This powerful sequel to Bernice L. McFadden’s bestselling debut Sugar follows a young African-American woman back to her Arkansas hometown, where she must confront difficult truths about her parentage and a curse in her family’s past.

When Sugar Lacey returns to Short Junction to find the aunts who raised her, she hopes they will be able to tell her the truth about her parents. What she discovers is not just a terrible story of unrequited love, but also a tale of black magic that has cursed generations of Lacey women.
 
Armed with newfound knowledge and strength in the face of adversity, Sugar must push through the pain to find her absent father and discover the truth about the curse that has befallen her family line in hopes of breaking it before she passes it on to her own child.
 
A powerfully realized novel that brings back the unforgettable characters from Sugar, This Bitter Earth is a testament to the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

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This book is written for the young person who doesn't know how to speak up to the racist adults in their life. For the 14 year old who sees injustice at school and isn't able to understand the role racism plays in separating them from their friends. For the kid who spends years trying to fit into the dominant culture and loses themselves for a little while. It's for all of the Black and Brown children who have been harmed (physically and emotionally) because no one stood up for them or they couldn't stand up for themselves; because the colour of their skin, the texture of their hair, their names made white folx feel scared and threatened. It is written so children and young adults will feel empowered to stand up to the adults who continue to close doors in their faces. This book will give them the language and ability to understand racism and a drive to undo it. In short, it is for everyone.

Deja’s got a plan. The first in her large family to go to college, she wants to study chemistry and sell natural skin care products, like the ones she already creates from plants grown on her family’s North Carolina farm. It all starts with the Onward Bound summer program at the University of Maryland, the summer before school officially starts.

Raja’s got a dream. His traditional Nepali parents want him to study engineering and settle down in an arranged marriage, but his passion is art, and he wants to open his own tattoo parlor one day. In the meantime, he’s apprenticing at a tattoo shop in College Park, Maryland.

When Deja walks into the shop where Raja’s working, they both start crushing hard—over the course of the summer, they fall more and more deeply for one another. But the closer they get and the more their lives entwine, the more they find that dating someone who doesn’t match your parents’ expectations is harder than they ever imagined.

Can they bridge the divide between the vision their families have for their futures and the lives—and love—that are starting to feel like destiny?

“Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
 
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
 
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
 
After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.” ―Entertainment Weekly

In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They're under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago--and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn't what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she's run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

Interweaving the sacred and the erotic, This Elegance engages with visual arts through the concept of sacra conversazione (“sacred conversation”), a style of Renaissance painting that imagines divine communion across time and space. Here, artists, thinkers, and pop icons commune in a similar sacred dialogue—Kathleen Collins, André Leon Talley, Richmond Barthé, Lyle Ashton Harris, Juan de Pareja, Janelle Monáe, Symone, and others appear as guiding spirits and creative kin.

For a Black, queer person so often dislocated from time and place, pleasure becomes an act of resistance—a grounding in the now. This Elegance is a love song—an offering to Black artistry, a tribute to visionary lives, and a testament to the power of beauty in even our most precarious moments.

From the award-winning and bestselling author of Black Buck: A speculative novel about a young woman—invisible by birth and relegated to second-class citizenship—who sets off on a mission to find her older brother, whom she had presumed dead but who is now the primary suspect in a high-profile political murder.

Despite the odds, Sweetmint, a young invisible woman, has done everything right her entire life—school, university, and now a highly sought-after apprenticeship with the Northwestern Hemisphere’s premier inventor, a non-invisible man belonging to the Dominant Population who is as eccentric as he is enigmatic. But the world she has fought so hard to build after the disappearance of her older brother comes crashing down when authorities claim that not only is he well and alive, he’s also the main suspect in the murder of the Chief Executive of the Northwestern Hemisphere. 

A manhunt ensues, and Sweetmint, armed with courage, intellect, and unwavering love for her brother, sets off on a mission to find him before it’s too late. With five days until the hemisphere’s big election, Sweetmint must dodge a relentless law officer who’s determined to maintain order and an ambitious politician with sights set on becoming the next Chief Executive by any means necessary.

With the captivating worldbuilding of N. K. Jemisin’s novels and blazing defiance of Naomi Alderman’s work, This Great Hemisphere is a novel that brilliantly illustrates the degree to which reality can be shaped by non-truths and vicious manipulations, while shining a light on our ability to surprise ourselves when we stop giving in to the narratives others have written for us.

A Kids Indie Next Pick

With lyrical verse and dazzling illustrations, this joyful ode to Black hair will empower readers ages 4–8 to celebrate the historical, cultural, and emotional significance of their natural hair.

