By the influential relationship therapist and bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace, this story will help young kids learn to express their own needs rather than people-pleasing.

Avery loves to make people happy—so much so that she often ignores her own wants and needs. If a friend's favorite color is yellow, she always gives that friend the yellow marker. If someone wants PB&J for lunch, she gives up her own sandwich.

Now, her birthday is coming up and she's having trouble deciding what to do for her party. She knows her friends would love going to an amusement park, so maybe she should ignore the fact that the rides make her feel sick. Her brother loves superheroes, so she's considering having a superhero party. Luckily, her friends help her realize it's OK to do what makes you happy—especially on your own special day. Her birthday party is her best one yet!

A haunting, powerful collection of stories spanning modern-day Pakistan and the diaspora in the United States, from a sparkling new literary talent.

In eight unflinching and stunningly crafted stories, Kanza Javed unspools the lives of characters desperately trying to forge a path for themselves on the margins of society. An addict teaches his young son to shoot feral dogs on the streets of Lahore. A Christian nurse gets drawn into a plan to trap the ghost of her patient’s former lover. A Pakistani student in a small Appalachian town grapples with a startling act of violence that shatters her illusions of safety and freedom. A lonely wife, trapped indoors by a harsh winter, becomes increasingly obsessed with a cloth worry doll left behind by a previous tenant.

Written with keen psychological insight and remarkable empathy, these stories reach across divides of class, gender, and religion as Javed deftly examines questions of identity and agency, belonging and loss. What Remains After a Fire is a moving portrayal of fiercely resilient characters who desire more than what their circumstances can offer them―and what these desires ultimately cost them.

Sixteen-year-old Ebony Jones is devastated when her family moves from Houston to her grandmother’s house in the country. There’s absolutely nothing for Ebony in Alula Lake, Texas. So she thinks.

Using interwoven narratives — present-day United States, Trinidad, and the political tumult of Jamaica in the 1980s — Carol Mitchell's debut gives voice to the immigrant woman whose veneer of middle-class stability masks the violent trauma of a prior life.

"An engaging and life-affirming read.” — Booklist

"What start bad a mornin', cyan end good a evenin'." — Jamaican proverb

Amaya Lin has few memories of the years before she turned eighteen. Now in her forties, she has compensated by carefully cultivating a satisfying life as a wife, mother, and business professional. Her husband’s law practice is on the brink of major success; her neurodiverse son has grown into an independent adult; and she has come to terms with her aunt’s dementia. This sense of order is disrupted, however, when she encounters a stranger who claims to have an impossible connection, launching Amaya on a tumultuous journey into the past. 

Using three interwoven narratives spanning the United States, Trinidad, and Jamaica, Carol Mitchell's debut gives voice to an immigrant woman forced to confront her repressed memories of violent trauma. Only then can she discover what she is capable of when it comes to self-preservation and the protection of her family.

"This is a stellar debut.” — Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park
"Luminous prose." —Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero’s Daughter

A coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of eleven-year-old KB, as she and her sister try, over the course of a summer, to make sense of their new life with their estranged grandfather after the death of their father and disappearance of their mother.

After almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice’s (KB) father dies of an overdose and the debts incurred from his addiction cause the loss of the family home in Detroit, she and her teenage sister, Nia, are sent by their overwhelmed mother to live with their estranged grandfather in Lansing. Over the course of a single, sweltering summer, KB attempts to get her bearings in a world that has turned upside down—a father who is labeled a fiend; a mother whose smile no longer reaches her eyes; a sister, once her best friend, who has crossed the threshold of adolescence and suddenly wants nothing to do with her; a grandfather who is grumpy and silent; the white kids across the street who are friendly, but only sometimes. And all of them are keeping secrets. Pinballing between resentment, abandonment, and loneliness, KB is forced to carve out a different identity for herself and find her own voice. As she examines the jagged pieces of her recently shattered world, she learns that while some truths cut deep, a new life—and a new KB—can be built from the shards.



Capturing all the vulnerability, perceptiveness, and inquisitiveness of a young Black girl on the cusp of puberty, Harris’s prose perfectly inhabits that hazy space between childhood and adolescence, where everything that was once familiar develops a veneer of strangeness when seen through newer, older eyes. Through KB’s disillusionment and subsequent discovery of her own power, What the Fireflies Knew poignantly reveals that heartbreaking but necessary component of growing up—the realization that loved ones can be flawed, sometimes significantly so, and that the perfect family we all dream of looks different up close.

