Products

Availability

Price

$
$

More filters

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Penguin Vitae)

    Frederick Douglass

    $25.00

    An updated edition of a classic African American autobiography, with new supplementary materials

    A Penguin Vitae Edition

    The preeminent American slave narrative first published in 1845, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative powerfully details the life of the abolitionist from his birth into slavery in 1818 to his escape to the North in 1838, how he endured the daily physical and spiritual brutalities of his owners and driver, how he learned to read and write, and how he grew into a man who could only live free or die. In addition to Douglass’s classic autobiography, this new edition also includes his most famous speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” and his only known work of fiction, The Heroic Slave, which was written, in part, as a response to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

    Penguin Classics presents Penguin Vitae, loosely translated as “Penguin of one’s life,” a deluxe hardcover series featuring a dynamic landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction that has shaped the course of our readers' lives. Penguin Vitae invites readers to find themselves in a diverse world of storytellers, with beautifully designed classic editions of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.

  • Nasty Work: Resist Systems, Explore Desire, and Liberate Yourself
    $30.00

    An award-winning sexuality educator takes down society’s deeply entrenched colonial views on sex and gender throughout history in this accessible, candid, and revolutionary exploration of how we can—and should—reclaim our minds and bodies for a more pleasurable existence for all.

    When you think about sex ed, your mind likely goes back to those uncomfortable school desks and the stifled laughs of your teenage years. But what we’ve been socialized to believe about sexuality actually hinders our own pleasure well into adulthood. Whether we know it or not, even the most progressive among us are often using 400-year-old inherited thoughts and belief systems in the twenty-first century. Why are we still carrying forth these ancient values that have never served the vast majority?

    As a Black, queer, non-binary, disabled femme, Ericka Hart believes that sex ed done right can actually be a tool for liberation. In Nasty Work, she breaks down the ways that social implications keep us from experiencing pleasure, particularly for marginalized communities across race, gender, sexuality, and ability, and how we can dismantle these oppressive myths. From examining what guides our attraction to others to the history of consent, Ericka Hart takes the blinders off and reveals a more empowering view of sex and sexuality.

    Nasty Work blends eye-opening research with powerful, poignant personal narrative that disrupts everything you thought you knew about sex and society, offering a liberatory framework that makes pleasure accessible for all.

  • Nat Turner: A Graphic Novel
    $19.99

    Nat Turner is the fascinating and action-packed true story of an American freedom fighter, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker as a graphic novel—collecting all four issues of his critically acclaimed miniseries.

    “A hauntingly beautiful historical spotlight. A-” —Entertainment Weekly

    The story of Nat Turner and his slave rebellion—which began on August 21, 1831, in Southampton County, Virginia—is known among school children and adults. To some he is a hero, a symbol of Black resistance and a precursor to the civil rights movement; to others he is a monster—a murderer whose name is never uttered.

    In Nat Turner, acclaimed author and illustrator Kyle Baker depicts the evils of slavery in this moving and historically accurate story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion. Told nearly wordlessly, every image resonates with the reader as the brutal story unfolds.

    “Baker’s storytelling is magnificent.” —Variety

  • Native Son

    by Richard Wright

    Sold out
    “Native Son declares Richard Wright’s importance, not merely as the best Negro writer, but as an American author as distinctive as any of those writing today.”—New York Times

    This edition of Native Son reprints the original edition in which Wright omitted several passages which book club editors feared would prove offensive to readers in 1940 and which were restored to the book in later editions.

    Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright’s powerful novel is just as meaningful today as when it was written, both in its unsparing reflection of the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and in what it means to be black in America. An undisputed classic since it was first published, Native Son has sold close to three million copies.

    This abridged edition—the original 1940 text—includes an afterword by John Reilly and contains an introduction, “How ‘Bigger’ was Born” by Richard Wright.

