for explicit bigotry is one of the greatest threats to the liberation of Black and brown people. By studying these figures and their tactics, Cane exposes the grift and lays out a plan to emancipate our future.
- Ain't I an Anthropologist: Zora Neale Hurston Beyond the Literary Icon
Ain't I an Anthropologist: Zora Neale Hurston Beyond the Literary Icon
by Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall
$27.95Iconic as a novelist and popular cultural figure, Zora Neale Hurston remains underappreciated as an anthropologist. Is it inevitable that Hurston’s literary authority should eclipse her anthropological authority? If not, what socio-cultural and institutional values and processes shape the different ways we read her work? Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall considers the polar receptions to Hurston’s two areas of achievement by examining the critical response to her work across both fields. Drawing on a wide range of readings, Freeman Marshall explores Hurston’s popular appeal as iconography, her elevation into the literary canon, her concurrent marginalization in anthropology despite her significant contributions, and her place within constructions of Black feminist literary traditions. Perceptive and original, Ain’t I an Anthropologist is an overdue reassessment of Zora Neale Hurston’s place in American cultural and intellectual life.
- The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel
The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel
by ReShonda Tate
$19.99Bestselling author ReShonda Tate presents a fascinating fictional portrait of Hattie McDaniel, one of Hollywood’s most prolific but woefully underappreciated stars—and the first Black person ever to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy in the critically acclaimed film classic Gone With the Wind.
It was supposed to be the highlight of her career, the pinnacle for which she’d worked all her life. And as Hattie McDaniel took the stage in 1940 to claim an honor that would make her the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award, she tearfully took her place in history. Between personal triumphs and tragedies, heartbreaking losses, and severe setbacks, this historic night of winning best supporting actress for her role as the sassy Mammy in the controversial movie Gone With the Wind was going to be life-changing. Or so she thought.
Months after winning the award, not only did the Oscar curse set in where Hattie couldn’t find work, but she found herself thrust in the middle of two worlds—Black and White—and not being welcomed in either. Whites only saw her as Mammy and Blacks detested the demeaning portrayal. As the NAACP waged an all-out war against Hattie and actors like her, the emotionally conflicted actor found herself struggling daily.
Through it all, Hattie continued her fight to pave a path for other Negro actors, while focusing on war efforts, fighting housing discrimination, and navigating four failed marriages. Luckily, she had a core group of friends to help her out—from Clark Gable to Louise Beavers to Ruby Berkley Goodwin and Dorothy Dandridge.
The Queen of Sugar Hill brings to life the powerful story of one woman who was driven by many passions—ambition, love, sex, family, friendship, and equality. In re-creating Hattie’s story, ReShonda Tate delivers an unforgettable novel of resilience, dedication, and determination—about what it takes to achieve your dreams—even when everything—and everyone—is against you.
- Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
by Kai Cheng Thom
$18.00A national bestseller in Canada, hailed by The New York Times as an “intimate expression of self-acceptance and forgiveness, tenderly written to fellow trans women and others.”
“Required reading.”—Glennon Doyle, #1 bestselling author of Untamed
A THEM AND AUTOSTRADDLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
What happens when we imagine loving the people—and the parts of ourselves—that we do not believe are worthy of love?
Kai Cheng Thom grew up a Chinese Canadian transgender girl in a hostile world. As an activist, psychotherapist, conflict mediator, and spiritual healer, she’s always pursued the same deeply personal mission: to embrace the revolutionary belief that every human being, no matter how hateful or horrible, is intrinsically sacred.
But then Kai Cheng found herself in a crisis of faith, overwhelmed by the viciousness with which people treated one another, and barely clinging to the values and ideals she’d built her life around: justice, hope, love, and healing. Rather than succumb to despair and cynicism, she gathered all her rage and grief and took one last leap of faith: she wrote. Whether prayers or spells or poems—and whether there’s a difference—she wrote to affirm the outcasts and runaways she calls her kin. She wrote to flawed but nonetheless lovable men, to people with good intentions who harm their own, to racists and transphobes seemingly beyond saving. What emerged was a blueprint for falling back in love with being human.
