PRE-ORDER.  WILL SHIP ON January 20, 2026

The first-ever Black history to center queer voices, this landmark study traces the lives of LGBTQ+ Black Americans from slavery to present day

Gender and sexual expression have always been part of the Black freedom struggle

In this latest book in Beacon’s award-winning ReVisioning History series, Professors C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost unearth the often overlooked history of the Black queer community in the United States.

Arguing that both gender and sexual expression have been an intimate and intricate part of Black freedom struggle, Snorton and Bost present historical contributions of Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming Americans from slavery to the present day to highlight how the fight against racial injustice has always been linked to that of sexual and gender justice.

Interweaving stories of queer and trans figures such as:

* Private William Cathay/Cathay Williams, born female but enlisted in the Army as a man in the mid-1860s
* Josephine Baker, internationally known dancer and entertainer of the early 20th century who was also openly bisexual
* Bayard Rustin, prominent Civil Rights activist whose well known homosexuality was viewed as a potential threat to the movement
* Amanda Milan, a black trans woman whose murder in 2000 unified the trans people of color community,

this book includes a deep dive into the marginalization, unjust criminalization, and government legislation of Black queer and trans existence. It also shows how Black Americans have played an integral role in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, countering narratives that have predominantly focused on white Americans.

Through storytelling and other narratives, Snorton and Bost show how the Black queer community has always existed, regardless of the attempts to stamp it out, and how those in it continue to fight for their rightful place in the world.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October 14, 2025

The 10th anniversary hardcover edition of the galvanizing New York Times bestseller The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes—executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte, and more—features updates and exclusive new chapters that show how saying YES (and continuing to say YES) can transform your life.

In 2015, Shonda Rhimes, the trailblazing creative force behind some of television’s most beloved series, took on a challenge that would change her life forever. She challenged herself to say “yes” to everything for a year, and the results were nothing short of transformative. Hailed as “honest, raw, and revelatory” (The Washington Post) and “as fun to read as Rhimes’s TV series are to watch” (Los Angeles Times), Year of Yes quickly became a New York Times bestseller, captivating thousands with its candid and compelling narrative.

Now, in the 10th anniversary edition of Year of Yes, Shonda revisits this pivotal year with fresh insights and exclusive new material, including a new introduction and a bonus chapter.

With humor and honesty, Shonda’s story encourages readers to step out of their own comfort zones and embrace new opportunities. A self-proclaimed introvert who often said “no,” Shonda’s year of yes was transformational—and yet entirely relatable. This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega-talented Shonda Rhimes achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October 14, 2025

Beautiful edition taking the reader through the origins and history of African nations and peoples, highlighting the roots of modern fiction in history, myth and fable.

Africa is a crucible of many civilizations, indeed of humanity. African peoples can be traced back 16,000 years or so to 5 ancestral civilisational groups based on their language families, such as the Nilo-Saharan and the Khoisan. A brand new, accessible and enlightening history by Robin Walker, African Ancient Origins tells the stories of African golden ages, of the key dynasties, individuals, cities, trade and achievements, going back to the first migrations, origin stories and myths. From the Kingdom of Kerma in Sudan to the Zulu Empire, we learn of the many cultures that existed for thousands of years before European invasion, of their complex histories that have left lasting legacies on modern African nations.

Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October 7, 2025

The compelling memoir that explores race, cultural representation, Black media’s legacy, privilege, and identity from VIBE’s founding fashion editor and CNN correspondent Michaela Angela Davis.

As VIBE’s founding fashion editor and a CNN correspondent, Michaela Angela Davis has been at the forefront of cultural shifts, working alongside iconic figures like Diana Ross, Prince, and Beyoncé. Her memoir is a celebration of Black media’s vibrant history and a critical examination of its challenges and erasure in mainstream narratives.

In Tenderheaded, Davis journeys back through her career as both a celebration and an interrogation of Black media, exploring the difficult truth of how historically Black media titles and brands have had such mighty, culture-shifting starts, then disappeared or limped along in mainstream obscurity. Her story is one of self-discovery and liberation, as she navigates the complexities of identity politics, sexism, and racism within the media industry. Her career has been a tapestry of glamorous adventures from the bustling streets of 1980s New York City to the exotic markets of Morocco, all while styling some of the most influential figures in music and culture. Yet, beneath the surface of this dazzling world lies a poignant narrative of struggle and resilience.

