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- AUGUST 2024: Romance Book Club - August 13 @ 7PM
AUGUST 2024: Romance Book Club - August 13 @ 7PM
from $0.00BOOK CLUB MEETING DEETS
When: Tuesday, August 13 @ 7PM
Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)
How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you plan to attend and RSVP WITH BOOK to purchase your book and support Romance Book Club
ABOUT CURVY GIRL SUMMER
After a one-night stand with her clingy ex, Aaliyah James has an epiphany: this ain’t it. She knows what she wants, and she’s ready to move past casual hookups, flings, and situationships.
But for her family, the clock is ticking—after all, she’s almost thirty. And when they imply that her personality (and her body) might be too big to land a man, she lets them know they’ve gone too far—and her (nonexistent) man loves her curves, thank you very much. Now, she has seven weeks to find the perfect boyfriend to rub in their faces at the big, fancy birthday celebration she’s been planning.
After her first blind date goes wrong, charming local bartender Ahmad Williamson consoles her with a drink and some playful banter. Aaliyah takes him up on his suggestion to use a dating app—but the more she sees of his warm, funny, and easygoing nature, the less she wants to check her DMs. Will her next swipe bring her closer to true love—or is her real match closer than she thinks? - August Adult Book Club- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
August Adult Book Club- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Sold outJoin us for our monthly book club. Our August pick The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Secret Lives.
Book club will happen Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00 PM in the Kindred Stories Reading Garden. RSVP required. See ya'll there!
About the Book
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.
There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who has a crush on the preacher’s wife. At forty-two, Lyra realizes that her discomfort with her own body stands between her and a new love. As Y2K looms, Caroletta’s “same time next year” arrangement with her childhood best friend is tenuous. A serial mistress lays down the ground rules for her married lovers. In the dark shadows of a hospice parking lot, grieving strangers find comfort in each other.
With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be. - August YA Book Club- Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle
August YA Book Club- Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle
Sold outJoin us for our monthly young adult book club. Our August pick is the Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle.
The book club meeting will be August 28 at 2 PM in our Kindred Stories Reading Garden. RSVP required. See ya'll there!
About The Book
Prince Jones is the guy with all the answers—or so it seems. After all, at seventeen, he has his own segment on Detroit’s popular hip-hop show, Love Radio, where he dishes out advice to the brokenhearted.
Prince has always dreamed of becoming a DJ and falling in love. But being the main caretaker for his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and his little brother means his dreams will stay just that and the only romances in his life are the ones he hears about from his listeners.
Until he meets Dani Ford.
Dani isn’t checking for anybody. She’s focused on her plan: ace senior year, score a scholarship, and move to New York City to become a famous author. But her college essay keeps tripping her up and acknowledging what’s blocking her means dealing with what happened at that party a few months ago.
And that’s one thing Dani can’t do.
When the romantic DJ meets the ambitious writer, sparks fly. Prince is smitten, but Dani’s not looking to get derailed. She gives Prince just three dates to convince her that he’s worth falling for. - Autobiomythography of
Autobiomythography of
by Ayokunle Falomo
$24.95Autobiomythography of sifts through Nigerian stories and mythologies, both inherited and invented, to explore the self, family, and nationhood.
In an attempt at decolonization, it is an exploration of what it means to be a subject—a person, yes, but also a literary subject—in the wake and afterlife of colonization. Intimate and personal, it is interested in figuring out how to wrest subjectivity—one’s notion of self—from this failed project of modernity.
As the title suggests, the book spans and swirls together autobiography, mythology, biography, history (shared and personal), and geography. Amidst myriad speakers in the collection, there is a prominent speaker who, in search of his self/voice, tries on multiple voices—including Frederick Lugard’s—and other personas: some closer to who/what he is, whatever that is, and others diametrically opposite.