  • Native Son American Classics Edition: A Novel (HarperCollins American Classics)
    $20.00

    One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels

    “If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr.

    In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, HarperCollins is proud to present this library of American classics drawn from our storied catalog. When it was first published in 1940, Native Son established Richard Wright as a literary star. In the decades since, Wright's masterpiece—hailed as "a novel of tremendous power and beauty" (Newsweek)—has become a revered classic that remains as timely and relevant today as when it first appeared.

    Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Native Son is the story of Bigger Thomas, a young Black man caught in a downward spiral after killing a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Written with the distinctive rhythm of a modern crime story, this formidable work is both a condemnation of social injustice and an unsparing portrait of the Black experience in America, revealing the tragic effect of poverty, racism, and hopelessness on the human spirit. As Wright explained, "I wrote Native Son to show what manner of men and women our 'society of the majority' breeds, and my aim was to depict a character in terms of the living tissue and texture of daily consciousness."

    This edition of Native Son isthe restored text established by the Library of America—the novel as Wright intended it to be published. It also includes an essay by Wright titled, How "Bigger" was Born, along with notes on the text.

  • Natural Beauty: A Novel

    by Ling Ling Huang

    $18.00
    Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.

    Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.
     
    Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.
     
    A piercing, darkly funny debut, 
    Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.
  • Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors

    by Rue Mapp

    $24.95

    An exquisite combination of beautiful photography and compelling stories, this book from Outdoor Afro founder, Rue Mapp, celebrates Black joy in nature.

    Filled with breathtaking photography, inspiring stories, profiles, and spotlights from Outdoor Afro group members, prominent Black leaders in outdoor spaces, and other organizations, this book inspires Black communities to reclaim their place in the natural world. Interspersed throughout are essays from Mapp on the rich history of Black involvement in the outdoors, activism, and conservation, as well as resources for readers who want to deepen their own connection with the elements. A perfect blend of gorgeous photographs, awe-inspiring stories, and Black history, this collection is the perfect gift for anyone looking to heal in these sacred natural spaces.

    INCREDIBLE ORGANIZATION: Outdoor Afro is a leading organization in the promotion of Black involvement and interaction with the outdoors. Their powerful work is leaving positive, lasting effects on the Black community and broader conservation community.

    ACCOMPLISHED AUTHOR: Rue Mapp's rich involvement in the outdoors and her connections with like-minded individuals and organizations offer a unique approach to educating, motivating, and encouraging Black connection with nature.

    INSPIRATIONAL AND UNIQUE: This book showcases Black joy and strength in spaces from which they have either historically been excluded, or less represented, and makes for an inventive and uplifting celebration of Black joy in nature.

    A GREAT GIFT: Perfect for the outdoorsy person in your life, this book will make for an excellent boost of inspiration and encouragement all year round.

  • Neecy and Nay Nay and the Glitter Girls (Neecy and Nay Nay #2) (A Little Bee Books Chapter Book Series)

    Syrone Harvey & Simone Harvey & Maya Henderson

    $6.99

    Twin sisters Neecy and Nay Nay are back for another adventure in this hilarious, heartwarming new chapter book series celebrating Black joy, sisterhood, family, and friendship.

    Neecy and Nay Nay love being part of the Glitter Girls Club. This month, the girls are working toward earning their Make a Difference badges. The twins want to help local resident Mr. Otis by getting him a new pair of dentures so he can enjoy all his favorite foods. But raising money is not as easy as looking under couch cushions! Will Neecy and Nay Nay be able to make a difference for Mr. Otis and earn their badges?

  • Neecy and Nay Nay and the Green Thumbs (Neecy and Nay Nay #3) (A Little Bee Books Chapter Book Series)

    Simone Dankenbring

    Sold out

    Twin sisters Neecy and Nay Nay use their green thumbs to plant a garden in the third installment of this hilarious, heartwarming chapter book series celebrating Black joy, sisterhood, family, and friendship.