Tenderheaded is not just a memoir; it is a cultural manifesto that questions the legacy of Black media and the stories of Black women that remain untold. Davis’s narrative is both a romance and a tragedy, reflecting her American life and the broader story of American media.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October 21, 2025

May and her siblings make homemade pizza for their big family in this second book in the zany and exhilarating Level 1 Ready-to-Read series about a lovable and rambunctious family of ten!

May has a big family. And when they decide to make homemade pizza together, it keeps getting bigger and bigger! Can May and her brothers and sisters solve their pizza problem?

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October 7, 2025

A compelling and candid memoir from Allen Iverson, the NBA’s most misunderstood Hall of Famer, detailing his tough childhood in Virginia, his entry into the league as the number one overall pick, and his controversial, culture-changing pro basketball career.

In Misunderstood, Allen Iverson shares in searing clarity and touching candor his meteoric rise from impoverished child in the Virginia projects to high school champion to Georgetown University protégé of legendary coach John Thompson, and finally to NBA All-Star and Reebok’s Vice President of Basketball.

Allen Iverson is a household name—Boomers and Gen Xers watched his decades-long run as a scrappy, tenacious basketball player on the Philadelphia 76ers who redefined the sport’s style (both fashion-wise and playing-wise), while millennials and Gen Zers are perhaps more familiar with his Reebok line’s resurgence in popularity, his callout in Post Malone’s viral hit “White Iverson,” and for being the namesake of Kendall Roy’s son on Succession. Part athletic legend, part fashion icon, part hip-hop muse, Iverson was one of the first celebrities to fuse lifestyle, culture, and sports.

But while everyone may know his name, few have seen behind the curtain on Iverson’s tumultuous life. Misunderstood lifts the veil and brings you into the mind of the pugnacious, ultra-talented misfit whose foremost goal, more than fame or fortune, was always to lift his family and friends out of poverty and violence. In his memoir, Iverson explores how he completely shattered the mold dictating what an NBA star could be in the 1990s and 2000s, all while dealing with legal troubles and personal traumas that only contributed to his sense of individualism and star power. This is the unforgettable story of a trailblazer who not only changed the game of basketball but rewrote the rules of what it means to rise, fall, and rise again while staying unapologetically true to himself.

Discover the sweeping story of how Indigenous, European, and African traditions intertwined to form an entirely new cuisine, with over 90 recipes for the modern home cook—from the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Famer and star of the Netflix docuseries High on the Hog.

One of our preeminent culinary historians, Dr. Jessica B. Harris has conducted decades of research throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, and Africa. In this telling of the origins of American food, though, she gets more personal. As heritage is history, she intertwines the larger sweeping past with stories and recipes from friends she’s made over the years—people whose family dishes go back to the crucial era when Native peoples encountered Europeans and the enslaved Africans they brought with them.

Through this mix, we learn that Clear Broth Clam Chowder has both Indigenous and European roots; the same, too, with Enchiladas Suizas, tomatillo-smothered tortillas made “Swiss” with cheese and dairy; and that the hallmarks of African American food through the centuries have been evolution based on region, migration, and innovation, resulting in classics like Red Beans and Rice and Peach Bread Pudding Cupcakes with Bourbon Glaze.

With recipes ranging from everyday meals to festive spreads, Braided Heritage offers a new, in-depth, delicious look at American culinary history.

During the first quarter of the twenty-first century, more than one hundred institutions of higher education in the United States launched projects to study and share their histories concerning slavery, segregation, and racial injustice. Slavery, Segregation, and the Second Founding of Rice University joins these wider efforts. Authored by award-winning historians Alexander X. Byrd and W. Caleb McDaniel, the book engages questions specific to Rice’s history as the last major private research university in the country to begin desegregation. Although Rice did not open its doors for classes until 1912, it was connected to the history of slavery through the life of its first founder and namesake, William Marsh Rice, whose fortune was deeply intertwined with the enslavement of Black people.

