With more than two million copies in print, Manchild in the Promised Land is one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time—the definitive account of African-American youth in Harlem of the 1940s and 1950s, and a seminal work of modern literature.

Published during a literary era marked by the ascendance of black writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley, this thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown’s childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s.

When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem—the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor.

The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown’s time, but also because of its inspiring message. Now with an introduction by Nathan McCall, here is the story about the one who “made it,” the boy who kept landing on his feet and grew up to become a man.

Bestselling authors Christine Pride and Jo Piazza return with a gripping and thought-provoking new novel about a Black woman whose interracial marriage is tested when a journalist investigates a decades-old murder tied to her wealthy husband’s family.

Simone Hartwell has made trade-offs to build a life she loves, including giving up her once promising career as a journalist. But as her husband, Alex, stands to finally take the reins of the family business—a chain of high-end grocery stores his grandfather started—Simone vows to settle contently into her role supporting him and raising their son Langston.

But when her college ex and first love, Kwame, resurfaces in her life, her carefully constructed domestic bliss threatens to crumble under the weight of old feelings and new dramas. Kwame, who built the journalism career Simone once dreamed of, is investigating a decade’s old mystery of a young Black man who disappeared from The Tate School—the same elite prep school that Alex’s family has attended for generations. When he discovers a startling connection to the Hartwells, it sets everyone on a collision course that will unearth long-held secrets, test loyalties, and force a major reckoning between the past and the future.

Thorny, urgent, and nuanced, I Never Knew You at All is a story of love, forgiveness, and redemption that asks provocative questions: Who deserves forgiveness? Can people really change? And ultimately—what does it take to hold a marriage together…or break it apart?

DELUXE EDITION--featuring beautiful blue sprayed edges!

From USA Today bestselling author Naima Simone comes a new scorching dark mafia romance in The Hunted Kingdom series in which a modern-day Cinderella must fight against the stepbrother who inherited her legacy--but he wants more than just the family empire: he wants her.

He’ll burn it all to keep her.
Her fire will consume his soul.

Today, my father gave me the perfect gift: he died.

But he left my legacy, the multibillion drug empire, to pure evil―my stepbrother, Asad Prince.

Petty even in death? Two can play that game.

As the last Cross, I’ll leave it all behind. And I will have the last laugh too: I’ll take the formula for the drug I created with me.

It’s the perfect plan until Asad makes his final move―marry him, or everyone I love dies.

A deal with the devil. Until he reveals his secrets.

His obsession might have always been my freedom.

Now, Asad might rule with fire.

But I'll light the match.

EMBER is a dark mafia romance that explores themes, subjects, and scenes that may not be suitable for everyone. Please see the author's content note at the beginning of the book.

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Arranged marriage
Forced proximity
Touch her/him and die
Morally grey MMC/FMC
Fairy tale reimagining

Black performance theory is a rich interdisciplinary area of study and critical method. This collection of new essays by some of its pioneering thinkers—many of whom are performers—demonstrates the breadth, depth, innovation, and critical value of black performance theory. Considering how blackness is imagined in and through performance, the contributors address topics including flight as a persistent theme in African American aesthetics, the circulation of minstrel tropes in Liverpool and in Afro-Mexican settlements in Oaxaca, and the reach of hip-hop politics as people around the world embrace the music and dance. They examine the work of contemporary choreographers Ronald K. Brown and Reggie Wilson, the ways that African American playwrights translated the theatricality of lynching to the stage, the ecstatic music of Little Richard, and Michael Jackson's performance in the documentary This Is It. The collection includes several essays that exemplify the performative capacity of writing, as well as discussion of a project that re-creates seminal hip-hop album covers through tableaux vivants. Whether deliberating on the tragic mulatta, the trickster figure Anansi, or the sonic futurism of Nina Simone and Adrienne Kennedy, the essays in this collection signal the vast untapped critical and creative resources of black performance theory.

Contributors. Melissa Blanco Borelli, Daphne A. Brooks, Soyica Diggs Colbert, Thomas F. DeFrantz, Nadine George-Graves, Anita Gonzalez, Rickerby Hinds, Jason King, D. Soyini Madison, Koritha Mitchell, Tavia Nyong'o, Carl Paris, Anna B. Scott, Wendy S. Walters, Hershini Bhana Young

A ragtag group of activists plan a mission to repatriate the bones of a Blackfeet boy who was sent to the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School in author Stephen Graham Jones's return to the Blackfeet reservation of his award-winning New York Times bestsellers The Only Good Indians and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

Nate Yellow Tail is one of the survivors of the deadly revenge murders of Stephen Graham Jones's breakout bestseller The Only Good Indians. Five years after the massacre on the Blackfeet reservation, Nate finds himself in the hospital after a terrible accident that should’ve killed him and that nearly killed his best friend Sebby, who is hanging onto life in a room a few doors down.

