Nia, is a young girl who loves learning about dance but is a bit too shy to really get our there. In "A Little Optimism Goes a Long Way," readers follow her journey falling in love with dancing and finding her voice despite her initial hesitation.
Products
- A Glimmer of Death
A Glimmer of Death
by Valerie Wilson Wesley
$15.95Award-winning author Valerie Wilson Wesley launches a thrilling new mystery series set in New Jersey, featuring a multicultural cast, and starring a caterer-turned-realtor with the gift of second sight...
In the first of a thrilling new series, one woman's extraordinary psychic gift plunges her already-troubled present into chaos--and puts her future in someone's deadly sights...
Until now, Odessa Jones' inherited ability to read emotions and foretell danger has protected her. But second sight didn't warn her she would soon be a widow--and about to lose her home and the catering business she's worked so hard to build. The only things keeping Dessa going are her love for baking and her sometimes-mellow cat, Juniper. Unfortunately, putting her life back together means taking a gig at an all-kinds-of-shady real estate firm run by volatile owner Charlie Risko...
Until Charlie is brutally killed--and Dessa's bullied co-worker is arrested for murder. Dessa can't be sure who's guilty. But it doesn't take a psychic to discover that everyone from Charlie's much-abused staff to his long-suffering younger wife had multiple reasons to want him dead. And as Dessa follows a trail of lies through blackmail, dead-end clues, and corruption, she needs to see the truth fast--or a killer will bury her deep down with it. - A Good Cry
A Good Cry
by Nikki Giovanni
$16.99One of America’s most celebrated poets looks inward in this powerful collection, a rumination on her life and the people who have shaped her The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements, turned hearts and informed generations. She’s been hailed as a firebrand, a radical, a healer, and a sage; a wise and courageous voice who has spoken out on the sensitive issues, including race and gender, that touch our national consciousness.
As energetic and relevant as ever, Nikki now offers us an intimate, affecting, and illuminating look at her personal history and the mysteries of her own heart. In A Good Cry, she takes us into her confidence, describing the joy and peril of aging and recalling the violence that permeated her parents’ marriage and her early life. She pays homage to the people who have given her life meaning and joy: her grandparents, who took her in and saved her life; the poets and thinkers who have influenced her; and the students who have surrounded her. Nikki also celebrates her good friend, Maya Angelou, and the many years of friendship, poetry, and kitchen-table laughter they shared before Angelou’s death in 2014.
“I had no idea
Grandmother had to beg
A white man to let me
enroll in Austin High
Where I needed clothes
From Miller and Rich’s
Shoes a coat and stuff
All I knew then
Was the sound
Of my father hitting
My mother every Saturday
Night until I heard
Her say ‘Gus, please
Don’t hit me.’
And I knew my choice: Leave or kill him
Both were sad
I am in the hospital
Room
With yellow tulips
From Nancy and Diana
And a beautiful bouquet
From the English Department
I am trying to learn
how to cry
It’s not that my life
has been a lie
But that I repressed
My tears.”
—From Baby West - A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler
by Lynell George
$30.00A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler offers a blueprint for a creative life from the perspective of award-winning science-fiction writer and “MacArthur Genius” Octavia E. Butler. It is a collection of ideas about how to look, listen, breathe—how to be in the world.
This book is about the creative process, but not on the page; its canvas is much larger. Author Lynell George not only engages the world that shaped Octavia E. Butler, she also explores the very specific processes through which Butler shaped herself—her unique process of self-making. It’s about creating a life with what little you have—hand-me-down books, repurposed diaries, journals, stealing time to write in the middle of the night, making a small check stretch—bit by bit by bit.
Highly visual and packed with photographs of Butler’s ephemera, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky draws the reader into Butler’s world, creating a sense of unmatched intimacy with the deeply private writer.
- A Healing Journal for Black Men: Prompts to Help You Reflect, Grow, and Live With Pride
A Healing Journal for Black Men: Prompts to Help You Reflect, Grow, and Live With Pride
by Danny Angelo Fluker Jr.
$14.99This is a healing journal for Black men-by a Black man-with prompts and practices to help readers reflect on their identity, practice self-care, and process their emotions. Create space for reflection and self-care with healing prompts for Black men
Journaling is a powerful tool for healing that has been used by many great Black men. This guided journal is filled with prompts and practices that encourage you to reflect, heal, and live authentically in your Black manhood. You'll learn to root yourself in self-care and cultivate greater peace in your life so you can truly thrive.