Byrd and McDaniel place the history of one of the nation’s most renowned universities within a longer and larger context, showing that desegregation required changes to Rice so fundamental that they amounted to a “second founding” of the school. Following the story from slavery through segregation to the second founding, they highlight pivotal points of intersection between the history of Black Houston and the history of Rice University, revealing the seldom acknowledged roles of Black students, Black communities, and HBCUs in creating change at and around Rice. Their study challenges readers to consider anew who counts as a university’s founder―a question relevant to ongoing discussions about statues, naming, and the history of higher education. They also reveal what higher education institutions do at their best: create new knowledge and forge solutions to trenchant social problems, thus providing guidance for those committed to doing the valuable work of the “second founding” at colleges and universities today.

A woman searching for her true passion discovers a strong connection with a man who can never be hers in this steamy tale of forbidden romance.

Sienna and Amiri have been together for four years, but ever since he put a three-carat engagement ring on her finger, she’s been having second thoughts. Like, maybe she wants more out of her relationship than an internet-famous boyfriend who’s more concerned with keeping his followers happy than making her happy.

So when Sienna receives the coveted golden envelope―an invitation to Pandora’s annual New Year’s Eve masquerade ball―she decides to attend, hoping to unlock her secret desires. What she discovers there is the kind of intense connection no woman in her right mind would walk away from . . .

Jahad knows exactly what’s missing from his life the moment he lays eyes on Sienna. The woman is fire, and he walks willingly into the flames. Once her sexy curves are under him, he knows they belong together.

Thing is, Jahad already has a woman: a very pregnant wife who wants nothing to do with him. Hopped up on hormones, Leighton sent him out on a hall pass to find someone else to satisfy his needs. And now he’s aching for a woman he can never have again.

Then Sienna turns up on Jahad’s doorstep. She’s the new doula his wife hired to help get her through the rest of a difficult pregnancy. How’s Jahad supposed to do the right thing when everything in his heart and mind tells him his soul is tied to Sienna’s?

This edition features two bonus stories describing how alternate versions of Sienna and Jahad come together in parallel universes.

The story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment—from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.

April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just . . . walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest—an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice.

The White Hot takes the form of a letter from mother to daughter about a moment of abandonment that would stretch from ten days to ten years—an explanation, but not an apology. Hudes narrates April’s story—spiritual and sexy, fierce and funny—with delicate lyricismand tough love. Just as April finds in her painful and absurd sojourn the key to freeing herself and her family from a cage of generational trauma, so Hudes turns April’s stumbling pursuit of herself into an unforgettable short epic of self-discovery.

Winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction

Daddy Issues is a collection of moving and complex—yet simply and directly told—stories of queer Asian American experiences in Los Angeles. In many of these stories, the protagonists are artists and writers and other creative thinkers living on the fringe of survival, attempting to align a life of the imagination with the practical considerations of career, income, and family: a gay father who hasn’t come out to his young son; a social worker, numbed by the destitution of his clients, who finds himself lost in self-destruction; a trans man who returns home to a father with dementia to help his family pack as they are pushed out by gentrification; a husband who can only stand aside as his wife heals from a miscarriage; and a broke writer who learns to love his stories again.

The stories in Daddy Issues offer different contemplations on solitude—the good and the bad of it. Ultimately, this collection by Eric C. Wat is full of hope, and it shows how we can find the connections we need once we allow ourselves to become vulnerable.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE:  November 4, 2025

Beautifully illustrated with more than 200 photographs, including never-before-seen images, The Look is a stunning journey through Michelle Obama’s style evolution, in her own words for the first time.

In this celebration of style, from the moment she entered the public eye during her husband’s U.S. Senate campaign through her time as the first Black First Lady and today as one of this country’s most influential figures, Michelle Obama shares how she uses the beauty and intrigue of fashion to draw attention to her message.

Featuring the voices of Meredith Koop, Obama’s trusted stylist, as well as her makeup artist Carl Ray, hairstylists Yene Damtew and Njeri Radway, and many of the designers who have dressed Obama for notable events, The Look brings readers behind the scenes not only to reveal how her most memorable looks came together but also to tell a powerful story about how we present ourselves.

Obama’s intimate and candid stories illuminate how her approach to dressing has evolved throughout her life—from the colorful sheath dresses, cardigans, and brooches she wore during her time as First Lady to the bold suits, denim, and braids of her post-White House life and all the active looks and beautiful gowns in between.

