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In an age of confusion, fear, and loss, Hanif Abdurraqib's is a voice that matters. Whether he's attending a Bruce Springsteen concert the day after visiting Michael Brown's grave, or discussing public displays of affection at a Carly Rae Jepsen show, he writes with a poignancy and magnetism that resonates profoundly.

In the wake of the nightclub attacks in Paris, he recalls how he sought refuge as a teenager in music, at shows, and wonders whether the next generation of young Muslims will not be afforded that opportunity now. While discussing the everyday threat to the lives of Black Americans, Abdurraqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers: for attempting to enter his own car.

In essays that have been published by the New York Times, MTV, and Pitchfork, among others—along with original, previously unreleased essays—Abdurraqib uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might better understand ourselves, and in so doing proves himself a bellwether for our times.

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“When an author’s unmitigated brilliance shows up on every page, it’s tempting to skip a description and just say, Read this! Such is the case with this breathlessly powerful, deceptively breezy book of poetry.” —Booklist, Starred Review

A deeply moving poetry collection about grief, love, and the heavens and hells we create on earth, from the New York Times bestselling author of There’s Always This Year

Your heartbreak may one day grow wide as a desert
where nothing survives, but consider this: elsewhere, a child drowns in wonder

After the publication of two award-winning essay collections, Hanif Abdurraqib makes his long-awaited return to poetry to mine the aftermath of a spiritual crisis: What if life after this one is heavenless? How might I live differently if I can find small heavens on this flawed, faulty earth?

In poems of illuminating curiosity, Abdurraqib turns his attention to the sublime beauty in ordinary life. From the man who lifts his window shade for a crying baby on an airplane, to the grandmother who makes and unmakes her absent grandson’s bed every morning, to his friend’s young daughter who decides to devote herself to a newfound love of ants, Abdurraqib attends to life’s simple pleasures—while also refusing to ignore the hells that we have created on earth.

Through I’m Always Looking Up And You’re Jumping, master poet Hanif Abdurraqib crafts a devastating yet uplifting reflection of the essential contradictions that come with the experience of being human—the immense pain and suffering we feel and inflict upon others and the overwhelming goodness that exists within all of us.

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At the March On Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was 57 years old, well beyond her most prolific days. But in her speech at the march, she was in a mood to consider her life, her legacy, her departure from the country she was now triumphantly returning to. “I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too,” she told the crowd. From those few words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines—whether it’s the 27 seconds in “Gimme Shelter” where Merry Clayton wails the words “rape, murder,” a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt—has layers of resonance in black and white culture, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib’s own personal history of love, grief, and performance.

A reissue of Greg Tate's classic, out-of-print collection of essays, with a new introduction by Hanif Abdurraqib and a new foreword by Questlove.

From one of the most original, creative, and provocative culture critics comes an eye-opening collection of essays and tales about American music and culture.

Under the guise of writing about a single subject, Greg Tate’s essays in Flyboy in the Buttermilk branch out from his usual and explore social, pop cultural, political, and economic subjects. Taking on a wide diversity of topics―from the rise of hip-hop; the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat; the music of Miles Davis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Bad Brains, and many others; to the crisis of the Black intellectual and the irony of the GOP recruiting Black Americans― Tate writes in a brave and distinctive voice that is angry, joyous, anxious, and funny.

In every piece of this collection, Tate offers informed insight into where America is going and why.

This thirtieth-anniversary edition of June Jordan’s foundational poetry program guidebook features a foreword by Hanif Abdurraqib and a new preface from Samiya Bashir.

If you want to know how to teach poetry―in a university, a high school, at a nature preserve, in a hospital, or in your living room―read this book.

June Jordan's Poetry for the People details how to build a grassroots poetry program through a collection of strategies, sample student work, course descriptions, and a step-by-step guide to organizing and promoting readings, alongside original writing from Adrienne Rich, Joy Harjo, Ntozake Shange, and Cornelius Eady.

Now with a guide to teaching ethically in the digital age, this easy-to-use, timely reference is perfect for teachers of poetry at any level and in any group setting.

From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a pioneering collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today

A critic explores the paradox of finding community in “the dozens” while grieving. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. An email thread between friends on why we need an updated Green Book but for public toilets. All across the nation, “Karens” become illegal overnight. These are just a few of the hilarious worlds contained in Damon Young’s groundbreaking anthology featuring the best, funniest, and Blackest essays, short stories, letters, and rants.