The bestselling author, political analyst, and civil rights expert delivers a forceful critique of the Trump administration's ignorant and unprecedented rollback of the civil rights movement.

In this powerful and timely book, civil rights historian and political analyst Juan Williams denounces Donald Trump for intentionally twisting history to fuel racial tensions for his political advantage. In Williams's lifetime, crusaders for civil rights have braved hatred, violence, and imprisonment, and in so doing made life immeasurably better for African Americans and other marginalized groups. Remarkably, all this progress suddenly seems to have been forgotten -- or worse, undone. The stirring history of hard-fought and heroic battles for voting rights, integrated schools, and more is under direct threat from an administration dedicated to restricting these basic freedoms.

Williams pulls the fire alarm on the Trump administration's policies, which pose a threat to civil rights without precedent in modern America. What the Hell Do You Have to Lose? makes a searing case for the enduring value of our historic accomplishments and what happens if they are lost.

Another storm is on the horizon for the Reynolds women. And the only way out is to go through it.

Good things never happen in November—at least not for the Reynolds women. It was the month they lost their patriarch. And the month when fourteen-year-old Trinity went missing during a tropical storm. So Hope Reynolds isn’t surprised when it becomes the month she walks in on her boyfriend kissing another woman. Or when she receives a panicked call from her mother about a mistake that could cost the family their treasured beach house.

Meanwhile, Faith Reynolds-Phillips is facing her own financial struggles. She’s also looking down the barrel of divorce and raising a daughter who reminds her so much of her younger sister, Trinity, that sometimes it physically hurts. The last place Hope and Faith want to be is in Hallelujah, South Carolina, during hurricane season. Going home will force them to confront the secrets that have torn their family apart. But if they can survive another storm, they’ll have a chance to rebuild on a new foundation—the truth.

In the latest novel from prolific writer Vanessa Miller, three women must find the strength to endure the storm and the faith to believe in a miracle.

“A heartwarming, page-turning, beautiful story about family secrets, mother-daughter relationships, forgiveness, and restored faith.” —Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times bestselling author

* Inspiring contemporary fiction
* Stand-alone novel
* Includes discussion questions for book clubs
* Other books by Vanessa Miller: Something Good

Award-winning author Wanda Morris returns with a powerful, haunting thriller following a lawyer who after the mysterious disappearance of a local landowner and the death of his sister just months before, uncovers a conspiracy that dates back to Reconstruction and persists in half the United States today.

Deena Wood’s life has fallen apart in the aftermath of losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm. She needs what the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call a “dayclean,” a fresh start.

She returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is anything but the respite she thought it might be. To make peace with all her loss, she often drives through the city. One day, she unwittingly finds herself on the oceanfront property of a loner widower who is fighting to keep land that has been in his family since the end of the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to never return. But shortly after, he disappears, and his very expensive property is quickly put up for sale. Curious about what has happened to the man, Deena digs into his disappearance and finds a family legacy at risk. What starts out as a bit of curious snooping, turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment in poor and rural communities with dark and powerful forces at work.

Without realizing it, Deena finds herself caught up in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and her family. She’ll need help and finds it in a close but unlikely source because she knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sinister forces at play before she becomes their next target.

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

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the next twenty years.

On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee's steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he'll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle's headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn't protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.

When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers—each determined to see her child inherit a better life—will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.

As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What's Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.

Icon of women's movement and author of over twenty books, including a narrative series on love, bell hooks reminds us of the good and bad moments we spend in love through her inspiring poetry.

When Angels Speak of Love is a book of 50 love poems by the icon of the feminist movement and most famous among public intellectuals. In beautiful, profoundly poetic terms, hooks challenges our views and experiences with love--tracing the link between seduction and surrender, the intensity of desire, and the anguish of death. Whether towards family, friends, or oneself, hooks's creative genius makes love both magical and beautiful. Her poems are written from the heart and learned by the reader's heart.

You have within you infinite promise. How big will YOU dream? This striking companion to I Am My Ancestors' Wildest Dreams celebrates Black female achievement and is perfect for fans of I Am Enough, Little Leaders, and She Persisted.