In The Look, Michelle Obama explores the joy and the purpose of fashion and beauty and how—when wielded with grace and care—they can uplift and affirm the values one holds most dear. Confidence, she concludes, cannot be put on. But when you’re wearing something that’s intentional or beloved, clothing can make you feel like the best version of yourself.

The Sovereign brings princess Luca and soldier Touraine together one last time in the thrilling conclusion to C. L. Clark's beloved queer political fantasy trilogy. 

Luca is the new queen of Balladaire. Her empire is already splintering in her hands. Her uncle wasn’t the only traitor in the court, and the Withering plague will decimate her people if she can’t unearth Balladaire’s magic. The only person who can help her wants the only thing Luca won’t give—the end of the monarchy. 

Touraine is Luca’s general. She has everything she ever wanted. While Luca looks within Balladaire’s borders, Touraine looks outward—the alliance with Qazal is brittle and Balladaire’s neighbors are ready to pounce on its new weakness. When the army comes, led by none other than Touraine’s old lover, Touraine must face the truth about herself—and the empire she once called home. 

A storm is coming. Touraine and Luca will stand against it together, or it will tear them apart once and for all.

Magic of the Lost
The Unbroken
The Faithless
The Sovereign

The Curlfriends are back and hitting the dance floor in Sharee Miller’s NAACP image award-nominated graphic novel series.

Nola Washington has never met a problem she can’t solve. She’s a fashionista and an honor roll student, and she knows her way around a comb. When she’s not helping her mom at their family’s hair salon, Nola’s hanging out with her besties, the Curlfriends! This time, Ella has signed them up for the school talent show, and who better to lead them in a dance routine than Nola, with her amazing moves? All she needs is a stylish new outfit to perform in, but when one of the salon’s hair dryers breaks down, Nola finds out her mom is having money trouble. If they can’t pay the bills, will the salon go out of business?

Not on Nola’s watch! She’ll do anything to help, but her mom keeps shutting her out. It’s hard to focus on dance practice with her girls, let alone school, when life at home is nowhere near perfect anymore. This doesn’t feel like something Nola can fix on her own, but with the Curlfriends by her side, there’s no problem they can’t solve together!

In the Curlfriends series, follow four inseparable Black girls who show what it means to lean on one another when times are tough:

Curlfriends: New in Town
Curlfriends: Back in Business

This cozy, cheerful read-aloud board book companion to Besos for Baby uses a rhythmic mix of English and Spanish to celebrate all kinds of hugs!

Everyone has hugs for Baby, and Baby has hugs for them too—from su abuelo and su hermano to su mascota and el árbol! Simple Spanish words and a rhythmic read-aloud help teach vocabulary and show that a loving hug is the same in any language.

The spare and simple Spanish is accessible for both bilingual parents and those who wish to introduce Spanish to their little ones. Either way, parents won't be able to resist giving abrazos as they share this bilingual read aloud, filled with bold, graphic illustrations, with their little bébé!

Don't miss:
Besos for Baby
Sonrisas for Baby

The gloves—and more!—are coming off for workplace enemies turned fake newlyweds trying to save their jobs in this sexy rom-com, perfect for fans of Tarah DeWitt and B.K. Borison.

There are three things that PR strategist Jasmine Morgan knows for sure: One, she’s damn good at her job. Two, she’ll do whatever it takes to save her team from looming layoffs. And three, Derek Carter will always be her archnemesis—even if the man is ridiculously fine. Unfortunately, she and Derek end up on competing projects in Miller’s Cove, a small town highly suspicious of corporate outsiders. To gain the trust of the locals, she’ll have to ditch her blazer and pose as a “honeymooning couple” with her mortal enemy.

Derek isn’t about to let Jasmine best him on the venture that will seal their fate during this company audit. But wherever he goes, she’s there—in his hotel suite, digging for the same research, and even stealing the loyalty of his dog (traitor). Worse, her tempting performance as his fiancée has him torn between killing her career or kissing her senseless. But as the two get deeper into their charade, they discover little Miller’s Cove has a lot of big secrets. Secrets that could save their careers . . . but at what cost?

From the Whiting Award-winning author Jaquira Díaz, an epic novel of a mother and daughter wrestling with the aftermath of a murder, set against the backdrop of a tightknit, working-class barrio in Puerto Rico.
 