    When Big Mama is chosen to run the community garden, Neecy and Nay Nay put themselves in charge of their very own kids' garden! They're going to learn all about gardening, including weeding, planting, composting, and taking care of the living creatures in the soil. But nothing seems to be going their way! Even worse, their interest in studying worms gets them into a squiggly situation after hundreds of them spill all over their bedroom. Big Mama wants the worms gone! Will the twins be able to take care of their worms and their garden?

  • Neecy and Nay Nay and the Mystery Sleepover (Neecy and Nay Nay #4) (A Little Bee Books Chapter Book Series)

    Syrone Harvey

    Sold out

    Twin sisters Neecy and Nay Nay are hosting a mystery sleepover in this hilarious, heartwarming chapter book series celebrating Black joy, sisterhood, family, and friendship.

    Neecy and Nay Nay's best friends are coming over for a mystery sleepover! They'll play detective games, have a disguise contest, go on a mystery scavenger hunt, and even watch episodes of their favorite TV show, Snoop Diggity Detective. But when they discover their neighbor Jamila's foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, acting suspicious, they begin to think they have a real life mystery on their hands! Can the twins complete the mystery scavenger hunt and solve Jamila's mystery before their friend finds out?

  • Neecy and Nay Nay and the Tangled, Hairy Mess (Neecy and Nay Nay #1) (A Little Bee Books Chapter Book Series)

    Simone Dankenbring & Syrone Harvey & Maya Henderson

    Sold out

    Welcome to Neecy and Nay Nay's House of Style, a salon run by twin sisters Neecy and Nay Nay in this hilarious, heartwarming new chapter book series celebrating Black joy, sisterhood, family, and friendship.

    "A 'twin-tastically' fun read." - Kirkus Reviews

    Neecy and Nay Nay always have the most twin-tastic ideas! Their latest is to open up a salon called Neecy and Nay Nay's House of Style. They want to style their friends' hair, paint their nails, and give them facials. But, it turns out, the twins are not as good at being stylists as they think! Can Neecy and Nay Nay work together to fix the hair-raising accidents?

  • Negligent by Design: Anti-Blackness in American Medicine and How to Address It

    Vanessa Grubbs MD

    $20.95

    A searing critique of medical racism and a powerful call for health-care professionals to make real change in their field, written by a leading activist and doctor

    Unequal access to care. Misdiagnosis. Mistreatment. Medical gaslighting. An increasing number of studies show the profound impacts racism has on communities of color—particularly Black Americans. But these disparities in health care and wellbeing are not the result of a handful of uninformed or malicious doctors: racism in the medical system is institutional, woven into the very fabric of diagnostic criteria and even hospital infrastructure. Medicine denies fair treatment to Black patients not in error…but by design.

    Drawing from extensive research, in-depth interviews with medical students and resident physicians, and over twenty-five years of experience as a medical doctor, Dr. Vanessa Grubbs argues that the reason racism in medicine continues to go unchecked is because it is in fact the standard of care. Any attempts to dismantle medical racism through “placebo” efforts such as forming diversity committees or releasing statements condemning racism will fail, she says, because they don’t address the reality of how the institution of Medicine has been, and continues to be, negligent when it comes to the treatment of Black people.

    Dr. Grubbs skillfully unpacks the three core problems of how our health-care system currently considers the race of patients, which she identifies as being “race based,” “race disregarded,” and “race denied.”

    * When medical diagnoses and trainings are race based, they lead doctors to make different treatment decisions for Black patients, and create a dangerous disadvantage.

    * At the same time, medical textbooks and trainings may inappropriately disregard race in cases when it does matter, like failing to include pictures of how rashes may appear differently on light and dark skin—leading to misdiagnosis and death.

    * And finally, many medical institutions still deny the extent to which racism is an issue at all, resulting in fewer Black physicians and disastrous outcomes for Black patients.