"Magnificently compelling....Lets Black girls know each time they turn the page that all of their dreams are possible." ―Angela Bassett, Award-winning Actress and Producer

I AM dope!

My crown shines bright

in all its glory.

When I dream big,

I can do anything!

In this inspiring tribute to Black girl pride and excellence, a young child discovers her place in a radiant heritage. As she meets twelve extraordinary Black women―historic and contemporary heroines who have blazed a trail for her own future success―she internalizes their strength and sets out to change the world in her own way.

Just like them, she can reach her dreams. And readers will discover that they can reach theirs too.

*ships in 7-10 business days*

A kaleidoscopic account of the crack cocaine era and a community’s ultimate resilience—told through a cast of characters whose lives illuminate the dramatic rise and fall of the epidemic

The crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s is arguably the least examined crisis in American history. Beginning with the myths inspired by Reagan's war on drugs, journalist Donovan X. Ramsey's exacting work exposes the undeniable links between the last triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement and the consequences we live with today—a racist criminal justice system, continued mass incarceration and gentrification, and increased police brutality.

When Crack Was King follows four individuals to give us a startling portrait of crack’s destruction and devastating legacy. Elgin Swift, an archetype of American industry and ambition and son of a crack-addicted father who turned their home into a “crack house”; Lennie Woodley, a former crack addict and a sex worker; Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore and an early advocate of decriminalization; and lastly, Shawn McCray, community activist, basketball prodigy, and a founding member of the Zoo Crew, Newark's most legendary group of drug traffickers. 

Weaving together riveting research with the voices of survivors, When Crack Was King is a crucial re-evaluation of the era and a powerful argument for providing historically violated communities with the resources they deserve.

Noteworthy Discoveries

• How the crack epidemic really began
• How both Democrats and Republicans failed urban America during the crack epidemic
• How Dr. Dre's The Chronic helped turn the page on the crack epidemic
• How young people of color ended the crack epidemic
• Why Joe Biden owes urban Americans an explanation for the crack epidemic
• Lessons from the crack epidemic for the opioid epidemic

This deluxe edition is printed with stenciled edges!

In this Southern gothic horror novel, four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen's disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, True Detective, Mexican Gothic, and Midsommar.

When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh's family. Disappearances like this aren't uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.

For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poor―well, nothing good comes their way.

Neera sets out to investigate Dawson’s whereabouts―if he even still lives―along with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the town’s founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next. How deep does the rot go, and can they find a way to escape its reach?

Now available in trade paper!

The power of faith intersects with the practicality of counseling in this unique partnership of a faith/worship leader and a therapist as they offer a pathway for readers to find help, hope, healing, and freedom while navigating life's struggles.

No one is immune from life's difficulties, yet many people are reluctant to talk about mental health or seek professional help when they are struggling. People of faith who are battling issues such as anxiety, depression, life changes, stress, or relationship problems may suffer in silence, believing things would get better if only their faith was stronger, they prayed more, or if they had more self-discipline. The stigma about needing to seek help is all too real. 

But seeking professional help isn't a sign of weakness; it's a sign that someone is serious about moving forward emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Written by producer, artist, and author Anthony Evans, along with licensed psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser, When Faith Meets Therapy:

• Dispels the cultural myths and stigmas that surround professional therapy
• Shares stories from the authors' personal experiences and others who are facing life's challenges
• Provides practical steps that readers can take in the pursuit of emotional, relational, and spiritual progress

Anthony and Stacy met five years ago when Anthony was seeking emotional and relational healing of his own. Stacy led Anthony through his own process of internal renovation and remains his personal therapist to this day.

When Faith Meets Therapy contains priceless, practical knowledge to break stereotypes that surround therapy, all while offering immeasurable hope and encouragement.

Invasive. Possessive. Assertive. Truce Wright is an ambitious man on a mission. Nothing in life is off limits to him. Whatever he wants, he gets….even if it’s someone else’s.

Displeased. Submissive. Captivating. Sanai Lee is a risk taker. Her boldness creates an exit for fear. What she didn’t know she needed comes in the form of a Truce.

What happens when you follow your heart and let him come over when your man is not there?

Welcome to Indigo Falls…

An ode to being active and dramatic play. For fans of Ruth Krauss’s I Can Fly and Ashley Spires’s The Most Magnificent Thing, this picture book will inspire young readers to getting moving and start imagining!
Simple, engaging rhymes will inspire little ones to jump, run, and explore the limitless possibilities of their imagination in this energizing ode to movement by award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford.