When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico – beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.
 
Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming. For lovers of the Neapolitan novels, This is the Only Kingdom is an immersive and moving portrait of a family – and a community – torn apart by generational grief, and a powerful love letter to mothers, daughters, and the barrios that make them.

A clinical psychologist tells his story of navigating the field of psychology as a gay Black man.

In How I Know White People Are Crazy and Other Stories, Dr. Jonathan Lassiter pulls back the curtain on the mental health system and reveals the hurdles that Black psychologists and students are forced to endure in the field. He tackles how white ideology has harmed Black patients and how it dominates America’s mental health practices. 

As a Black gay man working as a psychologist under culturally insensitive supervisors and colleagues in America, he grows more frustrated with the exclusive talk of Sigmund Freud, and the narrowness of psychology study, with no one like him to vent to. All this takes a mental and physical toll on him.   

Using his expertise in research, his own therapy, and keeping a healthy dose of hip-hop/R&B music in his ears, Dr. Lassiter discovered a way where we can center culture in our healing. Through a series of essays, he demands that the lived and cultural experiences of people of color, LGBTQ+, and disabled communities are made a part of psychology practices so that we can understand, live in, and navigate this frustrating world.

This thought provoking, funny, and searing indictment of the mental health system for patients, students, and professionals alike will leave you thinking differently about the psychologists in your life.

A celebration of the beauty, power, and faith of the African-American community as reflected in the principles of Kwanzaa, by the author of I Affirm Me: The ABCs of Inspiration for Black Kids.

Kwanzaa is a holiday steeped in ancestral traditions collected over generations of people across the Black Diaspora. Once Upon a Kwanzaa introduces communities of all colors to the interwoven history and lived experiences connected to this time of year when families and loved ones gather to celebrate, share, and reimagine the past, present, and future. Sawyer Cloud's stunning artwork showcases seven different BIPOC families and highlights how different peoples of the Diaspora can celebrate in their communities, from setting the table and lighting the Kinara to sharing meals and gathering at events. The book includes a glossary and pronunciation guide.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Rap Year Book and Basketball (and Other Things), a clever and inventive examination of some of basketball's most iconic players, moments, games, and more.

Everything in basketball is measured. Everything in basketball is counted, and quantified, and computed. And yet, no matter how expansive the list of various pinpoint-specific statistical categories gets, some basketball things remain uncountable, and unquantifiable.

Some moments are more poetry than calculation; more art than numerical value; more feeling than data processing. And thus: Expensive Basketball.

From the final 196 seconds of Kobe Bryant’s playing career to the Sue Bird backpedal, from the erosive terror of Tim Duncan to the Larry Bird memory carousel, Expensive Basketball is an affirmation of feelings.

It’s an affirmation of basketball as virtuosity. 

It’s an affirmation of how sometimes you watch a person perform on the basketball court and it feels the same way it does when you lie in the grass at night and stare up at the moon for long enough that you start to think about how incredible it is that you really, truly, honestly, actually exist.

'Master of the jaw-dropping twist' S MAGAZINE

'An edge-of-your-seat thriller that'll keep you guessing right until the end, get this to the top of your reading pile' HEAT

** Pre-order the new heart-stopping emotional thriller from the Queen of the Big Reveal **

Robyn 'Avril' Managa was twelve when she witnessed her controlling and abusive father murder her mother. Put into care while her well-connected father was given a new identity in Witness Protection, Robyn has lived with the trauma of that day ever since.

Now in her twenties, Robyn has decided she wants a family reunion - so is killing people connected to her father's case, leaving on their bodies the note: GIVE HIM TO ME.

Dr Kez Lanyon is called onto the case. But can Kez get into Robyn's mind before she kills again? Or is she about to become Avril's latest victim?

Profiler and therapist Kez Lanyon returns in a gripping new stand-alone novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Dorothy Koomson.

Readers love Dorothy Koomson:

'Raw, emotive and chilling'

'Full of shocks and surprises . . . another hard hitting, psychologically thrilling page turner'

'Jaw-dropping, totally unexpected'

'Terrifyingly authentic, twisty and compelling'

'A must read!'