    Calling on her medical colleagues to join her in working against the negligence of American medicine, Dr. Grubbs lays out a pathway to true equity and inclusion in health care: getting to the root of the underlying fears and insecurities that have led to racist medical negligence; recruiting and retaining a diverse physician workforce; and forcing Medicine to commit to the cultural humility necessary to rebuild, not just replaster, a broken institution.

  • Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums

    Mabel O. Wilson

    $34.95

    Focusing on Black Americans' participation in world’s fairs, Emancipation expositions, and early Black grassroots museums, Negro Building traces the evolution of Black public history from the Civil War through the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Mabel O. Wilson gives voice to the figures who conceived the curatorial content: Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, A. Philip Randolph, Horace Cayton, and Margaret Burroughs. Originally published in 2012, the book reveals why the Black cities of Chicago and Detroit became the sites of major Black historical museums rather than the nation's capital, which would eventually become home for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016.

  • Negro Legislators Of Texas And Their Descendants: A History Of The Negro In Texas Politics From Reconstruction To Disfranchisement

    John Mason Brewer and Herbert P Gambrell

    $35.99

    ""Negro Legislators Of Texas And Their Descendants"" is a historical account of the role of African Americans in Texas politics during the period of Reconstruction to Disfranchisement. The book is written by John Mason Brewer and provides an in-depth look at the lives of prominent black legislators and their descendants who played a significant role in shaping Texas politics during this tumultuous period.The book begins by exploring the political landscape of Texas after the Civil War, where African Americans were granted the right to vote and hold public office for the first time. It then delves into the lives of notable black legislators, including Richard Allen, Norris Wright Cuney, and Matthew Gaines, who fought for civil rights and equality in a state that was still deeply divided by racial tensions.The book also examines the challenges faced by black legislators and their descendants, including the rise of Jim Crow laws and the eventual disenfranchisement of African American voters. Despite these obstacles, the book highlights the resilience and determination of black Texans who continued to fight for their rights and make significant contributions to Texas politics.Overall, ""Negro Legislators Of Texas And Their Descendants"" is a comprehensive and insightful account of the role of African Americans in Texas politics during a pivotal moment in the state's history.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

  • Negro Liberation
    $24.95

    A major work in the Black Communist tradition by worker-intellectual Harry Haywood, now in a new edition featuring a foreword by Dr. Rebecca Hall and an introduction by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly.

    In 1948, Harry Haywood, a leading member of the Communist Party USA, published Negro Liberation, a pathbreaking book that lays out his argument that the Black Belt South constitutes a distinct nation and an internal colony of U.S. imperialism. Applying a Marxist-Leninist lens to questions of nationalism, colonialism, and land distribution, Haywood lays out the dire stakes of Jim Crow violence and oppression and critiques the emptiness and insufficiency of liberal solutions. Along the way, he makes a powerful case for Black self-determination.

    Framed by Rebecca Hall’s moving meditation on her father’s legacy and Charisse Burden-Stelly’s clear-eyed case for how Haywood reveals the contradiction between ruling-class politics and Black liberation today, this new edition of Negro Liberation is a must-read for anyone fighting against oppression.

  • Negroland

    by Margo Jefferson

    $16.95

    *ships in 7-10 business days*

    At once incendiary and icy, mischievous and provocative, celebratory and elegiac—here is a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, and American culture through the prism of the author’s rarefied upbringing and education among a black elite concerned with distancing itself from whites and the black generality while tirelessly measuring itself against both.

    Born in upper-crust black Chicago—her father was for years head of pediatrics at Provident, at the time the nation’s oldest black hospital; her mother was a socialite—Margo Jefferson has spent most of her life among (call them what you will) the colored aristocracy, the colored elite, the blue-vein society. Since the nineteenth century they have stood apart, these inhabitants of Negroland, “a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty.”