- Evidence-based methods—This self-care journal offers guidance for your healing journey through research-supported, trauma-informed therapeutic modalities.
- Tools for healing—Discover a mix of journal prompts, affirmations, quotes, and other calming exercises to help you reflect and heal a little bit every day.
- Meaningful themes—Awaken your spirit as you explore practices centered on identity, emotions, self-compassion, positive thinking, self-confidence, and pride.
Celebrate your Blackness and uncover a sense of wholeness with this healing journal for men.
- A History of Burning
A History of Burning
by Janika Oza
Sold outThis epic, sweeping historical novel full of "wondrous complexity” spans continents and a century, and reveals how one act of survival can reverberate through generations (Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin).
“Remarkable….a haunting, symphonic tale”— New York Times Book Review
In 1898, Pirbhai, a teenage boy looking for work, is taken from his village in India to labor for the British on the East African Railway. Far from home, Pirbhai commits a brutal act in the name of survival that will haunt him and his family for years to come.
So begins Janika Oza’s masterful, richly told epic, where the embers of this desperate act are fanned into flame over four generations, four continents, throughout the twentieth century. Pirbhai’s children are born in Uganda during the waning days of British colonial rule, and as the country moves toward independence, his granddaughters, three sisters, come of age in a divided nation. Latika is an aspiring journalist, who will put everything on the line for what she believes in; Mayuri’s ambitions will take her farther away from home than she ever imagined; and fearless Kiya will have to carry the weight of her family’s silence and secrets.
In 1972, the entire family is forced to flee under Idi Amin’s military dictatorship. Pirbhai’s grandchildren are now scattered across the world, struggling to find their way back to each other. One day a letter arrives with news that makes each generation question how far they are willing to go, and who they are willing to defy, to secure their own place in the world.
A History of Burning is an unforgettable tour de force, an intimate family saga of complicity and resistance, about the stories we share, the ones that remain unspoken, and the eternal search for home. - A History of Nigeria
A History of Nigeria
Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton
$24.99Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and the world's eighth largest oil producer, but its success has been undermined in recent decades by ethnic and religious conflict, political instability, rampant official corruption and an ailing economy. Toyin Falola, a leading historian intimately acquainted with the region, and Matthew Heaton, who has worked extensively on African science and culture, combine their expertise to explain the context to Nigeria's recent troubles through an exploration of its pre-colonial and colonial past, and its journey from independence to statehood. By examining key themes such as colonialism, religion, slavery, nationalism and the economy, the authors show how Nigeria's history has been swayed by the vicissitudes of the world around it, and how Nigerians have adapted to meet these challenges. This book offers a unique portrayal of a resilient people living in a country with immense, but unrealized, potential.
- A is for Activist
A is for Activist
by Innosanto Nagara
Sold out“Reading it is almost like reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, but for two-year olds—full of pictures and rhymes and a little cat to find on every page that will delight the curious toddler and parents alike.”—Occupy Wall Street
A is for Activist is an ABC board book written and illustrated for the next generation of progressives: families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and everything else that activists believe in and fight for.
The alliteration, rhyming, and vibrant illustrations make the book exciting for children, while the issues it brings up resonate with their parents' values of community, equality, and justice. This engaging little book carries huge messages as it inspires hope for the future, and calls children to action while teaching them a love for books.
- A Kid's Guide to Anime & Manga: Exploring the History of Japanese Animation and Comics
A Kid's Guide to Anime & Manga: Exploring the History of Japanese Animation and Comics
by Samuel Sattin & Patrick Macias
$17.99An accessible, inclusive guide aimed at helping young fans celebrate their okatu spirit by sharing the history of anime and manga while giving young readers advice on how to explore and interact with this fandom.
Whether they're watching anime on Netflix and Crunchyroll or bringing home stacks of manga from the library or bookstore, there is no denying that young fans need a guidebook to help them navigate this geeky space. Written by anime and manga fans, writers, and reviewers Samuel Sattin and Patrick Macias, A Kid's Guide to Anime & Manga includes chapters on:- History and importance of anime and manga
- Breakdowns of how anime and manga are made
- Recommendations of popular series and films to enjoy
- Pro-tips on how to create your own anime and manga and to be involved in cosplay communities
- A Kids Book About Banned Books
A Kids Book About Banned Books
by the National Coalition Against Censorship
Sold outFor every reader who has found a friend in a book.
And for the brave students, writers, teachers, and librarians who fight to make sure all kids can read books that matter to them.