Martha’s Daughter is the brilliant and influential author David Haynes’s first short story collection and the first time that Haynes’s stories have ever been assembled in one volume. Steeped in everyday gossip and lives, this collection ranges from the magically real life of a city’s crumbling superhero to a rundown motel whose long-term guests are lucky to call home. In the titular novella the first hours are chronicled after Cynthia finds out her mother has died. What we learn is that Cynthia is a woman who has been bullied by her mother’s overbearing opinions, her disdain for difference, her respectability politics, and her outdated beliefs about how men and women should relate to one another. Martha’s death is less a catalyst for Cynthia’s grief than an opportunity to free herself of a burden too long endured.

The sixth in McSweeney’s Of the Diaspora series, Martha’s Daughter is another record in David’s oeuvre, of the people and places he’s been recording since the beginning of his career, some thirty years ago. With its full-circle connection to Haynes’s previous novels, Martha’s Daughter is guaranteed to enthrall longtime fans and new readers alike.

PRE-ORDER: On Sale: February 3, 2026

When life lassoes Josie and Shawn back together three years after their dreamy first date, their second chance at love is anything but easy. A big-hearted rodeo romance set in Houston, Texas, by the critically acclaimed Liara Tamani, author of What She Missed, All The Things We Never Knew, and Calling My Name. This bold first-love story is for fans of Nothing Like the Movies and Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute.

This ain’t Josie’s first rodeo. Her parents own several fancy restaurants in Houston, and they just opened a new one right outside the stadium. Josie is expected to stay inside the restaurant and help, and maybe take over their growing empire one day, but that isn’t what Josie wants. She’d rather be at the rodeo itself than in a high-end restaurant next to it. Or eating funnel cakes and Texas-sized corn dogs at the carnival on the grounds. Or better yet, riding her horse at her grandparents’ ranch, the very place her mom wants to sell.

It ain’t Shawn’s first rodeo either. He’s been riding bulls since his mom died, doing everything he can to live up to his rodeo-champion stepfather’s sky-high expectations. But as Shawn’s stardom rises, so do tensions in their relationship. His stepfather’s drinking and gambling problems sure don’t help.

After one unforgettable night leaves Josie and Shawn wanting nothing but each other, their lives become entwined in increasingly complex ways. Can they save Josie’s family land? Or will Shawn’s stepfather and his shady plan be the ranch’s ruin? Will one wrong move cost them everything? Rodeo after rodeo, year after year, can Josie and Shawn keep their hearts open through the secrets, twists, and turns?

This Ain’t Our First Rodeo is a contemporary western love story full of bulls, brawls, and horses. It’s a tender second chance cowboy romance about family, friendship, mistakes, and the blessings of choosing to love anyway. Black cowboys and cowgirls like Josie and Shawn have long helped shape the American West—a legacy that shines in Liara Tamani’s storytelling. Her writing is quick-witted, swoony, and authentic, with characters who are easy to love and hard to forget.

PRE-ORDER.  ON SALE: September 8, 2026

A major new publication looking at the rich history of photographic practice by Black female and non-binary artists from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

For decades, women have been overlooked in the cultural history of photography, especially Black female and genderfluid artists of African descent whose crucial contributions to this relatively young medium are often missing.

More than just a corrective, this stunning, image-led survey features up to one hundred artists and photographers from diverse cultural backgrounds, geographic locations, and genres. Readers will encounter the works of Florestine Perrault Collins—one of the few African American women working in photography at the beginning of the 20th century—and iconic imagery by pioneering artists such as Ming Smith and Carrie Mae Weems. The book will showcase the potent visual activism of Zanele Muholi, Lola Flash, Vanessa Charlot, Sheela Pree Bright, Rahima Gambo, and Aida Silvestri, as well as a constituency of creative practitioners working with performance and lens-based media such as Ayana V. Jackson, Nona Faustine, Atong Atem, Lebohang Kganye, Heather Agyepong, Silvia Rosi, and many others.

This carefully curated visual survey stands on its own as an impressive collection of portrait, fashion, documentary, critical fine art, and socially engaged global photography.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October 21, 2025

A collection of the year’s top food and travel writing, selected by the James Beard Award–winning chef, food justice activist, and bestselling author Bryant Terry.