    Reckoning with the strictures and demands of Negroland at crucial historical moments—the civil rights movement, the dawn of feminism, the fallacy of postracial America—Jefferson brilliantly charts the twists and turns of a life informed by psychological and moral contradictions. Aware as it is of heart-wrenching despair and depression, this book is a triumphant paean to the grace of perseverance.

  • Neighbors and Other Stories

    by Diane Oliver

    Sold out

    A bold and haunting debut story collection that follows various characters as they navigate the day-to-day perils of Jim Crow racism from Diane Oliver, a missing figure in the canon of twentieth-century African American literature, with an introduction by Tayari Jones

    A remarkable talent far ahead of her time, Diane Oliver died in 1966 at the age of 22, leaving behind these crisply told and often chilling tales that explore race and racism in 1950s and 60s America. In this first and only collection by a masterful storyteller finally taking her rightful place in the canon, Oliver’s insightful stories reverberate into the present day.

    There’s the nightmarish “The Closet on the Top Floor” in which Winifred, the first Black student at her newly integrated college, starts to physically disappear; “Mint Juleps not Served Here” where a couple living deep in a forest with their son go to bloody lengths to protect him; “Spiders Cry without Tears,” in which a couple, Meg and Walt, are confronted by prejudices and strains of interracial and extramarital love; and the high tension titular story that follows a nervous older sister the night before her little brother is set to desegregate his school.

    These are incisive and intimate portraits of African American families in everyday moments of anxiety and crisis that look at how they use agency to navigate their predicaments. As much a social and historical document as it is a taut, engrossing collection, Neighbors is an exceptional literary feat from a crucial once-lost figure of letters.

  • Nell Plants a Tree

    by Anne Wynter

    $19.99

    This stunning, poetic picture book shows how one little girl’s careful tending of a pecan tree creates the living center of a loving, intergenerational Black family.

    Before her grandchildren climbed the towering tree,

    explored its secret nests,

                           raced to its sturdy trunk,

                                       read in its cool shade,

                           or made pies with its pecans . . .

    Nell buried a seed.

    And just as, with Nell’s love and care, her tree grows and thrives—so do generations of her close-knit family.

    Inspired by the pecan trees of her own childhood, Anne Wynter’s lyrical picture book, brought to life with gorgeous illustrations by Daniel Miyares, brims with wonder and love.

  • Nervous : Essays on Heritage and Healing

    Jen Soriano

    $19.99

    We all carry history in our bodies.

    In her twenties and early thirties, Jen Soriano spent hours lying awake at night, her sleep disturbed by pain that seemed to have no cause. Eventually, she received a collection of diagnoses: C-PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, peripheral neuralgia, mild dystonia, and social anxiety disorder. Soriano realized that these were all conditions that affect the nervous system. What could have caused these nervous system disturbances in the first place? And why was her own father, a neurosurgeon, unable to help?

    Many stories about trauma, mental illness, and chronic pain focus solely on individual paths to healing. In fourteen lyrical essays traversing centuries and continents, Soriano widens the lens to show how we can move from isolated trauma to a networked web of trauma wisdom. Nervous unflinchingly examines legacies of war, racism, colonization, and migration, and navigates both the human body and the body politic by centering neurodiverse, disabled, and genderqueer bodies of color within larger systems that have harmed and silenced them for generations. With Nervous, Soriano boldly invites us along on a watershed journey toward healing, collective safety, and communion.

  • Nervous Conditions: A Novel (Nervous Conditions Series)
    $17.00

    A modern classic from the Booker-shortlisted author of This Mournable Body

    The groundbreaking first novel in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s award-winning trilogy, Nervous Conditions, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and has been “hailed as one of the 20th century’s most significant works of African literature” (The New York Times). Two decades before Zimbabwe would win independence and ended white minority rule, thirteen-year-old Tambudzai Sigauke embarks on her education. On her shoulders rest the economic hopes of her parents, siblings, and extended family, and within her burns the desire for independence. She yearns to be free of the constraints of her rural village and thinks she’s found her way out when her wealthy uncle offers to sponsor her schooling. But she soon learns that the education she receives at his mission school comes with a price.