From the intricate coils of kings and queens to the cornrowed maps to freedom of African Americans, This Hair Belongs is a heartfelt poetic tribute to Black hair throughout history. Told through powerful verse, stunning illustrations, and fascinating back matter, this Black history picture book pays tribute to the African origins of Black hairstyles and will remind young Black readers that their hair is magical and beautiful and belongs.

JaNay Brown-Wood and Erin K. Robinson deftly weave African and American history into this powerful children's picture book about Black hair, making it an essential nonfiction title honoring Black cultural heritage.

In her stunning debut, the creator of Black Liturgies braids stories from three generations of her family alongside contemplative reflections to discover the “necessary rituals” that connect us with our belonging, dignity, and liberation.

“From the womb, we must repeat with regularity that to love ourselves is to survive. I believe that is what my father wanted for me and knew I would so desperately need: a tool for survival, the truth of my dignity named like a mercy new each morning.”
 
So writes Cole Arthur Riley in her unforgettable book of stories and reflections on discovering the sacred in her skin. In these deeply transporting pages, Arthur Riley reflects on the stories of her grandmother and father and encounters of enfleshed, embodied spirituality. As she also writes memorably of her own lived experiences of childhood and selfhood, Arthur Riley boldly explores some of the most urgent questions of life and faith: How can spirituality not silence the body, but instead allow it to come alive? How do we honor, lament, and heal from the stories we inherit? In this indelible work of contemplative storytelling, Arthur Riley invites us to ponder the site of soul by examining our capacity to rest, wonder, joy, rage, and repair, and finding that our humanity is not an enemy to faith but evidence of it.

Austin Watkins, 35 and a single father, finds himself in a precarious situation. Currently locked up in Chicago's Cook County Jail, he knows that Fredquisha, the trifling mother of his only daughter, is a despicable, careless and reckless THOT who is the antithesis of caring, loving black motherhood.Wanting to see her son gain full redemption from his current situation, Delores Watkins, better known as Mrs. Watkins, is also hellbent on rescuing Austin’s six-year-old daughter, Myyah, from the clutches of relentless psychological, emotional and physical abuse she suffers at the hands of Fredquisha. Hoping her son works hard to change the course of his life for the betterment of his daughter, Mrs. Watkins explores the possibility of challenging Fredquisha’s custody of Myyah. But as she navigates the complex, red-tape filled bureaucracy of child welfare services, Mrs. Watkins decides to take things in her own hand and is willing to put her life on the line for the salvation of her granddaughter. Fredquisha Pierce, a native of the dangerous Englewood, Chicago, could give a two sh!ts about the welfare of her daughter. Her mission in life is simple. Get money, smoke good weed and ride bomb d--k. Nothing more, nothing less. After meeting a potential new bae, Fredquisha needs to make some lifestyle changes so she can upgrade her section 8 squalor living situation. However, a looming pregnancy threatens to unravel her plans for a big come up.This book is another episodic chronicle born out of the dark, gritty, social drama storytelling talent of urban fiction mastermind QUAN MILLZ. THIS HOE GOT ROACHES IN HER CRIB will deliver a gut-punching blow to those who don't understand the many trials and tribulations single fathers go through to rescue their children from manipulative ratchet women who use the family court system to their advantage.-This is a work of satirical fiction that could be described as a dark comedy combined with social commentary. In no way do the descriptions of the characters reflect my personal feelings or beliefs in regards to those of African descent, particularly Black women. The stereotypes employed in the book are deliberate in that I attempt to cast a light on the state of contemporary urban pulp fiction.

The first in a series that introduces three major dance families: ballet, hip-hop, and jazz, from a world-renowned early childhood educator and performer.

This first introduction to classical dance begins with a simple explanation of what defines a classical dancer. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of different classical dances, from ballet to synchronized swimming to Kabuki; the ways dancers move; and who they move with.

This encouraging dance series will inspire young children to dance in their home or in their community, in socks or ballet shoes, and alone or with others.

The second in a series that introduces three major dance families: ballet, hip-hop, and jazz, from a world-renowned early childhood educator and performer.

Can anyone be a street dancer? Yes! This inclusive first introduction to hip-hop and other street dances begins with a simple introduction and then takes readers on a global exploration of different dances, from breaking to Kuthu to K-pop.

From author Dr. Rekha S. Rajan and artist Chris Park comes a fresh new dance series that will encourage all young children to dance in their homes or in their community, barefoot or with shoes, alone or with others, and exactly as they are! This inclusive and celebratory series is sure to inspire a love of dance in young and old readers alike.