The innovative and celebrated chef, food activist, and writer Bryant Terry selects the best twenty pieces published in 2024 that celebrate and explore how food and travel shape our culture.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: December 30, 2025

“Perfectly balancing sweetness and steam.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Stuck in the Country with You

She's a good girl trying to rebuild her restaurant.

He's a felon trying to rebuild…everything.

Second chances have never been so sweet.

For Jamilah Carver, a by-the-books entrepreneur with refined tastes, running her own restaurant has been a dream come true. Until she’s buried in debt and without a chef, her once-bustling eatery on the brink of collapse. Enter Rashad White, a newly released ex-con who happens to be a culinary genius…and likes to play by his own rules.

With nothing in common but their love for food, the two clash at every turn. But when they’re not bickering over menu items or cooking methods, neither can deny the attraction that simmers between them. After Rashad proposes a daring plan, they’ll have to put their differences aside to work together—that’s when things really start heating up in the kitchen.

Can two completely different people, from two completely opposite worlds, find the perfect recipe for a fresh start…and maybe even love?

From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles…

Stuck in the Country with You by Zuri Day

Ms. V's Hot Girl Summer by A.H. Cunningham

The Grump Whisperer by Katy James

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: December 30, 2025

Award-winning Colombian author Laura Restrepo weaves contemporary themes and ancient myth in this story of star-crossed lovers in a world on the brink of collapse.

Retelling the mythical love story between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in the refugee camps of the present day, Song of Ancient Lovers is a sublime ode to love and desire as forces shaping human history, with power that rivals forces of destruction.

Ethereal in its weaving of the real and the mythical, the contemporary and the ancient, this is the story of Bos Mutas, a young writer traveling from South America to northern Africa in search of traces of his obsession. His research unveils the Queen of Sheba as unyielding and committed to her independence, with remarkable influence both in her time—over Solomon and all the subjects in her expansive kingdom—and on thinkers and artists across the centuries, from Thomas Aquinas to Gérard de Nerval, Frida Kahlo to Patti Smith. He also finds traces of her influence in the magic made of devastating circumstances by women he meets on his journey, especially Zahra Bayda, a Somali midwife who has taken it upon herself to show him around.

Stunning and evocative, Song of Ancient Lovers is a triumph of imagination and reverence for the spirit that connects us across boundaries of time and geography.

Translated from the Spanish by Caro De Robertis

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: October21, 2025

A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by award-winning author of Death of the Author and the Binti Trilogy, Nnedi Okorafor, and series editor John Joseph Adams.

The Best American series, launched in 1915, is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction, and it is the most respected—and most popular—of its kind.

Nnedi Okrafor selects twenty pieces that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year and explores the ever-expanding and changing world of science fiction and fantasy today.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: November 11, 2025

The New York Times bestselling author of The Way Home returns with over 100 fabulous recipes—delicious updates of her favorite childhood meals.

From Kardea Brown: Growing up in a household with a single parent taught me how to make use of things we already had. She made gourmet meals with simple kitchen staples. I invite readers to do the same with my twist on Old School Classic recipes.

Kardea Brown is back with this practical and flavorful cookbook everyone needs. Offering crowd and palate pleasing dishes from morning to noon, and night. 

SAMPLES

Breakfast

Break the fast with Geechee Egg Rice, Sausage and Grits and On the Run Breakfast Sandwiches.

Lunch

Dig intoTurkey Burgers, Tuna Melts, and Ramen Chicken Noddle Soup.

Dinner

Welcome friends and family home with filling, mouthwatering dishes like Grilled “Poke” Chops, Chicken Mafe and “The Poor Man’s Meal”.

Desserts

Sweeten meals with delights such as Ma’s goodie bars, Warm Sticky Apple Pudding and Lemon Snowball Cookies.

Filled with inviting and tasty food that won’t break the bank, illustrated with over 100 color photos, Make Do with What You Have allows you to enjoy great meals every day.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: November 4, 2025

Spanning four decades and three continents, Bitter Honey is a story about a mother and daughter divided by long buried secrets, struggling to understand each other as they forge their own paths, from the internationally bestselling author of In Every Mirror She’s Black.