In 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.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

A dynamic, moving hybrid work that celebrates Black youth, often too fleeting, and examines Black lives lost to police violence. 

In this astonishing volume of poems and lyric prose, Whiting Award–winner A. Van Jordan draws comparisons to Black characters in Shakespearean plays—Caliban and Sycorax from?The Tempest, Aaron the Moor from?Titus Andronicus, and the eponymous antihero of?Othello—to mourn the deaths of Black people, particularly Black children, at the hands of police officers. What do these characters, and the ways they are defined by the white figures who surround them, have in common with Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and other Black people killed in the twenty-first century?

Balancing anger and grief with celebration, Jordan employs an elastic variety of poetic forms, including ekphrastic sestinas inspired by the photography of Malick Sidibé, fictional dialogues, and his signature definition poems that break down the insidious power of words like “fair,” “suspect,” and “juvenile.” He invents a new form of window poems, based on a characterization exercise, to see Shakespeare’s Black characters in three dimensions, and finds contemporary parallels in the way these characters are othered, rendered at once undesirable and hypersexualized, a threat and a joke.

At once a stunning inquiry into the roots of racist violence and a moving recognition of the joy of Black youth before the world takes hold, When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again expresses the preciousness and precarity of life.

An affirming, lyrical picture book tribute to the pride in tradition and love from her ancestors one young girl feels when she wraps her hair. 

When I wrap,

my roots run deep.

As deep as an African marketplace

or a city sidewalk

or the stories between them.

In this ode to hair wrapping, author Shauntay Grant has crafted a poetic, poignant story about how the practice ties together past and present. With vibrant illustrations by Jenin Mohammed, this book is both an act of joyful recognition and a demonstration of how knowledge is passed through generations. Inspiring and powerful, this is perfect for fans of I Am Enough and Hold Them Close.

Sydney Green is Brooklyn-born and raised, but the neighborhood she loves is being erased before her very eyes. FOR SALE signs are popping up everywhere, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To preserve the past, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour: “Displaced: A People’s History of Brooklyn,” and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block – her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the efforts to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other – or themselves – long enough to find out, before they too disappear – permanently?

A first-of-its-kind Southern cookbook featuring more than 300 Cook's Country recipes and fascinating insights into the culinary techniques and heroes of the American South.

Tour the diverse history of Southern food through 200+ stories of women who've shaped the cuisine!

Shepherded by Toni Tipton-Martin and Cook's Country Executive Editor and TV personality Morgan Bolling, When Southern Women Cook showcases the hard work, hospitality, and creativity of women who have given soul to Southern cooking from the start. Every page amplifies their contributions, from the enslaved cooks making foundational food at Monticello to Mexican Americans accessing sweet memories with colorful conchas today.

* 70+ voices paint a true picture of the South: Emmy Award–winning producer and author Von Diaz covers Caribbean immigrant foodways through Southern stews; food journalist Kim Severson delves into recipes' power as cultural currency; mixologist and beverage historian Tiffanie Barriere reflects on Juneteenth customs including red drink. Consulting food historian KC Hysmith contributes important—and fascinating—context throughout.

* 300 Recipes—must-knows, little-knowns, and modern inventions: Regional Brunswick Stew, Dollywood Cinnamon Bread, Pickle-Brined Fried Chicken Sandwiches, Grilled Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi, and Oat Guava Cookies bridge the gap between what Southern cooking is known for and how it continues to evolve.

* Recipe headnotes contextualize your cooking: Learn Edna Lewis’ biscuit wisdom. Read about Waffle House and fry chicken thighs to top light-as-air waffles. Meet Joy Perrine, the "Bad Girl of Bourbon."

Covering every region and flavor of the American South, from Texas Barbecue to Gullah Geechee rice dishes, this collection of 300 recipes is a joyous celebration of Southern cuisine and its diverse heroes, past and present.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.

More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder.

*ships in 7-10 business days*

The emotional and powerful story from the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and how it came to be.

The instant New York Times Bestseller

From one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement comes a poetic memoir and reflection on humanity. Necessary and timely, Patrisse Cullors’ story asks us to remember that protest in the interest of the most vulnerable comes from love. Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have been called terrorists, a threat to America. But in truth, they are loving women whose life experiences have led them to seek justice for those victimized by the powerful. In this meaningful, empowering account of survival, strength, and resilience, Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele seek to change the culture that declares innocent black life expendable.

