In this groundbreaking work, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement offers a new perspective on the troubles facing Africa today. Too often these challenges are portrayed by the media in extreme terms connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai, the author of Unbowed, sees things differently, and here she argues for a moral revolution among Africans themselves. Illuminating the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, Maathai offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement. She deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability. Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.

Join us to celebrate the US release of Candice Carty-Williams' sophomore novel, People Person with our friends from Blue Willow Bookshop. 

Event DEETS:

When: Tuesday, September 20, 2022 at 7 PM

Where: 3719 Navigation Blvd, HTX 77003

How: Grab a free ticket without a book OR support our store, programming and the author by purchasing a book with your ticket. Limited seating available. 

Only books bought from Kindred Stories are eligible from the signing line. 

About Book

The author of the “brazenly hilarious, tell-it-like-it-is first novel” (Oprah Daily) Queenie returns with another witty and insightful novel about the power of family—even when they seem like strangers.

If you could choose your family...you wouldn’t choose the Penningtons.

Dimple Pennington knows of her half siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about.

She’s thirty, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half siblings Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie, and Prynce crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.

From an author with “a flair for storytelling that appears effortlessly authentic” (Time), People Person is a vibrant and charming celebration of discovering family as an adult.

About Author

Candice Carty-Williams is a writer and the author of the Sunday Times (London) bestselling Queenie, which has been shortlisted by Waterstones, Foyles, and Goodreads for book of the year, 2019, as well as selected as the Blackwell’s Debut of the Year. In 2016, Candice created and launched the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize, the first inclusive ini­tiative of its kind in book publishing. Candice has written for The Guardian, i-D, Vogue, every itera­tion of The Sunday Times (London), BEAT magazine, Black Ballad, and more. She will probably always live in South London.

About Moderator

Celebrate the release of Black. Single. Mother. with Jamilah Lemieux!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday, April 24 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St., Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

*Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A personal meditation on, examination of, and tribute to Black single motherhood, unapologetically told through poignant essays and candid interviews by a celebrated cultural critic

“Jamilah Lemieux is one of the most important feminist writers of the twenty-first century.”—Brittney Cooper

With her signature candid, humorous, and sometimes biting takes, Jamilah Lemieux suffers no fools while also courageously revealing the scars of her own parenting journey and search for self-acceptance in a world that hates “baby mamas.” With a particular verve and relatability—honed in her many years among Black Twitter’s most prominent voices—Lemieux centers the complex reality of Black single motherhood: uncertainty and fierceness alike.

Black. Single. Mother. combines riveting personal essays, infused with whip-smart cultural and historical analysis, with twenty-one intimate first-person testimonies from a spectrum of Black single mothers. A long-overdue offering in celebration of the American matriarch most often maligned, Black. Single. Mother. sets out to inspire a new cultural and community dialogue about this powerful figure as one profoundly deserving of love, support, and respect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamilah Lemieux is a cultural critic and writer with a focus on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. A leading feminist thinker, social influencer, and millennial media darling, Lemieux has written for a host of platforms, including the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Essence, Playboy, The Cut, The Guardian, Colorlines, The Washington Post, Wired, Self, Refinery29, and Vanity Fair. She was prominently featured in Lifetime’s docuseries Surviving R. Kelly and Surviving R. Kelly 2: The Reckoning. She also appeared in A&E’s Secrets of Playboy. Lemieux penned the foreword for the anniversary editions of Michele Wallace’s Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman and Ann Petry’s Miss Muriel and Other Stories. Currently, she writes a weekly advice column for Slate‘s “Care and Feeding” parenting section. She resides in Los Angeles with her daughter Naima.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Josie Pickens is a veteran writer, journalist, filmmaker, and storyteller whose work examines culture, politics, race, gender, and sexuality with clarity and depth. She has written for national outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, EBONY, Essence, The Root, Mic, Bitch, NewsOne, and MadameNoire, blending reporting, cultural critique, and narrative insight. As a filmmaker and producer, Pickens has shaped documentary and nonfiction projects that center Black, queer, and marginalized communities, with a focus on systems of power and community resilience. Her writing and visual work are grounded in rigorous research and a commitment to amplifying voices and stories often overlooked in mainstream discourse.

From Joya Goffney, author of Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry and Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl, both of which received starred reviews and stellar buzz, comes her fourth riveting YA romance novel about a book-smart wallflower who suddenly wins the attention of the school hottie—but only during seventh period. Perfect for fans of the hit rom-com John Tucker Must Die and filled with Joya's signature humor, complex characters, and searing romance.
Sunnaya Bates can’t stop thinking about Xavier Walker… and neither can six others.
When self-proclaimed wallflower Sunnaya Bates begins her first day of junior year, she’s not expecting to have the attention of star football player Omari Walker by seventh period. But Naya isn’t the only one that Zay has eyes for, in fact, Zay has a flirtationship with a different girl for every period. Everyone knows Zay doesn’t do relationships, so no harm, no foul… right?