- A Kids Book About Boredom
A Kids Book About Boredom
by Kyle Steed
Sold outWe all know what it’s like to feel bored—you must be pretty bored if you're reading the back of this book! But did you know that being bored is actually one of the most wonderful and powerful things in life? Some of the best things ever created or discovered happened when someone was bored. It’s true! With this book, kids can learn to embrace and discover the benefits of boredom and realize their full potential. - A Kids Book About Climate Change
A Kids Book About Climate Change
by Zanagee Artis & Olivia Greenspan
Sold outClimate change is a topic that can be overwhelming for kids and grownups. So if you’re looking for the best place to better understand the climate crisis, look no further! This book will give kids the facts about climate change, explain what the state of our planet is, how it got there, and give them hope to fight for their future. - A Kids Book About Design
A Kids Book About Design
$19.96Help kids understand the power and impact of good design. What's Inside This is a book about design and exists to unlock the design potential within every kid. Designers work in different ways, but all of them use creativity and compassion to solve problems and make things that in turn make the world a better place. Through the author's personal experience and multi-step process, empower the kid in your life to share their ideas, make, create, and be the best designer they can be. About The Author Jason Mayden (he/him) is a designer, educator, and entrepreneur dedicated to the advancement of diverse creative youth. When he’s not designing, he enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, and their rambunctious French bulldog. Book Details Hardback Size: 8in. x 10in. ISBN: 978-1-953955-62-3 Printed in the USA 72 pages Copyright 2022 Designed in Portland, Oregon - A Kids Book About Immigration
A Kids Book About Immigration
by MJ Calderon
$19.99An accessible, kid-friendly introduction to immigration, and the reasons people immigrate
A clear explanation of what immigration is, and why it happens.
How do we convey to kids what immigration really means? How do we explain all the difficult decisions people make when they choose to leave their home country to start over somewhere new? This book will help! It breaks down many of the complexities of immigration while reminding us all that no matter where we come from, we are all human and should be treated as such.
Meet A Kids Co., a new kind of media company with a collection of beautifully designed books that kickstart challenging, empowering, and important conversations for kids and their grownups. Learn more about us at akidsco.com. - A Kids Book About Juneteenth
A Kids Book About Juneteenth
by Garrison Hayes
$19.99Our history echoes with events which, over time, have become hidden, yet are important to all of us. Juneteenth is a celebration which recognizes the end of the enslavement of Black people in America. This book opens a door to understanding our history and celebrating our future―together.
Meet A Kids Co., a new kind of media company with a collection of beautifully designed books that kickstart challenging, empowering, and important conversations for kids and their grownups. Learn more about us at akidsco.com.
- A Kids Book About Money
A Kids Book About Money
$19.94Quick Take A simple framework for what money is and how to use it wisely. For Ages 4+ What's Inside Money is one of those things that EVERYONE has to deal with in their life, but not many of us learned much about it. There may be no topic more important for grownups to teach kids about than money. This book is a perfect way to introduce the topic to kids. It covers what money is, how to earn it, and how to use it wisely. About the Author Adam Stramwasser is a financial coach, educator, and life hacker. He’s originally from Venezuela and has been helping people and organizations be more efficient with money for over a decade. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Michelle. Book Details Hardback Size: 8in. x 10in. ISBN: 978-1-951253-01-1 Printed in the USA 64 Pages Copyright 2019 Designed in Portland, Oregon - A Kind of Madness
A Kind of Madness
by Uche Okonkwo
$16.95A searing, unflinching collection of stories set in Nigeria that explores themes of community expectations, familial strife, and the struggle for survival.
Set in contemporary Nigeria, Uche Okonkwo’s A Kind of Madness is a collection of ten stories concerned with literal madness but also those private feelings that, when left unspoken, can feel like a type of madness: desire, desperation, hunger, fear, sadness, shame, longing. In these stories, a young woman and her mother bask in the envy of their neighbors when the woman receives an offer of marriage from the family of a doctor living in Belgium—though when the offer fails to materialize, that envy threatens to turn vicious, pitting them both against their village. A teenage girl from a poor family is dazzled by her rich, vivacious friend, but as the friend’s behavior grows unstable and dangerous, she must decide whether to cover for her or risk telling the truth to get her the help she needs. And a lonely daughter finds herself wandering a village in eastern Nigeria in an ill-fated quest, struggling to come to terms with her mother’s mental illness.In vivid, evocative prose, A Kind of Madness unravels the tensions between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, best friends, siblings, and more, marking the arrival of an extraordinary new talent in fiction and inviting us all to consider the question: why is it that the people and places we hold closest are so often the ones that drive us to madness?