- The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years: A Novel
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years: A Novel
by Shubnum Khan
$28.00*Ships in 7-10 business days*
“A dark and heady dream of a book” (Alix E. Harrow) about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the door at its end, locked for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a besotted, grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.
- A Little Kissing Between Friends
A Little Kissing Between Friends
by Chencia C. Higgins
$18.99The NYT-lauded author of D’VAUGHN AND KRIS PLAN A WEDDING is back with another witty and heartfelt novel celebrating unapologetic Black joy in all its forms. This body-positive, friends-to-lovers, lesbian romance tackles weighty topics while never losing that Chencia C. Higgins spark.
Music producer and DJ Cyn Tha Starr likes her women femme, fun, and smart enough to know when it's over. Her ever-rotating roster has never been a problem until her latest girl clashes with Jucee, Cyn’s best friend and the most popular dancer at strip club Sanity.
It makes Cyn see Jucee in a different light. One with far fewer boundaries and a lot more kissing.
Juleesa Jones makes great money dancing the early shift at Sanity and spends most evenings with her son, her Sanity family or at Cyn's house. Relationships are not high on the priority list--until she's forced to admit that maybe friendship isn't the only thing she wants from her bestie.
But Cyn Tha Starr has a type, and despite how things look on the surface, Jucee doesn’t quite fit the bill. While the facts don't matter that much when it comes to feelings, one thing the two can agree on is that their history trumps everything. How difficult could it be to preserve a friendship when emotions—and hormones—are raging out of control?
- Forever and Always
Forever and Always
by Brittany J. Thurman
$19.99*Ships in 7-10 business days*
In this lyrical picture book from two breakout picture book creators, a young Black child waits for—and worries about—her father while he’s away from home. A sensitive, poignant portrayal of a family’s worries, joys, and comforts, to sit alongside books by Jacqueline Woodson and Christian Robinson. Every night when Daddy gets home from work, Olivia gives him a big hug and knows that the evening will be full of love—and fun. Together, she, Daddy, and Momma will make a feast for dinner, clean up, dance to old-school tunes, and read stories. But every morning when Daddy goes to work, Olivia worries, worries, worries. Be safe, she and Momma tell him. But what if he isn’t? Sometimes other people aren’t, like the people Olivia sees on the news. Thud, thud, thud, goes Olivia’s heart. Thump, thump, thump, all through the long day, until she hears the jangle of Daddy’s keys announcing he’s home. Brittany J. Thurman’s poetic text deftly explores the day-to-day life of a young Black child and her family—their joys and their fears—with a rhythm and musicality perfect for reading aloud. Shamar Knight-Justice’s expressive artwork sings with color, texture, and warmth. Forever and Always respects the deep emotions of young readers while offering comfort and reassurance to any child waiting for a loved one to come home. For readers of Nigel and the Moon, The Year We Learned to Fly, and Saturday.
- The Coin: A Novel
The Coin: A Novel
by Yasmin Zaher
$16.95A bold and unabashed novel about a young Palestinian woman's unraveling as she teaches at a New York City middle school, gets caught up in a scheme reselling Birkin bags, and strives to gain control over her body and mind The Coin’s narrator is a wealthy Palestinian woman with impeccable style and meticulous hygiene. And yet the ideal self, the ideal life, remains just out of reach: her inheritance is inaccessible, her homeland exists only in her memory, and her attempt to thrive in America seems doomed from the start. In New York, she strives to put down roots. She teaches at a school for underprivileged boys, where her eccentric methods cross boundaries. She befriends a homeless swindler, and the two participate in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags. But America is stifling her—her willfulness, her sexuality, her principles. In an attempt to regain control, she becomes preoccupied with purity, cleanliness, and self-image, all while drawing her students into her obsessions. In an unforgettable denouement, her childhood memories converge with her material and existential statelessness, and the narrator unravels spectacularly. In enthralling, sensory prose, The Coin explores nature and civilization, beauty and justice, class and belonging—all while resisting easy moralizing. Provocative, wry, and inviting, The Coin marks the arrival of a major new literary voice.