With words that roast, ignite, and burn while connecting to and coalescing around a singular thesis, That's How They Get You emphasizes how and why Black American humor is uniquely transfixing. This is a mixture of not just observational anxieties and stream-of-consciousness lucidities but also acute political clarity about America. Edited and with an introduction by Damon Young, the critically acclaimed author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, the collection features new material from an all-star roster of contributors, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Mahogany L. Browne, Wyatt Cenac, Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw, Roy Wood Jr., and Nicola Yoon.

A guide to the art of journaling—and a meditation on the central questions of life—by the bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms, with contributions from Hanif Abdurraqib, Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, George Saunders, and many more

“The Book of Alchemy proves on every page that a creative response can be found in every moment of life—regardless of what is happening in the world.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

From the time she was young, Suleika Jaouad has kept a journal. She’s used it to mark life's biggest occasions and to weather its most ferocious storms. Journaling has buoyed her through illness, heartbreak, and the deepest uncertainty. And she is not alone: for so many people, keeping a journal is an essential tool for navigating both the personal peaks and valleys and the collective challenges of modern life. More than ever, we need a space for puzzling through.

In The Book of Alchemy, Suleika explores the art of journaling and shares everything she's learned about how this life-altering practice can help us tap into that mystical trait that exists in every human: creativity. She has gathered wisdom from one hundred writers, artists, and thinkers in the form of essays and writing prompts.Their insights invite us to inhabit a more inspired life.

A companion through challenging times, The Book of Alchemy is broken into themes ranging from new beginnings to love, loss, and rebuilding. Whether you’re a lifelong journaler or new to the practice, this book gives you the tools, direction, and encouragement to engage with discomfort, ask questions, peel back the layers, dream daringly, uncover your truest self—and in doing so, to learn to hold the unbearably brutal and astonishingly beautiful facts of life in the same palm.

Also includes essays from: Martha Beck • Nadia Bolz-Weber • Alain de Botton • Susan Cheever • Lena Dunham • Melissa Febos • Liana Finck • John Green • Marie Howe • Pico Iyer • Oliver Jeffers • Quintin Jones • Michael Koryta • Hanif Kureishi • Kiese Laymon • Cleyvis Natera • Ann Patchett • Esther Perel • Adrienne Raphel • Jenny Rosenstrach • Sarah Ruhl • Sharon Salzberg • Dani Shapiro • Mavis Staples • Linda Sue Park • Nafissa Thompson-Spires • Jia Tolentino • Lindy West • Lidia Yuknavitch • And many others

For more than a decade, Andre D. Wagner has explored and documented New York City street life, with a particular focus on the changing landscape of Bushwick, Brooklyn, where he has lived and worked since 2011. His work offers an intimate portrait of city life shaped by connection, responsibility and care. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Wagner came to New York to pursue a degree in social work, but ultimately found his voice through the camera. He is also deeply committed to photographic processes, developing his own black-and-white negatives and making gelatin silver prints in his own darkroom. Wagner’s work belongs to a lineage of American street photography that investigates the social landscape and addresses questions of race, class and identity. His photographs capture the joys and hardships of Black life in the city: moments of tenderness and distance, humor and melancholy, solitude and communion. This publication, representing the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation / Steidl Book Prize, features work made between 2014 and 2024, much of it never published before. The book also includes an essay by the acclaimed writer Hanif Abdurraqib. Co-published with The Gordon Parks Foundation

Groundbreaking new book based on the popular site blackcrossword.com featuring over 100 original puzzles inspired by the Diaspora and covering history, popular culture, trailblazers, literature, and politics.  

“Crosswords, and puzzles in general, are good in times of stress,” Will Shortz, the puzzle editor of The New York Times, has said, and during the pandemic sales of crossword puzzles and participants in online games such as Wordle, skyrocketed. Frustrated by the dearth of Black people creating puzzles or appearing as clues, entrepreneur Juliana Pache created blackcrossword.com in early 2023. The site at once took off counting such regular players and fans as Academy Award winner Questlove, popular social activist Brittney Packet Cunningham, and author and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib.

Now, to expand her platform, Pache is looking to bring her cultural crossword puzzles to book publishing. Like her site, the concept for the first BLACK CROSSWORD is a game that places emphasis on terms and clues from across the diaspora. By highlighting prominent cultural figures, movements, artistic achievements, and Black vernacular from across the globe, BLACK CROSSWORD on the page will serve as a simple yet impactful way for solvers to engage in the diaspora and celebrate Black culture.

