Called “powerful and provocative“ by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times bestselling How to be an Antiracist, this explosive book of history and cultural criticism reveals how white feminism has been used as a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against Black and Indigenous women, and women of color.

Discussing subjects as varied as The Hunger Games, Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, the viral BBQ Becky video, and 19th century lynchings of Mexicans in the American Southwest, Ruby Hamad undertakes a new investigation of gender and race. She shows how the division between innocent white women and racialized, sexualized women of color was created, and why this division is crucial to confront. Along the way, there are revelatory responses to questions like: Why are white men not troubled by sexual assault on women? (See Christine Blasey Ford.) With rigor and precision, Hamad builds a powerful argument about the legacy of white superiority that we are socialized within, a reality that we must apprehend in order to fight.

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.

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A debut picture book about a curious student who finds herself in trouble for talking in class—even though she just wants to share all that she’s learned.

“Did you know that flamingos don’t have teeth?” Questions, facts, and dreams—Ruby René could talk for hours. Once she got going, it was hard for her to stop. It didn’t matter if it was history, science, or the lunch menu—Ruby René had so much to say! But when her teacher called home because she found her sharing distracting, Ruby vowed to keep quiet. Until . . . she finds the perfect outlet for her gift of gab.

With charming text by debut author/educator Ashley Iman and colorful illustrations by Gladys Jose, Ruby René Had So Much to Say is a celebration of owning your voice, honing your skills, and turning challenges into opportunities.

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Mahmoud Darwish was the Palestinian national poet. One of the greatest poets of the last half century, his work evokes the loss of his homeland and is suffused with the pain of dispossession and exile. His poems display a brilliant acuity, a passion for and openness to the world and, above all, a deep and abiding humanity. Here, his close friends John Berger and Rema Hammami present a beautiful new translation of two of Darwish’s later works. Illustrated with original drawings by John Berger, Mural is a testimony to one of the most important and powerful poets of our age.

From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce White supremacy and deepen social inequity.

Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era. Presenting the concept of the “New Jim Code,” she shows how a range of discriminatory designs encode inequity by explicitly amplifying racial hierarchies; by ignoring but thereby replicating social divisions; or by aiming to fix racial bias but ultimately doing quite the opposite. Moreover, she makes a compelling case for race itself as a kind of technology, designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice in the architecture of everyday life.

This illuminating guide provides conceptual tools for decoding tech promises with sociologically informed skepticism. In doing so, it challenges us to question not only the technologies we are sold but also the ones we ourselves manufacture.

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.

Hollywood icon and Emmy Award-winning Abbott Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph shares the personal stories that have shaped her and the advice that has guided her throughout her life—helping readers breathe deeper, love stronger, and rise higher.

Sheryl Lee Ralph understands a truth most of us learn the hard way: There are moments in life when you must let your light shine. Moments when the noise of the world tries to mute your mic and silence your voice, dull your glow, and convince you to forget who you are. She has known those moments intimately—under the bright lights of Broadway and in the quiet hum of hospital rooms, on red carpets and in church pews. Sheryl has worn crowns and carried a few crosses, but through it all remained her unshakable faith in one simple belief: better must come. No matter how many times life knocks you down, you can rise, you must rise, reclaim yourself, and begin again.

You Better Love What You See isn’t a list of commandments to make you feel guilty, a to-do list, or the play-by-play story of an actor’s life. Filled with boundless empathy and wisdom, it’s a moving guide for anyone who wonders if they’re enough, who wants to lead with love and heal themselves, or who still battles with self-doubt.