Tangentially, this is a book about a son's relationship with his father. Poem after poem, the speakers interrogate the perceptions of identity, reality, and ownership, and in the pursuit of Truth they erode the boundaries between fact and fiction to show us the fragility of the lines we draw in service to these abstractions, of the beliefs we hold about them, of the acts we perform in service to them. - Aya & Pete 3-Book Gift Box Set
Aya & Pete 3-Book Gift Box Set
by Serena Minott & Asha Gore
Sold outGive the gift of adventure with the Aya & Pete gift box set! This limited edition three-book gift box set features our favorite books from the Amazing Adventures of Aya & Pete travel story collection. Join Aya & Pete on adventures in Paris, London and New York, all packaged in a colorful gift box with top cord handle and velcro closures. Includes 3 hardcover books. Recommended for ages 3+ - Aya & Pete 3-Puzzle Gift Set
Aya & Pete 3-Puzzle Gift Set
by Serena Minott & Asha Gore
Sold outNew! Play along with Aya & Pete! This city-inspired kids' puzzle set features three (3) jigsaw puzzles, each with 36-pieces and beautiful illustrations from the Aya & Pete Book Series. Children will delight at putting together scenes from Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, Piccadilly Circus in London, and Brooklyn, New York! Includes a sturdy drawer box and a reusable Aya & Pete canvas storage tote. Also available at Nordstrom with free shipping. Ages 3+ Ships early December. - B is for Baby
B is for Baby
by Atinuke
$7.99*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
B is for Baby. B is for Brother. B is for going to see Baba!
One morning after breakfast, Baby’s big brother is getting ready to take the basket of bananas all the way to Baba’s bungalow in the next village. He’ll have to go along the bumpy road, past the baobab trees, birds, and butterflies, and all the way over the bridge. But what he doesn’t realize is that his very cute, very curious baby sibling has stowed away on his bicycle! Little ones learning about language will love sounding out the words in this playful, vibrantly illustrated story set in West Africa.
- Babel-17/Empire Star
Babel-17/Empire Star
by Samuel R. Delany
$18.00Ships in 7-10 business days
Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy’s deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack. For the first time, Babel-17 is published as the author intended with the short novel Empire Star, the tale of Comet Jo, a simple-minded teen thrust into a complex galaxy when he’s entrusted to carry a vital message to a distant world. Spellbinding and smart, both novels are testimony to Delany’s vast and singular talent.
- Baby Bear
Baby Bear
by Kadir Nelson
$7.99*ships in 7-10 business days*
From Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winner Kadir Nelson comes a transcendent tale about a lost little bear searching for home.
Baby Bear is lost and trying to find his way home. As he walks through the forest, he encounters a number of animals that share wise counsel.
Trust yourself.
Listen to your heart.
Keep walking and you will find your way home.
As each encounter moves Baby Bear farther along his path, he gains courage, a feeling that he is loved, and the profound sense that he is not alone.
With poetic text and stunning illustrations, Baby Bear is a powerful addition to the canon of timeless picture book classics.
- Baby Dunks-a-Lot
Baby Dunks-a-Lot
by Jayson Tatum, Sam Apple, and Parker-Nia Gordon
$19.99NBA champion Jayson Tatum scores with this hilarious tale of a baby turned basketball superstar!
Inspired by Jayson Tatum’s life as both an NBA superstar and a loving dad, this laugh-out-loud picture book is the story of what happens when a tot becomes an NBA teammate. Coathored by Sam Apple and featuring Parker-Nia Gordon’s sweet and appealing art, Baby Dunks-a-Lot is “delightful . . .silly and sporty in equal measure” (Kirkus).
When a big kid teaches his little brother how to play basketball for the first time, something unusual happens . . . baby bro flies through the air for a monster dunk! Before long, every professional team wants the incredible dunking baby on their roster. Baby Dunks-A-Lot is poised to become a basketball legend—that is, until he misses his bedtime.
The Boss Baby meets Space Jam in Jayson Tatum’s debut picture book, Baby Dunks-a-Lot!
- Baby Goes to Market
Baby Goes to Market
by Atinuke
$8.99*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
When Baby and Mama go to the market, Baby is so adorable that the banana seller gives him six bananas. Baby eats one and puts five in the basket, but Mama doesn’t notice. As Mama and Baby wend their way through the stalls, cheeky Baby collects five oranges, four biscuits, three ears of sweet corn, two pieces of coconut…until Mama notices that her basket is getting very heavy! Poor Baby, she thinks, he must be very hungry by now! Rhythmic language, visual humor, and a bounty of delectable food make this a tale that is sure to whet little appetites for story time.
- Baby Sign Language Made Easy: 101 Signs to Start Communicating with Your Child Now (Baby Sign Language Guides)
Baby Sign Language Made Easy: 101 Signs to Start Communicating with Your Child Now (Baby Sign Language Guides)
Sold outDiscover the easy way to teach sign language to babies and toddlers ages 0 to 3 with this guide.