  • Neurofutures: Neurodiversity in Crip Time
    $35.00

    Reimagines neurodiversity through intersections of race, disability, and social justice

    Neurodiversity has progressed from niche activism to a household term; our culture is now saturated with social media ads promising to "train" ADHD brains and media tropes like the quirky savant. But amidst this barrage of content urging self-optimization against a neurotypical template, Neurofutures pauses to ask: what comes next? Editors Diana R. Paulin, M. Remi Yergeau, Ralph James Savarese, and Elizabeth J. Donaldson gather a diverse array of scholars and creatives to think through "crip time" ― sideways, chronic, manic, and executive dysfunction time ― to reimagine the future of cognitive difference.

    Moving beyond a simplistic celebration of diversity, the collection interrogates the intersections of race, disability, and social justice. Contributors offer "mad provocations" that span from Black neurodivergence and Afrofuturism to neuroqueer paradigms and animal liberation. Through analyses of cultural texts ― ranging from the folklore of "Little Eight John" to the speculative worlds of Octavia Butler and Shirley Jackson ― the essays deconstruct the violence of neurotypical norms while advocating for the rights of neurodivergent people to full lives and care.

    Neurofutures refuses the linear march of progress, instead delving into the complex, often hidden realities of lived experience to map a world that welcomes divergence, dissent, and deep compassion.

  • Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End
    $21.99

    "Never Can Say Goodbye is deliciously woven from threads of guidance, memory, and devotion to the sacred labor of holding space at the end of life." --Alua Arthur, author of Briefly Perfectly Human

    Compelling narrative that highlights the importance of a death doula and generational traumas faced by the Black community.

    Embedded within the fabric of American society are deeply ingrained taboos surrounding death. For African Americans, these taboos are compounded by a complex interplay of factors that make conversations about death even more elusive. The echoes of systemic racism, unequal access to healthcare, and the enduring impact of generational traumas have created an environment where death is often seen as a subject best left untouched.

    In his debut book Never Can Say Goodbye, death doula, Darnell Lamont Walker:

    delves into the reasons behind the silence surrounding death within the Black community.narrates his personal experiences of holding space for individuals at the end of their lives. guides and comforts those navigating grief, who silently mourn.

    Walker shares personal stories from his role as a compassionate guide navigating the delicate space between life and death. These narratives unfold as intimate accounts of individuals, each seeking solace, closure, and the opportunity to share the stories that define them.

    This book is for anyone wanting to witness the healing that unfolds when someone is afforded the chance to articulate their life's journey, find closure in their own narrative, and ultimately, face the inevitable with a newfound sense of peace.

    Never Can Say Goodbye captures the essence of these profoundly human moments while exploring the connection between the grieving and their doula, revealing the transformative power of storytelling in the face of mortality. Walker helps you process feelings and emotions from past losses and instills wisdom on how you can hold space and provide your loved ones with the closure they deserve.

  • Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
    $18.99

    A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of “extraordinary grit” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

    When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the President grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire.

    Though Ona Judge lived a life of relative comfort, she was denied freedom. So, when the opportunity presented itself one clear and pleasant spring day in Philadelphia, Judge left everything she knew to escape to New England. Yet freedom would not come without its costs. At just twenty-two-years-old, Ona became the subject of an intense manhunt led by George Washington, who used his political and personal contacts to recapture his property.

    “A crisp and compulsively readable feat of research and storytelling” (USA TODAY), historian and National Book Award finalist Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked everything to gain freedom from the famous founding father and most powerful man in the United States at the time.

  • Never Tell

    by Stacey Abrams

    Sold out

    *Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

    From popular political leader and lawyer Stacey Abrams comes a reissue of her romantic suspense novel, Never Tell, written under the name Selena Montgomery!