- A Land With a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism
A Land With a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism
Esther Farmer (Edited by)
Sold outA collection of personal stories, history, poetry, and art
A Land With a People is a book of stories, photographs and poetry which elevates rarely heard Palestinian and Jewish voices and visions. Eloquently framed with a foreword by the dynamic Palestinian legal scholar and activist, Noura Erakat, this book began as a storytelling project of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and subsequently transformed into a theater project performed throughout the New York City area.
Stories touch hearts, open minds, and transform our understanding of the “other”―as well as our comprehension of own roles and responsibilities― and A Land With a People emerges from this reckoning. It brings us the narratives of secular, Muslim, Christian, and queer Palestinians who endure the particular brand of settler colonialism known as Zionism. It relays the transformational journeys of Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, queer, and Palestinian Jews who have come to reject the received Zionist narrative. Unflinching in their confrontation of the power dynamics that underlie their transformation process, these writers find the courage to face what has happened to historic Palestine, and to their own families as a result. Contextualized by a detailed historical introduction and timeline charting 150 years of Palestinian and Jewish resistance to Zionism, this collection will stir emotions, provoke fresh thinking, and point to a more hopeful, loving future―one in which Palestine/Israel is seen for what it is in its entirety, as well as for what it can be.
- A Legend in the Baking: A Novel
A Legend in the Baking: A Novel
by Jamie Wesley
$18.00After accidentally going viral on social media, a cupcake-baking football player gets assistance from a social media maven―and his best friend's little sister―to help promote his new bakery.
August Hodges was supposed to be the silent partner in Sugar Blitz Cupcakes. Emphasis on silent. That is until his impromptu feminist rant about how women bakers are the backbone of the industry and baking cupcakes isn’t a threat to masculinity goes viral, making him the hottest bachelor in town. With a new location in the works, August and his partners decide to capitalize on this perfect opportunity to help cement their place in the community. But the hiring of his best friend’s younger sister, the woman who has haunted some of his best dreams for years, was as much of a shock as his new-found fame.
Social media manager Sloane Dell fell hard for her brother’s best friend the moment she met him more than a decade ago, but that teenage infatuation cost her dearly. Still, she accepts her brother’s request to revamp the bakery’s social media presence to take advantage of August’s newfound popularity, knowing it’s the big break her fledgling career needs. She’ll just ignore the fact that August is still August, i.e. sexier and sweeter than any man has a right to be. And that he drives her crazy with his resistance to all her ideas.
They vow to leave the past in the past. But when an explosive make-out session makes it clear their attraction burns hotter than ever, Sloane and August are forced to reconsider what it means to take a risk and chase your dreams.
As they’re both about to find out, all’s fair in love and cupcakes.
- A Library
A Library
by Nikki Giovanni
$18.99*ships in 7-10 business days
In this lyrical picture book, world-renowned poet, New York Times bestselling author, and Coretta Scott King Honor winner Nikki Giovanni and fine artist Erin Robinson craft an ode to the magic of libraries as places for imagination, exploration, and escape.
In what other place can a child “sail their dreams” and “surf the rainbow” without ever leaving the room? This celebration of libraries is for everyone who loves stories, from seasoned readers to those just learning to love words, and it will have kids and parents alike imagining where their library can take them.
This inspiring read-aloud includes stunning illustrations by fine artist Erin Robinson and a note from Nikki Giovanni about the importance of libraries in her own childhood.
- A Little Book About Activism
A Little Book About Activism
by Courtney Ahn
Sold outA little book with a big goal! This book aims to give kids the building blocks to develop strong principles of care, empathy, and community. Because you’re never too young to make a difference! - A Little Devil in America : Notes in Praise of Black Performance
A Little Devil in America : Notes in Praise of Black Performance
by Hanif Abdurraqib
$27.00Ships in 7-10 business days.
At the March On Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was 57 years old, well beyond her most prolific days. But in her speech at the march, she was in a mood to consider her life, her legacy, her departure from the country she was now triumphantly returning to. “I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too,” she told the crowd. From those few words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines—whether it’s the 27 seconds in “Gimme Shelter” where Merry Clayton wails the words “rape, murder,” a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt—has layers of resonance in black and white culture, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib’s own personal history of love, grief, and performance.
- 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?