Sign language is a fun and effective way for babies to communicate without words while developing essential early learning skills but we understanding knowing where to start can be a challenge. This book of sign language for babies and toddlers makes it easy to help your child learn, with 101 useful, everyday ASL signs and a clear, simple format that explains what signs are best to start with and tips for teaching them. Whether it's asking for milk or telling you that they're tired, you'll learn how to give your baby the tools to tell you what they're thinking.
* BABY SIGN LANGUAGE BASICS: Get an overview of what baby sign language is and how it can help you and your child connect, as well as how it can aid in their development.
* HOW TO TEACH SIGNS: Find guidance for getting started, capturing your baby's attention, and when to add more signs based on their age and progress.
* EASY ORGANIZATION: Each chapter is organized by topics like mealtime, getting dressed, playtime, animals, and feelings, so it's quick to find the signs you are looking for.
Start communicating early with a sign language book for babies that makes it simple.
- Baby, Sleepy Baby
Baby, Sleepy Baby
Atinuke
$9.99“With a shimmering radiance and gentle tone, this title will be welcome in every children’s collection.” —School Library Journal
Baby, happy baby, I’ll sing down the stars
till they dance right into your room.It’s bedtime for a drowsy little one, and the whole family takes turns cuddling and singing this sleepy baby to bed. One by one the baby’s sister, grandmother, father, and mother call on the winds, the clouds, the stars, and the moon to sail and rock and delight their little one until dreams take over. Author Atinuke and illustrator Angela Brooksbank reunite for this gentle picture book—based on a song that Atinuke’s father sang to her in Nigeria—to evoke the warmth and tenderness of wrapping a child in nighttime’s embrace and celebrate the moments families share with their sleepy babies at bedtime.
- Back to School Undated Planner
Back to School Undated Planner
Be Rooted
Sold outThe Be Rooted Undated Planner is a perfect companion for setting goals, tracking progress, and prioritizing self-care. With gold spiral binding and a smooth hardcover adorned with beautiful artwork, it offers guided pages to help you stay focused and organized. Keep your inner flame burning bright with this empowering planner. •
HARDCOVER SPIRAL PLANNER: Take on the world with our Hardcover Spiral Planner, designed to be your trusty companion wherever life leads. Its durable soft-touch hardcover with a stunning gold spiral bind is built to last so you can stay organized and conquer the day, every day. • UNDATED PAGES: Enjoy complete flexibility with undated pages designed to guide you and help keep track of your daily to-do list and thoughts.
- Bad Brain Bookmark
Bad Brain Bookmark
Sold out - Bad Fat Black Girl
Bad Fat Black Girl
by Sesali Bowen
Sold out*ships in 7-10 business days
Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love. Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism and hip-hop intersect.
- Bad Feminist
Bad Feminist
by Roxane Gay
Sold outA collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay
“Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.”
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.
Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better. - Bad Feminist [Tenth Anniversary Edition]: Essays
Bad Feminist [Tenth Anniversary Edition]: Essays
by Roxane Gay
$18.99New York Times Bestseller
From Roxane Gay comes this collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation—now available in a limited Olive Edition.
“Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.”
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.
Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.
“Roxane Gay is the brilliant girl-next-door: your best friend and your sharpest critic. . . . She is by turns provocative, chilling, hilarious; she is also required reading.”—People
- Bad Girls: A Novel
Bad Girls: A Novel
by Camila Villada
$16.99Gritty and unflinching, yet also tender, fantastical, and funny, a trans woman’s tale about finding a community on the margins. In Sarmiento Park, the green heart of Córdoba, a group of trans sex workers make their nightly rounds. When a cry comes from the dark, their leader, the 178-year-old Auntie Encarna, wades into the brambles to investigate and discovers a baby half dead from the cold. She quickly rallies the pack to save him, and they adopt the child into their fascinating surrogate family as they have so many other outcasts, including Camila. Sheltered in Auntie Encarna’s fabled pink house, they find a partial escape from the everyday threats of disease and violence, at the hands of clients, cops, and boyfriends. Telling their stories—of a mute young woman who transforms into a bird, of a Headless Man who fled his country’s wars—as well as her own journey from a toxic home in a small, poor town, Camila traces the life of this vibrant community throughout the 90s. Imbuing reality with the magic of a dark fairy tale, Bad Girls offers an intimate, nuanced portrait of trans coming-of-age that captures a universal sense of the strangeness of our bodies. It grips and entertains us while also challenging ideas about love, sexuality, gender, and identity.