Nate’s life is out of balance, so when he is given the chance to reset his life, and maybe save Sebby in the process, Nate steps up, again. This time it’s into a camper van that is almost as run down as his broken body, filled with three older Blackfeet, to find the bones of the lone Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where many Indigenous children were abused, and repatriate this boy home. The problem is, when they get the bones, something terrible has escaped with them.

Jones has crafted another American Indian novel for our times, shining light on the dark corners of this country’s history while also showing the desperate choices people make when they’re put up against a wall.

In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to time in New York as a college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. 

Heavy is a “gorgeous, gutting…generous” (The New York Times) memoir that combines personal stories with piercing intellect to reflect both on the strife of American society and on Laymon’s experiences with abuse. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, he asks us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

A Black Woman Did That! spotlights vibrant, inspiring Black women whose accomplishments have changed the world for the better.

A Black Woman Did That! is a celebration of strong, resilient, innovative, and inspiring women of color. Through vibrant illustrations and engaging storytelling, author Malaika Adero spotlights well-known historical figures including Ida B. Wells, Madam CJ Walker, Mae Jemison, and Shirley Chisholm, as well as contemporary stars including Stacey Abrams, Jesmyn Ward, Ava DuVernay, and Amy Sherald.

Readers will recognize some names in the book, but will also be introduced to many important Black women who have changed history or who are reshaping the cultural landscape. They’ll learn:
*how Barbara Harris became the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church
*how Misty Copeland became the first Black principal dancer of the American Ballet Theater
*how the work and inventions of Dr. Patricia Bath have saved or restored the eyesight of people around the world
*how Shirley Chisolm changed the face of politics in America
*how Glory Edim has turned her passion for reading into a thriving online community
*and much more!

"Passion, heat and deep emotion—Naima Simone is a gem!" —Maisey Yates, New York Times bestselling author

He’s the best mistake she ever made…

Back in Rose Bend after a work trip that went wrong, Florence “Flo” Dennison craves the kind of distraction only a searing fling with a gorgeous stranger can provide. And she gets it—in an encounter hot enough to leave scars. But satisfaction turns to shock when Flo realizes her one-night stand is leading the restoration project she’s been hired to photograph. And his sweet little girl has decided Flo’s her new bestie…

Single dad and architect Adam Reed wants stability for his daughter, and he’s sure that Flo—young, ambitious, beautiful—isn’t looking for that. But when his nanny bails and Flo helps him out, it becomes impossible to keep their distance. Now, navigating tangled family ties and her own trust issues, Flo has to decide if one wild night can become so much more.

Bonus novella!

Brooklyn Hayes just woke up in Vegas married to her best friend, who also happens to be her sister's ex. Will they make it through a trip back home without spilling their secret…or falling in love?

Rose Bend

Book 1: The Road to Rose Bend
Book 2: Christmas in Rose Bend
Book 3: With Love from Rose Bend
Book 4: Mr. Right Next Door
Book 5: The Single Dad Project

USA Today bestselling author Naima Simone heats up the page with intensity and wit in this romance between a pro hockey player and a firefighter, both struggling to move on from the past.

Being a firefighter isn’t easy. Especially for a Black woman. Working with family helps a little. But when somebody from your company doesn’t come back from a call, it’s brutal―as in, “How’m I supposed to go on?” brutal.

And one death took me to a really dark place.

A year later, I’m at the Pirates’ hockey training facility. Just another day on the job. Until I find a charred journal. I look inside for the owner’s name, but the words on the page punch me in the gut. It’s like reading my own thoughts. Reliving my own pain.

The journal belongs to Solomon Young, left-winger for the Pirates―a father and widower. When I return it, I’m racked with guilt for the invasion of privacy. The look Solomon gives me is cold as ice.

But damn if that man isn’t hot as hell.

Now he’s stuck in my brain. And fate seems intent on making us face off.

In Ghost Woman, Crystal Simone Smith explores the long and deep connections between nature, personhood, ancestry, and trauma through haiku and haibun. Separated into five sections, the poems emphasize the way social bonds and landscapes are reflected in and through the environment. Smith brings her experiences with race, motherhood, and poetry into conversation with the five elements, Wind (Fu), Earth (Chi), Water (Sui), Fire (Ka), and Void (Ku) to take readers through an introspective haiku journey, an exploration of the nature of the self as well as the nature of the broader world. Balancing shattering grief with ordinary moments of love and trauma with survival, Ghost Woman weaves a narrative verse of single motherhood, bearing witness, and carrying your history with you. The poems in Ghost Woman invite the reader to be with nature and themselves more intentionally.