And being a member of The Seven has its perks. People finally remember Naya’s name, Zahara is in the running for class president, and Raven gets the followers she needs to maintain her social media status. However, when Zay begins to only have eyes for new student Jesse Ramirez, things change for the newfound group, and so, they quickly hatch a plan to destroy Jesse’s status to retain theirs’. But Naya begins to struggle with her role in the plan and the feelings that are blooming between her and a certain should-be-annoying coworker. When things go too far, will Naya give up what she’s formed with The Seven to do what’s right?

A nuanced profile, in image and text, of the great Black Power leader at the exhilarating moment of the movement’s ascendancy

Gordon Parks’ 1967 Life magazine essay “Whip of Black Power” is a nuanced profile of the young, controversial civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael. As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Carmichael gained national attention and inspired media backlash when he issued the call for Black Power in Greenwood, Mississippi, in June 1966. Parks shadowed him from the fall of 1966 to the spring of 1967, as Carmichael gave speeches, headed meetings and promoted the growing Black Power movement. Parks’ photos and writing addressed Carmichael’s intelligence and humor, presenting the whole man behind the headline-making speeches and revealing his own advocacy of Black Power and its message of self-determination and love.
Stokely Carmichael and Black Power delves into Parks’ groundbreaking presentation of Carmichael, with analysis of his images and accompanying text about the charismatic leader. Lisa Volpe explores Parks’ complex understanding of the movement and its leader, and Cedric Johnson frames Black Power within the heightened political moment of the late 1960s. Carmichael’s own voice is represented through a reprint of his important 1966 essay “What We Want.”
Gordon Parks (1912–2006) was a photographer, filmmaker, musician and author whose 50-year career focused on American culture, social justice, the civil rights movement and the Black American experience. Born into poverty and segregation in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks was awarded the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in 1942, which led to a position with the Farm Security Administration. In 1969 he became the first Black American to write and direct a major feature film, The Learning Tree, and his next directorial endeavor, Shaft (1971), helped define a film genre.

A celebratory visual chronicle of the many ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves

Spanning over two centuries from around 1800 to the present day, Black American Portraits chronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art, curated by David C. Driskell at LACMA 45 years ago, this book is a companion to the exhibition of the same name that reframes portraiture to center Black American subjects, sitters and spaces. This selection of approximately 140 works from LACMA’s permanent collection highlights emancipation, scenes from the Harlem Renaissance, portraits from the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, multiculturalism of the 1990s and the spirit of Black Lives Matter.
Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center love, abundance, family, community and exuberance. Black American Portraits depicts Black figures in a range of mediums such as painting, drawing, prints, photography, sculpture, mixed media and time-based media. In addition to work by artists of African descent, Black American Portraits includes several works by artists of other backgrounds who have exemplified a thoughtfulness about, sensitivity toward and commitment to Black artists, communities, histories and subjects.
Artists include: Alvin Baltrop, Edward Biberman, Bisa Butler, Jordan Casteel, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Bruce Davidson, Stan Douglas, rafa esparza, Shepard Fairey, Charles Gaines, Sargent Claude Johnson, Deana Lawson, Kerry James Marshall, Alice Neel, Lorraine O'Grady, Catherine Opie, Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Henry Taylor, Tourmaline, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles White, Kehinde Wiley and Deborah Willis.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

Radical Justice brings together two bodies of socially-engaged photographic portraiture by Accra Shepp, who has documented New York City’s Occupy Wall Street movement starting in 2011 and its racial justice/BLM protests since 2020.  

Working in the style of August Sander with a large format camera and black and white film, Shepp pictures fellow New Yorkers on their city’s streets in acts of sit-ins and active protest, both unplanned and highly organized, both independent and unified, to address notions of the 99% and 1%, which have become part of the American political vernacular.  Bearing witness to defining events of the last decade that echo the United States’ longer historical arch, Shepp’s empathetic depictions of fellow citizens standing up for the fair protection of the Constitution provide a prophetic mirror of current events, which reflects back centuries to where the American experiment began, to suggest where we’ll find ourselves in the years to come.

*Ships in 7-10 business days*

With iconic imagery and engrossing text, Black TV is the first book of its kind to celebrate the groundbreaking, influential, and often under-appreciated shows centered on Black people and their experiences from the last fifty years.
 
Over the past decade, television has seen an explosion of acclaimed and influential debut storytellers including Issa Rae (Insecure), Donald Glover (Atlanta), and Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You). This golden age of Black television would not be possible without the actors, showrunners, and writers that worked for decades to give voice to the Black experience in America.
 
Written by veteran TV reporter Bethonie Butler, Black TV tells the stories behind the pioneering series that led to this moment, celebrating the laughs, the drama, and the performances we’ve loved over the last fifty years. Beginning with Julia, the groundbreaking sitcom that made Diahann Carroll the first Black woman to lead a prime-time network series as something other than a servant, she explores the 1960s and 1970s as an era of unprecedented representation, with shows like Soul Train, Roots, and The Jeffersons. She unpacks the increasingly nuanced comedies of the 1980s from 227 to A Different World, and how they paved the way for the ’90s Black-sitcom boom that gave us The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Living Single. Butler also looks at the visionary comedians—from Flip Wilson to the Wayans siblings to Dave Chappelle—and connects all these achievements to the latest breakthroughs in television with showrunners like Shonda Rhimes, Ava DuVernay, and Quinta Brunson leading the charge.
 