    Criminal psychologist Dr. Erin Abbott wants nothing more than to live a quiet life. That means no danger, no intrigue-and absolutely no romance. But when Erin suspects a serial killer is roaming New Orleans, her investigation throws her straight into the arms of the only man who can help her.

    Journalist Gabriel Moss is hot to find his next huge story-and he knows Erin is on to something big. From the moment they meet, Gabriel senses that Erin is hiding something. One thing is certain: Erin's boxy suits and sensible shoes hide a delicate beauty waiting to emerge...and Gabriel is just the man to reveal the woman inside.

    As they join forces to find the killer, Gabriel slowly seduces Erin with his soft kisses. But Erin knows their love can never be. For she is hiding a terrible secret-and if Gabriel reveals the truth, Erin's life will be shattered forever...

  • Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl: Essays
    $30.00

    An irresistible delight, this hilarious and heartwarming essay collection gathers essential tales about growing up in the South, the pitfalls of date night, and why no one should ever tell a Black girl how to Black Girl.

    Black women always find a place to meet: in the natural hair aisle, at Beyoncé concerts, even online in memes and catchphrases. This book is one of those places: a living room where readers can contemplate how a well-picked afro can defy the laws of physics and why boob sweat has to exist in the first place. Here, Black Girl is a verb. Here, Black women can Black Girl in every way we want to.

    Amena Brown’s book Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl blends storytelling, humor, and pop culture commentary to traverse the magic and wisdom she's gleaned from being raised by Southern Black women, and supported by the community of Black women who hold her down today. After graduating from the International Black Girl Headquarters (the renowned HBCU Spelman College), Amena has built a career telling stories and celebrating Black womanhood. In her book, she shares stories of dancing in Janelle Monae's "Tightrope" music video and partnering with Tracee Ellis Ross to compose odes to natural hair. She imparts essential life lessons from the Real Housewives of Atlanta, and tells hair tales, including wisdom on the ideal style for her first speaking gig at Essence Fest (box braids, 100 percent).

    In the end, Brown shares that Black women are a whole world. A galaxy of customs, language, code, and unspoken understandings, all explored with humor and heart in this unforgettable book.

  • New and Collected Hell: A Poem

    Shane McCrae

    $28.00

    Shane McCrae, “peer to the peerless” (New York Journal of Books), takes up and turns on its head the mantle of Dante in this contemporary vision of Hell.

    Of death the muse is death the muse of Hell
    Is death the muse of Heaven I don’t know
    O muse of where howcan I hope to go
    To where I pray I’ll go sing at least tell

    Shane McCrae, one of the most prophetic and powerful poetic voices of our time, has created a twenty-first-century epic in New and Collected Hell. As David Woo wrote in Poetry, “McCrae’s poems allude to literary precursors like Dante, Milton, and the Bible, but the voice is unabashedly of our time . . . By seeking to heal the rift in his own identity, McCrae has listened intently to the literary echoes emanating from the English language and transmuted them through his own dynamic voice.” Here, he gathers new and previous work as a culmination of his long-standing poetic project: a new and unforgettable journey through Hell. McCrae’s work is indelible, and this collection brings his searing vision to new depths.

  • New Growth: The Art and Texture of Black Hair

    by Jasmine Nichole Cobb

    $25.95

    Through close readings of slave narratives, scrapbooks, travel illustration, documentary film and photography, as well as collage, craft, and sculpture, Jasmine Nichole Cobb explores Black hair as a visual material through which to reimagine the sensual experience of Blackness.