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 set of bongos, a tambourine, and a cooking pot have in common? They are all drums! This first introduction to instruments in the drum family begins with a simple explanation of what defines a drum. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of percussive instruments and are encouraged to find drums 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!

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!

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

What do a guitar, a harp, and a piano have in common? They are all strings! This first introduction begins with a simple explanation of what defines a string instrument. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of different stringed instruments and are encouraged to find strings of their own in the world around them. Includes a bound-in string to strum, and a visual glossary.
 
Each title in the THIS IS MUSIC series features an interactive novelty musical element that invites the reader to "play" the book!

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

What do a choir, a rapper, and a yodeler all have in common? They all use voice to make music! This first introduction begins with a simple explanation of what defines a musical voice. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of different vocal musicians, and then encouraged to use their voice in the world around them. Complete with a mirror for observing their own mouths!

A beautiful, bold collection of more than 100 dazzling poems by Black poets for the whole family to treasure.

Discover classic favorites and new stars. This gorgeously illustrated children's anthology is the perfect introduction to poets such as Lucille Clifton, Langston Hughes, Benjamin Zephaniah, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, Amanda Gorman, Caleb Femi, and Joseph Coelho, and also features brand-new work by poets Nikki Grimes, Carole Boston Weatherford, and others.

Lovingly compiled by award-winning picture book writer and editor Traci N. Todd, this collection touches on a wide range of themes-hope and struggle, joy and pride, home and food, music and family. Each poem is paired with vibrant, inviting illustrations by Jade Orlando.

This beautiful gift book is a remarkable and moving tribute to the rich literary history and bright future of Black writing.

"A lion in literature’s forest"—Maya Angelou
A dazzling selection of poems from one of the most beloved American poets, whose distinctive verse resonates around the globe

Few poets in history have possessed the irrepressible humanity and abundant positivity that characterize Sonia Sanchez’s astonishing body of work.

Energetic, infectious and rich with sonic exuberance, Sanchez’s poems have radically transformed the direction of American poetry over the past six decades and have been an inspiration to readers around the world, including Toni Morrison and Chinua Achebe. Whether it’s her iconic haiku, rhythmic ballads or devastating elegies, Sanchez’s luminous verse thrums with a profound generosity and an international consciousness, rendering all of life’s agony and ecstasy.

This volume draws on Sanchez’s diverse repertoire to showcase the multiplicities of the poet’s voice—the profound and personal, the firebrand and socially conscious, the playful and formally dexterous, and the musical—to celebrate her as one of the world’s most skilled and versatile poets of the past half century.

Pushing intimacy to its limits in prose of unearthly beauty, Vauhini Vara explores the nature of being a child, parent, friend, sibling, neighbor, or lover, and the relationships between self and others. A young girl reads the encyclopedia to her elderly neighbor, who is descending into dementia. A pair of teenagers seek intimacy as phone-sex operators. A competitive sibling tries to rise above the drunken mess of her own life to become a loving aunt. One sister consumes the ashes of another. And, in the title story, an experimental artist takes on his most ambitious project yet: constructing a life-size ark according to the Bible’s specifications. In a world defined by estrangement, where is communion to be found? The characters in This Is Salvaged, unmoored in turbulence, are searching fervently for meaning, through one another.

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In this powerful and hopeful account, arts writer, curator, and activist Kimberly Drew reminds us that the art world has space not just for the elite, but for everyone.

Portrayals of James Baldwin and others in his circle highlight the iconic writer’s activism

The American writer and activist James Baldwin (1924–87) considered himself a “witness” as he challenged perspectives on America and its history through his work. He was often recognized for speaking out against injustice when other like-minded artists, collaborators and organizers were overshadowed or silenced. By bringing together artworks that feature James Baldwin alongside portraits of other key figures who had an impact on his life, This Morning, This Evening, So Soon situates Baldwin among a pantheon of culture bearers who were instrumental in shaping his life and legacy, particularly in relationship to his advocacy for gay rights. The book accompanies an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, curated by the National Portrait Gallery's Director of Curatorial Affairs, Rhea L. Combs, in consultation with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Hilton Als. Well-known portraits by Beauford Delaney and Bernard Gotfryd are shown alongside paintings, photographs and films representing key figures in Baldwin’s circle. By viewing Baldwin in this context of community, readers will come to understand how Baldwin’s sexuality and faith, artistic curiosities and notions of masculinity―coupled with his involvement in the civil rights movement―helped shape his writing and long-lasting legacy.
The book relies on portraiture to explore the interwoven lives of Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry (writer and activist), Barbara Jordan (lawyer, educator and politician), Bayard Rustin (leader in social movements), Lyle Ashton Harris (artist), Essex Hemphill (poet and activist), Marlon Riggs (filmmaker, poet and activist) and Nina Simone (singer-songwriter, pianist and activist), among others.
Artists include: Richard Avedon, Glenn Ligon, Donald Moffett, Beauford Delaney, Bernard Gotfryd, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson, Jack Whitten.