With dozens of photographs reminding readers of memorable moments and scenes, Butler revisits breakout performances and important guest appearances, delivering some overdue accolades along the way. So, put on your Hillman sweatshirt, make some popcorn, and get ready for a dyn-o-mite retrospective of the most groundbreaking and entertaining shows in television history.

A must-have anthology of the leading Black women and femmes shaping today’s food and hospitality landscape—from farm to table and beyond—chronicling their passions and motivations, lessons learned and hard-won wisdom, personal recipes, and more.

Chef and writer Klancy Miller found her own way by trial and error—as a pastry chef, recipe developer, author, and founder of For the Culture magazine—but what if she had known then what she knows now? What if she had known the extraordinary women profiled within these pages—entrepreneurs, chefs, food stylists, mixologists, historians, influencers, hoteliers, and more—and learned from their stories?

Like Leah Penniman, a farmer using Afro-Indigenous methods to restore the land and feed her community; Ashtin Berry, an activist, sommelier, and mixologist creating radical change in the hospitality industry and beyond; or Sophia Roe, a TV host and producer showcasing the inside stories behind today’s food systems. Toni Tipton-Martin, Mashama Bailey, Carla Hall, Nicole Taylor, Dr. Jessica B. Harris . . . In this gorgeous volume these luminaries and more share the vision that drives them, the mistakes they made along the way, advice for the next generation, and treasured recipes—all accompanied by stunning original illustrated portraits and vibrant food photography.

In addition, Miller shines a light on the matriarchs who paved the way for today’s tastemakers—Edna Lewis, B. Smith, Leah Chase, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, and Lena Richard.

These collective profiles are a one-of-a-kind oral history of a movement, captured in real time, and indispensable for anyone passionate about food.

First published in 2014, Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s Collective Courage quickly became an important tool for understanding the history of cooperative economic enterprises in the African American community. This now-classic work recounts how African Americans benefited greatly from cooperative ownership and democratic economic participation throughout the nation’s history.

Many of the players in this story are well known―among them W. E. B. Du Bois; A. Philip Randolph and the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Nannie Helen Burroughs; Fannie Lou Hamer; Ella Jo Baker and George Schuyler of the Young Negroes’ Co-operative League; the Federation of Southern Cooperatives; and the Black Panther Party. Drawing on media reports and co-op records, Gordon Nembhard uncovers the challenges they faced and highlights their hard-won victories.

This tenth anniversary edition of Collective Courage features a substantial preface that expands on material in the first edition and addresses the development of the Black co-op movement through the second decade of the twenty-first century. It remains an indispensable resource for readers interested in the history of the struggle for African American economic freedom and equity.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

From comedian Quinta Brunson comes a deeply personal and funny collection of essays about trying to make it when you're struggling, the importance of staying true to your roots, and how she's redefined humor online.

Quinta Brunson is a master at breaking the internet. Before having any traditional background in media, her humorous videos were the first to go viral on Instagram’s platform. From there, Brunson’s wryly observant POV helped cement her status in the comedy world at large, with roles on HBO, Netflix, ABC, Adult Swim, BuzzFeed, the CW, and Comedy Central. Now, Brunson is bringing her comedic chops to the page in She Memes Well, an earnest, laugh-out-loud collection about this unusual road to notoriety.

In her debut essay collection, Quinta applies her trademark humor and heart to discuss what it was like to go from a girl who loved the World Wide Web to a girl whose face launched a thousand memes. With anecdotes that range from the ridiculous—like the time she decided to go clubbing wearing an outfit she describes as "Gary Coleman meets metrosexual pirate"—to more heartfelt material about her struggles with depression, Quinta's voice is entirely authentic and eminently readable. With its intimate tone and hilarious moments, She Memes Well will make you feel as if you're sitting down with your chillest, funniest friend.

WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD

"Puts a monstrous face on bigotry and a beautiful new spin on the Harlem Renaissance." —The AV Club

In the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance is in full swing, and only the Sangerye Family can save New York-and the world-from the supernatural forces threatening to destroy humanity. But the once-great family of monster hunters has been torn apart by tragedies and conflicting moral codes. The Sangerye Family must heal the wounds of the past and move beyond their differences... or sit back and watch a force of unimaginable evil ravage the human race.

Collects: BITTER ROOT #1-15, BITTER ROOT Red Summer Special and the Image Anniversary Short.

Extras included! This compendium also includes engaging cultural context through interviews and essays from literary luminaries like Michael Gillespie (film professor at the City College of New York and the Graduate Center, CUNY), Rebecca Wanzo (author of The Suffering Will Not Be Televised: African American Women and Sentimental Political Storytelling), John Jennings (professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside, Eisner award-winning author, illustrator, and editor), a cover gallery, fan art, and behind the scenes concept art.