- A Little Optimism Goes a Long Way
A Little Optimism Goes a Long Way
Stacey Allen and Brynne Henry(Illustrator)
$15.00 - A Long Way from Home
A Long Way from Home
by Claude McKay
$19.99McKay's account of his long odyssey from Jamaica to Harlem and then on to France, Britain, North Africa, Russia, and finally back to America. As well as depicting his own experiences, the author describes his encounters with such notable personalities as Charlie Chaplin, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Leon Trotsky, W. E. B. Du Bois, Isadora Duncan, Paul Robeson, and Sinclair Lewis.
- A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
by Tia Williams
from $17.99Paperback Release: February 4, 2025
From the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is an epic love story one hundred years in the making…Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.
When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.
One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked. - A Master Class on Being Human: A Black Christian and a Black Secular Humanist on Religion, Race, and Justice
A Master Class on Being Human: A Black Christian and a Black Secular Humanist on Religion, Race, and Justice
by Brad Braxton & Anthony Pinn
$28.95*ships in 7-10 business days*
A conversation between 2 eminent Black thinkers on how to work together to make the world a better place despite deep religious differences
Brad Braxton and Anthony Pinn represent two traditions—Christianity and Secular Humanism respectively—that have for centuries existed in bitter opposition. For too long, people with different worldviews have disparaged and harmed one another. Instead of fighting each other, Braxton and Pinn talk with, listen to, and learn from one another. Their wide-ranging conversation demonstrates the possibility of fruitful exchange that accounts for—rather than masks—their differences.
Written amid the Covid-19 pandemic, threats to our democracy, and national protests for racial justice, A Master Class on Being Human shows us that constructive dialogue can help us pursue the common good without sacrificing our distinctive identities. In conversations that are frank, personal, and deeply informed by scholarship, Braxton and Pinn discuss topics that are urgent and immediate, such as the ongoing violence against Black communities, the rise of religiously unaffiliated communities, the Black Lives Matter movement. They also ponder those broader philosophical and theological questions that inform our politics and sense of what it means to be human: the meaning of religion, the stubborn dilemma of moral evil, the power and problems of hope.
Braxton and Pinn invite us to join them in a master class as they strive to create a world where differences are not tolerated but instead celebrated. In that kind of courageous classroom, all can learn how to be better people who in turn transform the world into a better place. - A Master of Djinn
A Master of Djinn
by P. Djèlí Clark
$18.99Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark goes full length for the first time in his dazzling debut novel
A 2021 NEIBA Book Award Finalist!
Forty years ago in Egypt, the mystic and inventor Al-Jahiz pierced the veil between realms, sending magic into the world before he vanished into the unknown.
Now in 1912 Cairo, humans brush elbows with djinn in crowded tramcars and airships sail the skies. In this new world the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities maintains an uneasy peace. When someone claiming to be Al-Jahiz "returned" murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to his legacy, however, that peace dissolves into disarray.
The Ministry’s youngest agent, Fatma el-Sha’arawi, has saved the world before. But this case is a special challenge. The imposter's dangerous magical abilities and revolutionary message threaten to tear apart the fabric of this new Egyptian society, and spill over onto the global stage. Can Agent Fatma unravel the mystery of Al-Jahiz in time to save the world—again? - A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration
A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration
by Jessica Bell Brown & Ryan N. Dennis
$45.00Contemporary artists and writers reflect on the Great Migration and the ways that it continues to inform the Black experience in America
Contemporary artists and writers reflect on the Great Migration and the ways that it continues to inform the Black experience in America
The Great Migration (1915–70) saw more than six million African Americans leave the South for destinations across the United States. This incredible dispersal of people across the country transformed nearly every aspect of Black life and culture. Offering a new perspective on this historical phenomenon, this incisive volume presents immersive photography of newly commissioned works of art by Akea, Mark Bradford, Zoë Charlton, Larry W. Cook, Torkwase Dyson, Theaster Gates Jr., Allison Janae Hamilton, Leslie Hewitt, Steffani Jemison, Robert Pruitt, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, and Carrie Mae Weems. The artists investigate their connections to the Deep South through familial stories of perseverance, self-determination, and self-reliance and consider how this history informs their working practices. Essays by Kiese Laymon, Jessica Lynne, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, and Willie Jamaal Wright explore how the Great Migration continues to reverberate today in the public and private spheres and examine migration as both a historical and a political consequence, as well as a possibility for reclaiming agency.
Published in association with the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Mississippi Museum of Art - A Novel Christmas
A Novel Christmas
by Charity Shane
$17.95A prominent romance author has a slump in her love life and book sales, but a chance encounter with a hot firefighter helps her reignite her muse in this swoony holiday romance, perfect for book romantics.