    From Frederick Douglass to Angela Davis, “natural hair” has been associated with the Black freedom struggle. In New Growth Jasmine Nichole Cobb traces the history of Afro-textured coiffure, exploring it as a visual material through which to reimagine the sensual experience of Blackness. Through close readings of slave narratives, scrapbooks, travel illustration, documentary film and photography, as well as collage, craft, and sculpture, from the nineteenth century to the present, Cobb shows how the racial distinctions ascribed to people of African descent become simultaneously visible and tactile. Whether examining Soul Train’s and Ebony’s promotion of the Afro hairstyle alongside cosmetics or how artists such as Alison Saar and Lorna Simpson underscore the construction of Blackness through the representation of hair, Cobb foregrounds the inseparability of Black hair’s look and feel. Demonstrating that Blackness is palpable through appearance and feeling, Cobb reveals the various ways that people of African descent forge new relationships to the body, public space, and visual culture through the embrace of Black hair.

  • New Kid

    by Jerry Craft

    Sold out

    Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan just happens to be one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

  • New Kid 3-Book Box Set: New Kid, Class Act, School Trip

    Jerry Craft

    Sold out

    From critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Jerry Craft comes a new special box set that includes all three books in his award-winning collection of graphic novels.

    In New Kid, winner of the Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize, you’ll meet twelve-year-old Jordan Banks as he starts seventh grade at the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School—where diversity is low and expectations are high.

    In Class Act, Jordan’s friends Drew and Liam have their own struggles as they enter their eighth grade year. Can two kids who are really so different still be friends? 

    And the saga soars to new heights in School Trip, where Jordan, Drew, Liam, and the rest of their friends all feel like the “new kid” as they spend an entire week in Paris.

    Middle school is hard enough without being the new kid…

  • New Moons: Phases of Healing

    r.h. Sin

    $18.99

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

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

  • New Skin: A Novel
    $29.00

    A scalding, darkly humorous debut following an enmeshed mother-daughter duo, both best friends and enemies, and the plastic surgery addiction that warps their lives into a perilous spiral
     
    At twenty-six, Linli Feng is still trying to escape her mother Fanny’s orbit. But after three years of estrangement, just when Linli has been accepted into a prestigious graduate program, she is dragged back by Fanny’s latest medical catastrophe and forced to return home. 

    For decades, Fanny has been addicted to plastic surgery, getting bargain procedures in the basements of LA’s bootleg beauty industry. Now Fanny’s disfigured face is in dangerous revolt, infected and collapsing yet again from black-market injectables.
     
    But even as Linli wades through the wreck of family finances and juggles her mother’s medical care, Fanny has another secret in store. Fanny has won a spot on America’s Beauty Extreme, a reality television competition in which botched plastic surgery addicts compete for reconstructive surgery as riveted audiences tune in. When Linli attempts to rescue Fanny from the sinister subculture that has already claimed her mother’s face, she must at last confront the corrosive reality of American success that is at the fraught heart of their relationship.

  • New Suns 2: Original Speculative Fiction

    by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl

    $16.99

    *Ships in 7-10 Business Days* 

    New Suns 2 brings you fresh visions of the strange, the unexpected, the shocking—breakthrough stories, stories shining with emerging truths, stories that pierce stale preconceptions with their beauty and bravery. Like the first New Suns anthology (winner of the World Fantasy, Locus, IGNYTE, and British Fantasy awards), this book liberates writers of many races to tell us tales no one has ever told.

    Many things come in twos: dualities, binaries, halves, and alternates. Twos are found throughout New Suns 2, in eighteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories revealing daring futures, hidden pasts, and present-day worlds filled with unmapped wonders.

    Including stories by Daniel H. WilsonK. Tempest BradfordDarcie Little BadgerGeetanjali VandemarkJohn ChuNghi VoTananarive DueAlex JenningsKarin LowacheeSaad HossainHiromi GotoMinsoo KangTlotlo TsamaaseRochita Loenen-RuizMalka OlderKathleen AlcaláChristopher Caldwell and Jaymee Goh with a foreword by Walter Mosley and an afterword by Dr. Grace Dillon.

     

Stay Informed. We're building a community committed to celebrating Black authors + artisans. Subscribe to keep up with all things Kindred Stories.