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A searing novel about the obstacles facing women in Zimbabwe, by one of the country’s most notable authors.

Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow’s boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.

In This Mournable Body, Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival. As a last resort, Tambudzai takes an ecotourism job that forces her to return to her parents’ impoverished homestead. This homecoming, in Dangarembga’s tense and psychologically charged novel, culminates in an act of betrayal, revealing just how toxic the combination of colonialism and capitalism can be.

Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. "Just for self-defense," King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend’s Montgomery, Alabama, home as "an arsenal." Like King, many ostensibly "nonviolent" civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to self-protection—yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history. In This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed, Charles E. Cobb Jr. recovers this history, describing the vital role that armed self-defense has played in the survival and liberation of black communities.  Drawing on his experiences in the civil rights movement and giving voice to its participants, Cobb lays bare the paradoxical relationship between the nonviolent civil rights struggle and the long history and importance of African Americans taking up arms to defend themselves against white supremacist violence.   

About the Author:

Charles E. Cobb Jr. is a former field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and has taught at Brown University. An award-winning journalist, he is an inductee of the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. Cobb lives in Jacksonville, Florida.  

The first book in a decadent fantasy duology set in Jazz Age Harlem, where at night the dance halls come to life―and death waits in the dark.

It's 1926 and reapers, the once-human vampires with a terrifying affliction, are on the rise in New York. But the Saint family's thriving reaper-hunting enterprise holds reign over the city, giving them more power than even the organized criminals who run the nightclubs. Eighteen year-old Elise Saint, home after five years in Paris, is the reluctant heir to the empire. Only one thing weighs heavier on Elise's mind than her family obligations: the knowledge that the Harlem reapers want her dead.

Layla Quinn is a young reaper haunted by her past. Though reapers have existed in America for three centuries, created by New World atrocities and cruel experiments, Layla became one just five years ago. The night she was turned, she lost her parents, the protection of the Saints, and her humanity, and she'll never forget how Elise Saint betrayed her.

But some reapers are inexplicably turning part human again, leaving a wake of mysterious and brutal killings. When Layla is framed for one of these attacks, the Saint patriarch offers her a deal she can't refuse: to work with Elise to investigate how these murders might be linked to shocking rumors of a reaper cure. Once close friends, now bitter enemies, Elise and Layla explore the city's underworld, confronting their intense feelings for one another and uncovering the sinister truths about a growing threat to reapers and humans alike.

“I’m in awe. This Side of Beautiful is a beautifully raw work of art. So much passion—for music and for love—drips from the pages for Janae and Landon. Tiye delivered a masterpiece.” - Shanora Williams, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author
“Tiye tugs at your heartstrings with two deeply flawed characters in an unforgettable love that is raw and messy, but ultimately... beautiful.”- Delaney Diamond, USA Today Bestselling Author

Janae Warner had it all — platinum records, sold-out arenas, and a life in the spotlight. But the same fire that fueled her rise burned everything down. Branded as unstable and unredeemable, she disappeared from the world she once ruled. Now, after years away, Janae is stepping back into the industry she left behind, determined to reclaim her voice and prove she’s more than the headlines.

Returning to Houston, the city that built her and broke her, Janae faces more than the pressures of a comeback. The emotional storms she’s battled for years still churn within, and while her drive to succeed is unwavering, the world is watching, waiting to see if she will rise again or fall harder than before.

Landon Hayes, a quiet, brilliant guitarist, moves through life with a rhythm and focus that sets him apart. His calm, structured world feels like a contradiction to Janae’s relentless highs and lows, yet their connection feels unexpectedly natural. He is a steady presence that both unsettles and intrigues her in ways she never imagined.

As their bond deepens, Landon’s unwavering presence forces Janae to confront the vulnerability she’s worked so hard to bury. Trusting someone who sees through the walls she’s built may be her greatest risk, but it could also be her path to a second chance she thought she’d never deserve.

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Dark magic awaits in the eagerly anticipated sequel to bestselling author Kalynn Bayron’s This Poison Heart.

Briseis’s mother is dead, but there is one chance to bring her back: find the last piece of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. If she is to locate the missing piece she must turn to the blood relatives she’s never known, learn about their secret powers and take her place in their ancient lineage. But Briseis is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will try to use her in any way they can …
Kalynn Bayron, bestselling author of Cinderella is Dead and This Poison Heart, returns with the second book in this empowering and inclusive fantasy duology perfect for fans of Legendborn and Lore.