Saira Wright is a prominent Black romance author who has been signed to the most prestigious publisher of African American works, Brownstone Literature. Her career has been successful for the past five years. However, she’s in a slump, and so are her sales and reviews. The romance she has been known for seems to be zapped out of her stories . . . and her love life.
Eager to get Saira back on top of the charts, her publisher has given her an ultimatum—write a chart-topping holiday romance or be dropped from the publishing house. There’s only one problem: Saira strongly opposes penning holiday books. To her, they are cliché and off-brand, but with her career on the line, she’s forced to give it a shot. To capture the spirit of the holidays, she books a vacation in the most “Christmassy” town she can find.
Sharing the other side of her rented duplex is the owner, Dorian Black, a volunteer firefighter, and the town’s little league football coach. He’s also “Mr. December” in the firefighter’s annual fundraising calendar . . . and every woman’s dream. Years ago, Dorian was happily married to the love of his life until cancer took her away from him. Still coping with the loss, a romantic relationship is the furthest thing from his mind. However, when he encounters his new tenant for the holiday, sparks fly and a fire is ignited that not even he can extinguish.
As the two navigate through various encounters, holiday festivities, and a snowstorm, will the magic of Christmas help them rediscover a long-awaited connection?
- A Pair of Wings: A Novel
A Pair of Wings: A Novel
by Carole Hopson
$29.99A riveting, adventurous novel inspired by the life of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who learned to fly at the dawn of aviation, and found freedom in the air.
For fans of Hidden Figures, The Great Circle, and I Was Amelia Earhart, A Pair of Wings is an epic novel about pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, whose story has waited 100 years to be told. A few years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight, Bessie was working the Texas cotton fields with her family when an airplane flew right over their heads. It buzzed so low she thought she could catch it in her hands. Bessie wasn’t afraid. Without even thinking, she spread her arms out and pretended she was flying. She knew there was freedom in those wings.
The daughter of a woman born into slavery, Bessie answers the call of the great migration, moving to Chicago as a single woman. While working as a manicurist in the White Sox barbershop, she wins the backing of two wealthy, powerful Black men, Robert Abbott, the publisher of The Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga, Chicago’s first Black banker. Abbott becomes her mentor and chronicles her adventures, while the good-looking gun-toting Binga becomes her lover. Her first love, though, remains the airplane.
But in 1920, no one in the U.S. will train a Black woman to fly, so 26- year-old Bessie learns to speak French and bets it all on an epic journey to Europe as she begins a quest to defy the odds and gravity itself. Two years ahead of Amelia Earhart, Bessie is molded by battle-hardened French and German combat pilots, who teach her death-defying stunts. Bessie’s signature majestic loops, spiky barrel rolls, and hairpin turns, just like her hardscrabble journey, are spellbinding.
While she finds there is no prejudice in the air, Bessie must wrestle with many challenges: She nearly dies in a plane crash, one of her brothers seems to be crumbling under the weight of Jim Crow, and as she grapples with tough truths about Binga, Bessie begins to wonder if the freedom she finds is the air means she must otherwise fly solo.
With tenderness and verve, Carole Hopson imagines the breathtaking moxie that led Bessie Coleman to strap up knee-high boots and don a self-designed flight suit to become “Queen Bess” of the sky.
- A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics
A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics
by Hadas Thier
$20.00Economists regularly promote Capitalism as the greatest system ever to grace the planet. With the same breath, they implore us to leave the job of understanding the magical powers of the market to the “experts.”
Despite the efforts of these mainstream commentators to convince us otherwise, many of us have begun to question why this system has produced such vast inequality and wanton disregard for its own environmental destruction. This book offers answers to exactly these questions on their own terms: in the form of a radical economic theory.
- A Perfect Day to Be Alone: A Novel
A Perfect Day to Be Alone: A Novel
Nanae Aoyama & Jesse Kirkwood
$15.99PRE-ORDER. ON SALE DATE: February 11, 2025
The English-language debut of a prize-winning Japanese author, this touching, subtly funny novel evokes the daily struggles and hopes of two women from different generations.
When her mother emigrates to China for work, 20-year-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains.
Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu’s flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.
A Perfect Day to Be Alone is a moving, microscopic examination of loneliness and heartbreak. With flashes of deadpan humor and a keen eye for poignant detail, Aoyama chronicles the painful process of breaking free from the moorings of youth.
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