- Spider-Man: Stories from the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Stories from the Spider-Verse
by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Sold outThe Spider-Man you know is one of many. Meet ten Spider-Heroes in this new short story collection from acclaimed, best-selling authors writing across the Spider-Verse. There is a Spider-Verse filled with Spider-Heroes, each on their own world: Spider-Punk, as adept at the guitar as he is at fighting crime. Spider-UK, who’s juggling Eid celebrations and a super-villain threat to her London neighborhood. And Web-Weaver, whose latest fashion event is threatened by a citywide storm of hallucinations. Some, like Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, have already crossed from one universe to the next. Others are still discovering they’re not alone. And now ten acclaimed best-selling authors, including New York Times bestselling authors Tui Sutherland, Frederick Joseph, and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and many more, tell the stories of these amazing Spider-Heroes—just as a mystery villain rises to threaten the entire Spider-Verse. The full list of authors: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé David Betancourt Preeti Chhibber Steve Foxe Frederick Joseph Jessica Kim Alex Segura Ronald L. Smith Tui T. Sutherland Caroline M. Yoachim
- Systemic: How Racism is Making Us Sick
Systemic: How Racism is Making Us Sick
by Layal Liverpool
$30.00A science-based, data-driven, and global exploration of racial disparities in health care access by virologist, immunologist, and science journalist Layal Liverpool; In the spirit of ambitious bestselling books like Medical Apartheid and Killing the Black Body. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that viruses disproportionately affect people of color. Here, Layal Liverpool goes a step further to show that this disparity exists for all types of illness and that it is caused by racism. Liverpool will show how racism is woven, invisibly, not just into the structure of medicine and science but into our very bodies. Refuting the false belief that there are biological differences between races, Liverpool goes on to show that racial stereotyping and trauma can however lead to biological changes that make people of color more vulnerable to illness. Systemic tackles: * The problem of racial bias and data gaps in medicine where the default human subject is white * The dangerous health consequences of systemic racism, from the physical and psychological effects of daily micro- and macro-aggressions to intergenerational trauma * The fatal stereotypes that keep people of color undiagnosed, untreated, and unsafe * How we can fix these problems by confronting bias and closing the data gap Using data-driven science, Layal Liverpool shows that racism itself can have biological consequences on the body.
- Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire
Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire
$19.00The much-anticipated follow up to the groundbreaking anthology Disability Visibility: another revolutionary collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience, and intimacy in all its myriad forms. What is intimacy? More than sex, more than romantic love, the pieces in this stunning and illuminating new anthology offer broader and more inclusive definitions of what it can mean to be intimate with another person. Explorations of caregiving, community, access, and friendship offer us alternative ways of thinking about the connections we form with others—a vital reimagining in an era when forced physical distance is at times a necessary norm. But don't worry: there's still sex to consider—and the numerous ways sexual liberation intersects with disability justice. Plunge between these pages and you'll also find disabled sexual discovery, disabled love stories, and disabled joy. These twenty-five stunning original pieces—plus other modern classics on the subject, all carefully curated by acclaimed activist Alice Wong—include essays, photo essays, poetry, drama, and erotica: a full spectrum of the dreams, fantasies, and deeply personal realities of a wide range of beautiful bodies and minds. Disability Intimacy will free your thinking, invigorate your spirit, and delight your desires.
- When I Think of You
When I Think of You
by Myah Ariel
Sold outIn this sweeping second chance romance from debut author Myah Ariel, the unexpected spark of two former flames may force them to choose between their dreams and each other. Kaliya Wilson has paid her dues. But all the years behind the reception desk at a flashy film studio have only pushed her movie-making dreams further out of reach. That is, until a surprise reunion presents an opportunity that could make her career, or break her heart…a second time. It’s been seven years since Kaliya’s whirlwind college romance with Danny Prescott went up in flames. While her passions have stalled, his career is taking off. So when the hot shot director reappears to offer her a job on his next production, it’s a shock to the system. Working with Danny may recapture the intensity of their film school days, but trusting him again won’t come as easily. As the pair allows themselves the openness and vulnerability to entrust their deepest truths to each other, the possibility of a true connection draws ever closer. But when Hollywood politics and scandal threaten to sink the production and her career, Kaliya may have to risk everything to do what’s right—even if it means letting go of the second chance love of a lifetime.