In a crossword landscape that is predominantly white, BLACK CROSSWORD will provide puzzles to an underserved and passionate market. While the puzzles are meant to increase Black representation in crosswords, they also underscore the fact that this historically underserved market — Black solvers who would like puzzles that are culturally relevant to them—has the potential to become both a commercial hit and resonate with multiple generations of readers. BLACK CROSSWORD has the potential to become a series of books, including a general edition, a calendar edition, a pop culture edition across the diaspora, a Black History edition, and a trailblazer edition. While in a trade paperback format, BLACK CROSSWORD could have an elevated look/tone that would be a perfect gift or keepsake – the possibilities are endless.

This poetry book is a raw and unfiltered memoir about love and heartbreak-the kind that shapes you and shatters you. It's about first loves and lost loves, about the way girls are taught to shrink themselves for affection and the journey of unlearning that. It delves into grief, the loss of a sibling and the quiet ways absence rewrites you. It is about a childhood marked by hardship, by domestic violence, by wounds that take years to name. And yet, at its core, this book is about survival. It is about finding the strength to keep loving, to keep hoping, and to turn even the deepest sadness into something resembling joy.

Celebrate the release BLK MKT Vintage with Jannah Handy & Kiyanna Stewart!

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, October 24 @ 7 PM 

Where: Eldorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin Street, HTX, 77004)

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

This event is in partnership with Project Row Houses!

ABOUT THE BOOK

This one-of-a-kind treasure trove of Black cultural ephemera, from the entrepreneurs behind the vintage shop BLK MKT Vintage, expands on their mission to curate vintage objects that tell Black stories and celebrate the contributions Black people have made to our American consciousness.
 
Jannah Handy and Kiyanna Stewart have spent years scouring piles, stacks, bookshelves, and dilapidated boxes in search of themselves and their history, Black history. Through their Brooklyn brick-and-mortar BLK MKT Vintage and online shop, they have uncovered tens of thousands of items including vintage literature, vinyl records, clothing, art, decor, furniture and more.
 
BLK MKT Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories invites readers into Handy and Stewart’s work and partnership as they pick, collect, curate, design, and reimagine futures for the objects of the past. Brimming with more than 300 photographs of vintage pieces of ephemera, the book is a beautiful, ephemeral object itself calling to mind a scrapbook or family album that has a surprise on every page whether that’s 1972 celluloid pins from Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign, early 1800’s hand-drawn maps of the African continent, or 1920’s bound yearbooks from various HBCUs. The book also explores the various concepts that ground Handy and Stewart’s work; interviews with Black archivists, artists, memory workers and collectors – including a foreword from Spike Lee; a look into their private collection of thousands of items they have discovered over the years; an explanation of the different players in the antiques and vintage world; and tips and tricks on how to begin your own collection and curate physical spaces that reflect your identity and experience. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jannah Handy and Kiyanna Stewart are the co-founders of BLK MKT Vintage, an online vintage/antique concept shop that specializes in collectibles and curiosities, representing the richness of black history and lived experience. Their passion for material culture and found objects has led them to interior design projects, personal sourcing, set design, prop rental, museum loans and other curatorial projects in media/entertainment, education, the arts & philanthropy. Jannah has a background in business and education, with a B.A. in Economics from Smith College, and a M.Ed. in Higher Education from UMASS, Amherst. Kiyanna has a background in fashion & education, with a B.A. in Journalism & Africana Studies and a M.A. in Women's Studies, all from Rutgers University

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Amarie Gipson is a Houston-born writer, cultural worker and founder of The Reading Room HTX. She has held curatorial positions at various art institutions, including The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Independently, her writing has been published in ARTS.BLACK, Artforum, ArtNews, ESSENCE, Oxford American and many others. As a DJ, Gipson has made a significant impact on her hometown through PHYSICAL THERAPY, a dance party and 7,000+ person community founded to foreground safety and togetherness in Houston's underground music/nightlife scene. She is the former Arts & Culture editor of Houstonia Magazine and currently the Houston Editor-At-Large for Burnaway, an Atlanta-based arts criticism publication focusing on the American South and the Caribbean. Advancing a new model for librarianship and public institution building, The Reading Room is increasing access to cultural history through literature and programming. It is a community-centered tribute to Black genius in the South and beyond.