- Bailey's Cafe
Bailey's Cafe
by Gloria Naylor
$15.00Set in a diner where the food isn't very good and the ambience veers between heaven and hell, this bestselling novel from the author of Mama Day and The Women of Brewster Place is a feast for the senses and the spirit. "A virtuoso orchestration of survival, suffering, courage and humor."--New York Times Book Review.
- Baldwin Lapel Pin
Baldwin Lapel Pin
Sold out“To be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all of the time.” James A. Baldwin
1.75 inches tall
Soft enamel with black metal plating.
Comes with 2 rubber pin backs.
- Baldwin Lee
Baldwin Lee
by Baldwin Lee
Sold out"One of the great overlooked luminaries of American picture-making." –The New Yorker
In 1983, Baldwin Lee (born 1951) left his home in Knoxville, Tennessee, with his 4 × 5 view camera and set out on the first of a series of road trips to photograph the American South. The subjects of his pictures were Black Americans: at home, at work and at play, in the street and in nature. This project would consume Lee—a first-generation Chinese American—for the remainder of that decade, and it would forever transform his perception of his country, its people, and himself. The resulting archive from this seven-year period contains nearly 10,000 black-and-white negatives. This monograph, *Baldwin Lee*, presents a selection of 88 images edited by the photographer Barney Kulok, accompanied by an interview with Lee by the curator Jessica Bell Brown and an essay by the writer Casey Gerald. Arriving almost four decades after Lee began his journey, this publication reveals the artist’s unique commitment to picturing life in America and, in turn, one of the most piercing and poignant bodies of work of its time.
- Balm: A Novel
Balm: A Novel
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
$14.99*ships in 7- 10 business days*
The New York Times bestselling author of Wench returns to the Civil War era to explore the next chapter of history—the trauma of the War and the end of slavery—in this powerful story of love and healing about three people who struggle to overcome the pain of the past and define their own future.
The Civil War has ended, and Madge, Sadie, and Hemp have each come to Chicago in search of a new life.
Born with magical hands, Madge has the power to discern others’ suffering, but she cannot heal her own damaged heart. To mend herself and help those in need, she must return to Tennessee to face the women healers who rejected her as a child.
Sadie can commune with the dead, but until she makes peace with her father, she, too, cannot fully engage her gift.
Searching for his missing family, Hemp arrives in this northern city that shimmers with possibility. But redemption cannot be possible until he is reunited with those taken from him.
In the bitter aftermath of a terrible, bloody war, as a divided nation tries to come together once again, Madge, Sadie, and Hemp will be caught up in a desperate, unexpected battle for survival in a community desperate to lay the pain of the past to rest.
Beautiful in its historical atmosphere and emotional depth, Balm is a stirring novel of love, loss, hope, and reconciliation set during one of the most critical periods in American history.
- Bamboozled By Jesus
Bamboozled By Jesus
by Yvonne Orji
$26.00*ships/available for pickup in 7-10 business days
Thriving stand-up comic and actress Yvonne Orji—best known as Issa Rae's BFF on the HBO series, Insecure—shares the secrets to living the life of your dreams.
Yvonne Orji has never shied away from being unapologetically herself, and that includes being outspoken about her faith. Known for interpreting Biblical stories and metaphors to fit current times, her humorous and accessible approach to faith leaves even non-believers inspired and wanting more.
The way Yvonne sees it, God is a Sovereign Prankster, punking folks long before Ashton Kutcher made it cool. When she meditates on her own life—complete with unforeseen blessings and unanticipated roadblocks—she realizes it’s one big testimony to how God tricked her into living out her wildest dreams. And she wants us to join in on getting bamboozled. This is not a Self-Help book—it’s a Get Yours book! - Banana Bottom: A Novel
Banana Bottom: A Novel
by Claude McKay
$19.99A Jamaican girl, Bita Plant, who was adopted and sent to be educated in England by white missionary benefactors, returns to her native village of Banana Bottom and finds her black heritage at war with her newly acquired culture.