- woke up no light: poems
woke up no light: poems
by Leila Mottley
$28.00*ships in 7 - 10 days*
A poignant and rousing debut book of poetry from the former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, CA—the acclaimed, best-selling author of the novel Nightcrawling Leila Mottley follows her trailblazing first novel with a perfectly pitched first collection of poems that demonstrate her spark and scope. woke up no light reckons with themes of reparations, restitution, and desire. Moving in sections from “girlhood” to “neighborhood” to “falsehood” to, finally, “womanhood,” these poems are the breathing life of a Black girl as she grows into adulthood, simultaneously youthful and profound. Each poem is a searing vignette, capturing the dissonance of Black girlhood through visceral language. The collection is sharp and raw, wise and rhythmic, a combination that lights up each page. From unearthing histories to searching for ways to dream of a future in a world constantly on the brink of disaster, Mottley sets forth personal and political revelation with piercing detail. woke up no light confirms Leila Mottley’s arrival and demonstrates the enduring power of her voice—brave and distinctive and thoroughly her own.
- Watershed
Watershed
by Percival Everett
Sold outA classic of politics, murder, and espionage "Watershed has all the makings of a social thriller...In this novel about water and the struggle for a life free of injustice, the mix doesn't just work, it flows." — Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio "It’s hard . . . to imagine a novelist today with fresher eyes than Percival Everett."―Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune On a windswept landscape somewhere north of Denver, Robert Hawks, a feisty and dangerously curious hydrologist, finds himself enmeshed in a fight over Native American treaty rights. What begins for Robert as a peaceful fishing interlude ends in murder and the disclosure of government secrets. Everett mines history for this one, focusing on the relationship between Native American activists and Black Panther groups who bonded over their shared enemies in the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Watershed is an excellent example of Percival Everett’s famed bitingly political narrative style.
- You Are a Unicorn!: A Little Book of AfroMations (Afro Unicorn)
You Are a Unicorn!: A Little Book of AfroMations (Afro Unicorn)
by April Showers
$8.99Tell your littlest unicorn just how unique, divine, and magical they are with this book of affirmations! And celebrate their inner unicorn with the first board book in the Afro Unicorn line. There is no one quite like you! You are a very special unicorn. You are an Afro Unicorn! This empowering board book is the latest installment from the Afro Unicorn line of books, which features stories about Black and Brown unicorns embracing their outer beauty and inner abilities. When Afro Unicorn creator April Showers realized that her favorite emoji—the unicorn!—was only available in white, she was inspired to create a more inclusive brand for children of color to celebrate how magical, unique, and divine they truly are. Don’t miss the other books in the Afro Unicorn series— A Magical Day We Are Afro Unicorns Divine Makes a Splash You are a Unicorn
- Mamá's Panza
Mamá's Panza
by Isabel Quintero
$18.99*ships or ready for pick up in 5 - 7 days*
A body-positive picture book about a young boy's love for his mother and his mother's belly. Everyone has a panza—it can be big and round, soft and small, or somewhere in between. But a young boy’s favorite panza of all is Mamá’s. Her panza is capable of remarkable things, and she loves it as an important part of herself. Her panza was also his first home. Even before he was born, it cradled and held him. When he’s feeling shy and needs a place to hide or when he wants somewhere to rest during a bedtime story, Mamá’s panza is always there. With affirming text by Isabel Quintero and vivid art by Iliana Galvez, Mamá’s Panza is a young boy’s love letter to his mother, along with a celebration of our bodies and our bellies.