Winner of the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award

Prince Shakur’s debut memoir brilliantly mines his radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings.

After immigrating from Jamaica to the United States, Prince Shakur’s family is rocked by the murder of Prince’s biological father in 1995. Behind the murder is a sordid family truth, scripted in the lines of a diary by an outlawed uncle hell-bent on avenging the murder of Prince’s father. As Shakur begins to unravel his family’s secrets, he must navigate the strenuous terrain of coming to terms with one’s inner self while confronting the steeped complexities of the Afro-diaspora.

When They Tell You to Be Good charts Shakur’s political coming of age from closeted queer kid in a Jamaican family to radicalized adult traveler, writer, and anarchist in Obama and Trump’s America. Shakur journeys from France to the Philippines, South Korea, and elsewhere to discover the depths of the Black experience, and engages in deep political questions while participating in movements like Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock. By the end, Shakur reckons with his identity, his family’s immigration, and the intergenerational impacts of patriarchal and colonial violence.

Examining a tangled web of race, trauma, and memory, When They Tell You to Be Good shines a light on what we all must ask of ourselves—to be more than what America envisions for the oppressed—as Shakur compels readers to take a closer, deeper look at the political world of young, Black, queer, and radical millennials today.

"Notably centering Indigenous families and characters of color in personal and communal activities―and encouraging readers to evaluate their actions toward others.” ―Publishers Weekly

When We Are Kind celebrates simple acts of everyday kindness and encourages children to explore how they feel when they initiate and receive acts of kindness in their lives. Celebrated author Monique Gray Smith has written many books on the topics of resilience and reconciliation, and she communicates an important message here for readers of all ages through her carefully chosen words. Beautifully illustrated by artist Nicole Neidhardt, this book encourages children to be kind to others and to themselves.

Discover the reigns of twelve African queens and warriors from across the continent in this immersive and pioneering history.

Njinga Mbande. Nana Yaa Asantewaa. Makobo Modjadji VI. Ranavalona the First.

These queens and warriors ruled vast swathes of the African continent, where they led, loved, and fought for their kingdoms and people. Their impact can still be felt today, and yet, beyond the lands they called home, so few of us have ever heard their names.

In When We Ruled, historian Paula Akpan takes us into the worlds of these powerful figures, following their stories and how they came to rule and influence the futures of their people. Through deep research and discovery, Akpan will uncover new truths and grapple with uncomfortable realities, allowing us to be immersed in countless moments of bravery, intrigue, and, for some, the unraveling of their rule.

With reigns spanning from pre-colonial Nigeria to the rich lands of Rwanda, and from Ancient Egypt to apartheid South Africa, these rulers shed new light on gender politics in these regions, showing how women were celebrated and revered before colonizing powers took hold, and continued to be long after.

In this game-changing narrative of twelve lives, Akpan takes us on a spellbinding, enrapturing, and immersive history that is nothing short of revelatory.

*ships in 7-10 business days

This landmark publication accompanies an international touring exhibition devoted to Black figuration in painting from the 1920s to now, featuring artists from Africa and the African diaspora.

Published to accompany a major exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA, CapeTown, When We See Us presents a comprehensive exploration of Black representation through portraiture and figuration, celebrating Black subjectivity and Black consciousness from Pan-African and Pan-Diasporic perspectives.

In the past decade, figurative painting by Black artists has risento a new prominence in the field of contemporary art. This timely and revelatory book highlights the many ways in which artists critically engage with notions of blackness, contributing to the critical discourse on topics such as Pan-Africanism, the Civil Rights Movement, African Liberation and Independence movements, the Anti-Apartheid and Black Consciousness mobilizations, Decoloniality, and Black Lives Matter.

With a primary focus on figurative painting, When We See Us explores how Black artists have imagined, positioned, memorialized, and asserted African and African diasporic experiences from the early 20th century to the present day. Featuring more than 200 works of art—and contributions from well-known writers such as Ken Bugul, Maaza Mengiste, Robin Coste Lewis, and Bill Kouelany—When We See Us is a major contribution to our understanding of Black art that will appeal to anyone interested in modern and contemporary figurative art and Black cultural history.