Claude McKay (1889–1948), born Festus Claudius McKay, is widely regarded as one of the most important literary and political writers of the interwar period and the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Jamaica, he moved to the U.S. in 1912 to study at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1928, he published his most famous novel, Home to Harlem, which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature. He also published two other novels, Banjo and Banana Bottom, as well as a collection of short stories, Gingertown, two autobiographical books, A Long Way from Home and My Green Hills of Jamaica, and a work of nonfiction, Harlem: Negro Metropolis. His Selected Poems was published posthumously, and in 1977 he was named the national poet of Jamaica.
- Banjo: A Novel
Banjo: A Novel
by Claude McKay
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
Lincoln Agrippa Daily, known on the 1920s Marseilles waterfront as "Banjo," prowls the rough waterfront bistros with his drifter friends, drinking, looking for women, playing music, fighting, loving, and talking--about their homes in Africa, the West Indies, or the American South and about being Black.
- Barack Obama Selected Speeches
Barack Obama Selected Speeches
by Barack Obama
Sold outThis curated collection of landmark speeches chronicles Barack Obama's presence on the national stage, covers his signature policy initiatives, and addresses major moments in American life and history during his eight-year term as the 44th president of the United States.
Also included are speeches he made after he left the White House—most notably, his eulogy for John Lewis and his speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Obama’s eloquent speaking style and ability to connect with a wide range of audiences made him one of the most admired presidents in recent memory, even as he dealt with staunch party-line opposition in Congress.
Barack Obama Selected Speeches is a volume that will appeal to those with a keen interest in history, politics, and the role that the United States has played in shaping today’s world.
- Barkley L. Hendricks: Basketball: Basketball Paintings (Vol. 3)
Barkley L. Hendricks: Basketball: Basketball Paintings (Vol. 3)
by Jack Shainman Gallery
$25.00The court, the ball and the hoop: Barkley Hendricks paints basketball
The third book of the five-volume publication project on Hendricks, famed for his postmodern portraiture of Black Americans.
The third book of the five-volume publication project presents the artist's basketball paintings. The publication highlights how basketball was a vital inspiration for Hendricks' art, as well as a way to experiment with the different shapes and forms of the playing court. For the first time, they are grouped together in a dedicated volume.
Skira and Jack Shainman Gallery have partnered to realize an unprecedented book project dedicated to the artist Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017). The project consists of 4 booklets, each of which provides an in-depth exploration of a body of work integral to the artist's output (Works on Paper, Landscape Paintings, Basketball Paintings, Photography), in addition to a comprehensive 300-page monograph which traces the artist's evolution for the entirety of his career.
The project is tied to an extensive and never-accomplished-before recovery of the artist's archive. Each book will contain essays by different scholars that are leading international players. Each booklet allows for a detailed, oriented study of key bodies of works - Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at The Frick
Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at The Frick
edited by Aimee Ng, Antwaun Sargent, & Thelma Golden
$50.00American artist Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017) revolutionized contemporary portraiture with his vivid depictions of Black subjects beginning in the late 1960s. This book contextualizes Hendricks’s portraits at different stages of the country’s history and places him in the pantheon of innovative twentieth-century artists.
Hendricks developed his signature style at a time of significant social and cultural change in the United States, especially with regard to Black artists, and amid a perceived bifurcation between abstraction and representation. He produced portraits from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Following a hiatus during which he made landscapes, basketball paintings, works on paper, and photographs, he resumed his portraiture practice from 2002 until his death in 2017. Hendricks’s portrait paintings, often derived from photographs of friends and family, hired models, or figures he encountered on the street, were inspired by the artist’s research, international travels, and visits to museums like The Frick Collection, where he studied centuries-old European paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Bronzino, and others.
This publication presents some of the most inventive and striking examples from Hendricks’s first period of portrait painting, including “limited-palette” canvases—featuring Black figures dressed in white against white backgrounds—a self-portrait, and boldly colorful works that spotlight their subjects’ spectacular styles and poses. An assessment of this great artist acknowledges his significant contributions to the canon of American art and portraiture in general. In the book, Hendricks’s art and its impact are explored by artists and creative figures including Derrick Adams, Hilton Als, Nick Cave, Awol Erizku, Rashid Johnson, Fahamu Pecou, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley. - Barkley L. Hendricks: Solid!