- Cultures in Babylon: Feminism from Black Britain to African America (Feminist Classics)
Cultures in Babylon: Feminism from Black Britain to African America (Feminist Classics)
by Hazel V. Carby
Sold outFor a decade and a half, since she first appeared in the Birmingham Centre’s collective volume The Empire Strikes Back, Hazel Carby has been on the frontline of the debate over multicultural education in Britain and the US. This book brings together her most important and influential essays, ranging over such topics as the necessity for racially diverse school curricula, the construction of literary canons, Zora Neale Hurston’s portraits of “the Folk,” C.L.R. James and Trinidadian nationalism and black women blues artists, and the necessity for racially diverse school curricula. Carby’s analyses of diverse aspects of contemporary culture are invariably sharp and provocative, her political insights shrewd and often against the grain. A powerful intervention, Culture in Babylon will become a standard reference point in future debates over race, ethnicity and gender.
- Smoke Kings
Smoke Kings
by Jahmal Mayfield
$19.99In the vein of Get Out and Razorblade Tears, a feast of noir fiction and probing social commentary that asks us to consider what would happen if reparations were finally charged and exacted. Nate Evers, a young black political activist, struggles with rage as his people are still being killed in the streets 62 years after Emmett Till. When his little cousin is murdered, Nate shuns the graffiti murals, candlelight vigils, and Twitter hashtags that are commonplace after these senseless deaths. Instead, he leads 3 grief-stricken friends on a mission of retribution, kidnapping the descendants of long-ago perpetrators of hate crimes, confronting the targets with their racist lineages, and forcing them to pay reparations to a community fund. For 3 of the group members, the results mean justice; for Nate – pure revenge. Not all targets go quietly into the night, though, and Nate and his friends' world spirals out of control when they confront the wrong man. Now the leader of a white supremacist group is hot on their tail as is a jaded lawman with some disturbingly racist views of his own. As the 4 vigilantes fight to thwart their ruthless pursuers, they’re forced to accept an age-old truth: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." Smoke Kings is a powerful and propulsive novel with a diverse and unforgettable cast of characters. Like Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay it explores decades of racial tensions through a fictional landscape where the line between justice and revenge is blurred.
- The Beauty Trials (The Belles)
The Beauty Trials (The Belles)
by Dhonielle Clayton
$11.99Now available in paperback! New York Times best-selling author Dhonielle Clayton returns to her sweeping, lush fantasy series, The Belles. Rebellious, outspoken, fan-favorite Edel Beauregard enters the Beauty Trials—a deadly competition to find the next Queen of Orleans. Sophia, the dangerous and erratic former queen, has been imprisoned, restoring peace to Orléans. Now her sister, Charlotte, sits on the throne and has decided to invoke the ancient tradition of the Beauty Trials—a series of harrowing tests meant to find the true ruler of Orléans. Edel, who has always aspired to be more than a Belle, decides to enter and, after promising to bind her arcana to keep from having an unnatural advantage, joins a few dozen other hopefuls intent on becoming the next queen of Orléans. But the Trials are far more dangerous than any of them bargained for. As the women are put through tasks that test their strength, confidence, composure, and bravery, many perish, and Edel is mysteriously attacked by one of the other competitors—forcing her to use her powers just to survive. Will her subterfuge cost her the crown, or is there a larger conspiracy at play? New York Times best-selling author Dhonielle Clayton returns to her sweeping, lush fantasy series with an all-new story teeming with high-stakes court intrigue and danger disguised by beauty.
- The Essential Harlem Detectives
The Essential Harlem Detectives
by Chester Himes
$35.00Featuring A Rage in Harlem, The Real Cool Killers, The Crazy Kill, & Cotton Comes To Harlem
A one-volume selection of four novels in a legendary detective series—blistering, groundbreaking capers set in Harlem's criminal underworld—by master crime writer Chester Himes A friend and contemporary of Richard Wright and James Baldwin—and every bit their equal—Chester Himes is the acclaimed author of literary novels, stories, and essays, as well as the classic crime fiction series for which he is best known, featuring detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. Himes authored nine novels in the Harlem Detectives series, and in these four popular, accomplished installments, his cold, wisecracking sleuths are thrown into a brutal, murderous world, full of conniving con men, gun-toting gangsters, and opium-smoking preachers. Himes's vision of Harlem's criminal underground is both riotous entertainment, enriched by his deftly plotted mysteries and scintillating dialogue, and a penetrating look into the fraught tensions of race in postwar America. Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Contemporary Classics include an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times.
- Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir
Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir
by Walela Nehanda
$19.99*ships in 7 - 10 days*
A searing debut YA poetry and essay collection about a Black cancer patient who faces medical racism after being diagnosed with leukemia in their early twenties, for fans of Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals and Laurie Halse Anderson's Shout. When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced stage blood cancer, they're suddenly thrust into the unsympathetic world of tubes and pills, doctors who don’t use their correct pronouns, and hordes of "well-meaning" but patronizing people offering unsolicited advice as they navigate rocky personal relationships and share their story online. But this experience also deepens their relationship to their ancestors, providing added support from another realm. Walela's diagnosis becomes a catalyst for their self-realization. As they fill out forms in the insurance office in downtown Los Angeles or travel to therapy in wealthier neighborhoods, they begin to understand that cancer is where all forms of their oppression intersect: Disabled. Fat. Black. Queer. Nonbinary. In Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir, the author details a galvanizing account of their survival despite the U.S. medical system, and of the struggle to face death unafraid.
- How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir
How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir
by Shayla Lawson
$29.00*Ships in 7-10 business days*
New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award winner South to America Poet and journalist Shayla Lawson follows their National Book Critics Circle finalist This Is Major with these daring and exquisitely crafted essays, where Lawson journeys across the globe, finds beauty in tumultuous times, and powerfully disrupts the constraints of race, gender, and disability. In their new book, Shayla Lawson reveals how traveling can itself be a political act, when it can be a dangerous world to be Black, femme, nonbinary, and disabled. With their signature prose, at turns bold, muscular, and luminous, Shayla Lawson travels the world to explore deeper meanings held within love, time, and the self. Through encounters with a gorgeous gondolier in Venice, an ex-husband in the Netherlands, and a lost love on New Year’s Eve in Mexico City, Lawson’s travels bring unexpected wisdom about life in and out of love. They learn the strength of friendships and the dangers of beauty during a narrow escape in Egypt. They examine Blackness in post-dictatorship Zimbabwe, then take us on a secretive tour of Black freedom movements in Portugal. Through a deeply insightful journey, Lawson leads readers from a castle in France to a hula hoop competition in Jamaica to a traditional theater in Tokyo to a Prince concert in Minnesota and, finally, to finding liberation on a beach in Bermuda, exploring each location—and their deepest emotions—to the fullest. In the end, they discover how the trials of marriage, grief, and missed connections can lead to self-transformation and unimagined new freedoms.
- Academic Branding: A Step-by-Step Guide to Increased Visibility, Authority, and Income
Academic Branding: A Step-by-Step Guide to Increased Visibility, Authority, and Income
by Sheena Howard PhD
$26.95*ships in 7 - 10 days*
Become a thought leader in your postgraduate field—and make money while doing so, with this step-by-step guide from an academic who has been there. Academic Branding gives academics and scholars the tools and strategies they need to position themselves outside of academia so they can reach the masses and make an impact—without the expense of a publicist. With the practices in this book, readers will build a powerful brand, become a public intellectual, and grow their audience with guidance from Sheena C. Howard, PhD. She’s been where you are now, and she’s ready to help you grow beyond what you imagine. With Dr. Howard’s unique and thorough approach to success in the age of social media, you’ll learn how to: * Reframe the way you think about self-promotion * Identify your brand archetype and create a brand statement * Reach an audience beyond academia * Build multiple revenue streams * Get your ideas (and content) to spread * Create a movement around your expertise * Land major media spots and speaking engagements In a world where anyone who is savvy online can turn themselves into a subject matter expert, it’s important that we lift up and amplify the voices of actual subject matter experts. This guide will teach you how to reach the audience that needs your expertise most, building a brand and achieving financial freedom along the way.
Stay Informed. We're building a community committed to celebrating Black authors + artisans. Subscribe to keep up with all things Kindred Stories.