1978: A scholarship draws Nancy from Gambia’s warmth into Stockholm’s frigid winter. When her friendship with charismatic scholar Lars blossoms into something more, she thinks she may have finally found her place. But there’s more to Lars than his charming persona, and Nancy is about to discover the danger of being drawn into his world… 

2006: Tina has had her taste of fame as Sweden’s sweetheart pop princess, representing her country at Eurovision. But beneath her glittery façade, she’s uncertain who she really is. Her mother, Nancy, seems desperate to keep the past under wraps, but will the unexpected appearance of Tina’s father—a man she has long thought dead—help open the door to self-discovery?

Nancy just wants to protect her daughter from making the same mistakes she did, but Tina longs for the freedom to mess up, knowing her mother will always be there to support her. The two women love each other unconditionally, but can they learn to trust each other as well?

This poignant novel delves deep into the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters and delivers a warm, heartfelt story of love, forgiveness, and women finding their voices.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: December 2, 2025

A self-empowering wellness guide that celebrates the roots of self-care and community care as a sustaining force for generations of Black women. Bloom How You Must is a love letter to the millions of Black women who want a less stressful life but don’t know where to begin. 

Self-care isn’t a trend among Black women; it has always been a throughline in our heritage. Consider Coretta Scott King, who along with fellow activists Betty Shabazz and Myrlie Evers-Williams, would enjoy “girls’ trips” to take a break from the stress of the Civil Rights Movement. Remember their contemporary Rosa Parks attended (and led) yoga classes while on the front lines for Black rights in Detroit.

Think of the enduring friendship between Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, a sisterhood in which they have leaned on each other for nearly forty years while thriving in the glaring media and entertainment spotlight.

Picture Toni Morrison’s overflowing gardens and lush houseplants she tended while writing classics like Beloved and The Bluest Eye.

Recall Audre Lord’s enduring declaration written after her second cancer diagnosis: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

Bloom How You Must explores and expands on this self-care legacy and shows how it can help every Black woman today.

Tara Pringle Jefferson excavates the roots of self-care and community care as a sustaining force for generations of Black women and transforms her findings into a blueprint women can follow in their daily lives. A blend of guidebook and journal, Bloom How You Must explores several distinct pillars of wellness, featuring:

* Research from leading wellness experts
* Interviews with women aged 19–99
* Stories of personal experience
* Overviews and explanations of each component of self-care
* Dedicated pages for readers to reflect on each chapter
* Exercises to put wellness into practice
* Easy-to-follow explanatory graphics and sidebars

With its diversity of insights,practical skills and multigenerational focus, Bloom How You Must is a love letter to the millions of Black women who want a less stressful life but don’t know where to begin. Bloom How You Must gives them the tools they need to improve their health and their daily lives.

PRE-ORDER: ON SALE DATE: March 24, 2026

The award-winning co-anchor of PBS NewsHour presents a sweeping and insightful retrospective on the history of Black comedy in America.

Black comedians have long played a pivotal role in shaping the American sense of humor. The 1990s showcased a golden era for Black comedy, highlighted by the surge of iconic sitcoms that redefined television and left a lasting cultural imprint. Shows like In Living Color, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Living Single, Martin, and A Different World stood on the shoulders of decades of groundbreaking work by Black comedians, both on-screen and on-stage, to deliver nuanced portrayals of life, family, and culture. Yet, just decades earlier, the idea of Black artists dominating American airwaves with characters that were both hilarious and heartfelt would have been unimaginable. How did it come to be?

The journey begins with 19th-century minstrel shows – offensive by today’s standards but the first stage for Black performers to reach mainstream audiences. Over time, comedians challenged racial stereotypes, exploring race and identity through humor. Icons like Jackie “Moms” Mabley, Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, and Eddie Murphy shifted perceptions and changed how the nation understood itself. In this incisive history, Geoff Bennett tells the story of how they did it.

In Black Out Loud, Bennett chronicles the transformative history of Black comedy in America, drawing on research and interviews with the actors and executives behind some of the most impactful shows. This brilliant exploration traces the evolution of Black comics and provocateurs who reshaped the culture and ultimately became powerful agents of social change -- transforming the way America laughed along the way.

Includes interviews and insights from: Martin Lawrence, Robert Townsend, Debbie Allen, Tisha Campbell, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Quinta Brunson, Arsenio Hall, and many more!