From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins’ highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today—perfect for fans of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists

Morgan Jerkins is only in her twenties, but she has already established herself as an insightful, brutally honest writer who isn’t afraid of tackling tough, controversial subjects. In This Will Be My Undoing, she takes on perhaps one of the most provocative contemporary topics: What does it mean to “be”—to live as, to exist as—a black woman today? This is a book about black women, but it’s necessary reading for all Americans.

Doubly disenfranchised by race and gender, often deprived of a place within the mostly white mainstream feminist movement, black women are objectified, silenced, and marginalized with devastating consequences, in ways both obvious and subtle, that are rarely acknowledged in our country’s larger discussion about inequality. In This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins becomes both narrator and subject to expose the social, cultural, and historical story of black female oppression that influences the black community as well as the white, male-dominated world at large.

Whether she’s writing about Sailor Moon; Rachel Dolezal; the stigma of therapy; her complex relationship with her own physical body; the pain of dating when men say they don’t “see color”; being a black visitor in Russia; the specter of “the fast-tailed girl” and the paradox of black female sexuality; or disabled black women in the context of the “Black Girl Magic” movement, Jerkins is compelling and revelatory.

"Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls," bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. In this invaluable book of tips, practical advice, and wisdom, Mosley promises that the writer-in-waiting can finish their novel in one year.

Intended as both inspiration and instruction, this book provides the tools to turn out a first draft painlessly and then revise it into something finer. Mosley teaches you how to:

• Create a daily writing regimen to fit any writer's needs -- and how to stick to it.
• Determine the narrative voice that's right for every writer's style.
• Hook readers with dynamic characters.
• Get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story.
• And much more.

From one of the most important figures in American journalism -- acclaimed historian, Pulitzer finalist, staff writer at the New Yorker, and dean of Columbia Journalism School--a devastatingly insightful collection of published and original work that paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of our last turbulent decade.

What just happened?

From the moment Trayvon Martin's senseless murder initiated the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014, America has been convulsed by the new social movements--around guns, gender violence, sexual harrassment, race, policing, and on and on--and an equally powerful backlash. Jelani Cobb has been reporting and commenting on these changes--sometimes from the frontlines of places like Ferguson and Charleston, other times from a more studied remove, where he applies his gifts as a critic and background as a historian to penetrate the meaning of it all. He has written profiles of some of the key figures of the era--from directors and comedians to activists and politicians--and written on some of great cultural artifacts--film, television, and music. Through this shifting lens, he's captured the crises, the movements, and absurdity of an era--and helped readers understand what might be coming next.

As in this country's other great moments of turbulence, this has been an era of democratic expansion and contraction, the latest in a series of battles over what it means to be an American. Cobb strings this collection together with original work--the original pieces provide the connective tissue that helps readers see these powerful short dispatches as a cohesive, epic narrative of one of the most consequential, but hard to understand, eras in American history.

A queer Palestinian refugee plans to come out at his elaborate birthday dinner party in this tragicomic modern reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.

Firas Dareer wakes up on his twenty-third birthday with a sense of purpose: today he’ll jump from a Stage 3 to a Stage 6 in his self-determined Coming Out Scale, professing his sexuality to a captive audience of immediate and extended family, friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and neighbours. But despite the meticulously designed invitations, carefully chosen place settings and floral centerpieces, painstakingly curated playlist, and agonizingly fretted-over menu, factors begin to spin out of his control.

Threatening to thwart his big moment are his younger brother, whose mental fragility requires him to be monitored at all times; his cantankerous grandfather, who’s just completed his third escape from the retirement home; the Dareers’ embittered housekeeper (and Firas’s arch nemesis), who could scoop the story before he gets the chance; his harried boss, who on this of all days calls him into work at the architecture firm, where his colleagues share a talent for butchering his name; and his mother, whose accidental text message may have blown the cover of an illicit extra-marital affair. There’s also the fact that Firas too has found himself in a love triangle of sorts, choosing between soft and steady Tyrese and fiery Kashif, who makes a sport out of demonstrating how Palestinian he is.

As the future Firas has precisely architected for himself slips further out of his grasp, the past comes crashing in like a wrecking ball. Sharp, darkly funny, and full of surprises, Three Parties pays twisted homage to a literary classic, gleefully upends the western coming-out narrative, and sensitively explores the traumas and pressures faced by Palestinian immigrants—all in the span of a single life-changing day.