Barkley L. Hendricks: Solid!
Barkey L. Hendricks
$70.00The long-awaited monograph on Barkley L. Hendricks’ powerful portraits of contemporary Black subjects
Barkley L. Hendricks is rightly known as one of the foremost American painters of the late 20th century. His six-decade artistic oeuvre encompasses not only portraits but also includes evocative landscapes, hard-edged geometric abstractions, lush watercolors on paper and singular photographs informed by his studies with Walker Evans. This final publication of a five-volume set dedicated to the artist is a 300-page monograph that captures his full evolution as a portraitist.
Solid! is a compilation of Hendricks’ acclaimed figurative paintings: large-scale canvases of distinctively dressed (or undressed) individuals, including several self-portraits, against solid-color backgrounds. Critical essays from curators and fellow artists provide further, often personal, insight into all aspects of Hendricks’ practice: probing his photographic experimentation as a forbear to contemporary street photography; celebrating his sensitivity as a colorist whose unique expertise seamlessly combines oil-based and water-based pigments; and highlighting the observational genuineness in his provocative and personal interpretations of women, of unapologetically visible queer identities and of his own beloved Black communities across the African Diaspora. The book closes with a conversation between Trevor Schoonmaker and Barkley’s widow, Susan Hendricks, in which she recounts their trips to Jamaica and Barkley’s process for creating landscape and fruit paintings outdoors.
Barkley L. Hendricks (1945–2017) was born in Philadelphia and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Yale. His life-size paintings of everyday Black Americans have inspired generations of artists. Hendricks gave up painting in favor of photography, but returned to oil portraits later in life. He taught at Connecticut College from 1972 until 2010. - Barracoon
Barracoon
by Zora Neale Hurston
$16.99New York Times Bestseller
From the author of the classic Their Eyes Were Watching God comes a landmark publication of the American experience, now in paperback!
“A profound impact on Hurston’s literary legacy.”— New York Times
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston traveled to Plateau, Alabama, to visit eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis, a survivor of the Clotilda, the last slaver known to have made the transatlantic journey. Illegally brought to the United States, Lewis was enslaved fifty years after the transoceanic slave trade was outlawed. At the time, Cudjo Lewis was the only known person alive who could recount this integral part of the nation’s history. As a cultural anthropologist and ethnographer, Hurston was eager to hear about these experiences firsthand. But the reticent elder didn’t always speak when she came to visit. Sometimes he would tend his garden, repair his fence, or be lost in reveries of his homeland.
Hurston persisted, though, and during an intense period of about three months, she and Cudjo Lewis communed over her gifts of peaches and watermelon, and gradually Lewis, a poetic storyteller, began to share heartrending memories of his childhood in Africa; the attack by, Amazons, the female warriors who slaughtered his townspeople; the horrors of being captured and held in the barracoons of Ouidah for selection by American traders; the harrowing ordeal of the Middle Passage aboard the Clotilda, as “cargo,” along with more than one hundred other souls; the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War; and finally his role in the founding of Africatown.
Barracoon reflects Hurston’s skills as both a social scientist and a writer, and brings to life Cudjo Lewis’s singular voice, in his vernacular, in a poignant, powerful tribute to the disremembered and the unaccounted for others of the Middle Passage. This profound work is an invaluable contribution to our history and culture.
- Basketball Dreams
Basketball Dreams
by Chris Paul
$18.99From NBA All-Star Chris Paul comes an inspirational picture book for fans of I Promise about chasing your dreams and the lessons he learned both on and off the court from his beloved grandfather Papa Chilly.
Growing up, Chris Paul dreamed of playing pro basketball. But he knew it would take more than dedication, so Chris looked to his grandfather Papa Chilly as a shining example of the values he could apply both in basketball and in life. Papa taught him about respect, faith, kindness, and the determination to succeed, just as Papa had succeeded as the first Black owner of a service station in North Carolina. Serving as a beacon of inspiration, Papa Chilly and his lessons propelled Chris to become the star NBA player—and person—he is today. Basketball Dreams, which is beautifully illustrated by Courtney Lovett, shows us that dreams really can come true, especially when we have amazing role models to help guide us. Perfect for fans of I Am Perfectly Designed, Flying High, and I Promise.
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