Sheryl’s reflections draw from her life as a performer, mother, daughter, wife, sister, and above all a wise, wild woman. She shares stories about remaining determined in the face of defeat, overcoming obstacles when systemic oppression tried to keep her down, and how to find strength in every storm, including:

* Experiences from her childhood as the only girl of color in her Catholic school, to being fired from a TV role for not being “Black enough”
* Enrolling in the very first coed class at Rutgers University
* Bringing down the house with her historic Emmy Award win and acceptance speech
* And many more inspiring moments touching on themes such as faith, resilience, choosing joy, and finding purpose

Sheryl’s warm and empowering message is that, bottom line, when you look in the mirror, you better love what you see, because feeling powerful and purposeful won’t come from external accolades or approval—it starts with YOU. Her strong, authentic voice and magnetic presence are evident on every page—and readers will return to it again and again whenever their light is feeling a little dim.

A gripping historical novel about two mothers, still reeling from the loss of a beloved soldier, whose opposing views on an impending Gold Star pilgrimage ignite personal journeys of their own.

Bound by grief, two women must choose how much they will sacrifice for one last goodbye.

It's 1933, and thousands of American mothers have already crossed the ocean to France to visit the graves of their sons lost during the Great War. Yet for Black Gold Star Mothers and Widows, this government-sponsored pilgrimage is an insult. As the final group of mourners prepare to sail cross the Atlantic—with white women aboard luxury liners and Black women relegated to cargo ships—many must decide if the long, segregated journey is worth the unfair treatment.

One widow wants to remember...

Thelma Hayes just wants to see her husband again—or at the very least, his final resting place. Widowed only a year after marrying the love of her life, she longs to give her fourteen-year-old son something he’s never had: a connection to the father he never knew. When an unexpected opportunity places France within reach, Thelma is willing to sacrifice almost anything to make the journey.

One mother refuses to forget...

Charlotte Hayes has already lost too much. After surviving the murder of her husband, the destruction of her home, and the death of her only son, she refuses to surrender one more piece of herself. Standing firm against the segregated pilgrimage to France, Charlotte vows not to accept anything less than equal acknowledgment of her son’s sacrifice.

Bound together by the man they both lost—and divided by how to best honor his memory—these two grieving women must decide what matters more: demanding dignity—or getting to say goodbye one last time.

Inspired by the true story of the segregated Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimage, THE COLOR OF SACRIFICE is a gripping historical novel about love, loss, reconciliation, and the painful cost of war.

In a piercing blend of biography, criticism, and memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Salamishah Tillet explores Nina Simone’s life and the impact of her legacy.

In Nina Simone and the World She Made, Salamishah Tillet traces Nina Simone’s transformation from child prodigy to musical icon and fearless civil rights activist. When racism thwarted her dreams of becoming a classical pianist, Simone reinvented herself and created a sound wholly her own—one that would catapult her into stardom and the heart of the Black Power movement.

Decades later, Simone’s music inspired the hip-hop generation and Tillet’s own profound political awakening. From buying her first Nina Simone album to becoming a creative and activist, Tillet’s private encounters with Simone’s work grew into a broader exploration of her legacy. Exploring Simone’s unique impact on the American cultural landscape through the women who shaped her and those whom she shaped, Tillet reveals how art can be a powerful driver of social activism, and the struggles and sacrifices it involves.

With honest, lyrical prose, Tillet’s intimate portrait brings us close to Simone, while showing us how the singer’s voice captured the pain and promise of America and resonates in the fight for equality today. Nina Simone and the World She Made urges us to listen to Simone’s music—not just as a reflection of the past, but as a guide for the future.

From the PEN-nominated author of The Blueprint comes a moving novel about two women connected by music, memory—and murder.

Texas, 1983. Lola Jones is in prison for the death of her mother’s former lover, a man whose presence tangled itself through both their lives. After years of silence, Lola writes a letter to the dead man’s daughter—the “secret sister” from the better part of town in whose shadow Lola has lived most of her life.

As Lola reaches across time and memory, her story unfolds in two mirrored movements: the first, a chronicle of her mother, Camille, a blues singer shaped by love, ambition, and loss; the second, a recounting of Lola’s own coming of age in the echo of Camille’s legacy.

Braided with music, memory, and the weight of being misunderstood, Sweet Water explores inheritance, identity, and the ways women learn to survive what they cannot control. It is a story about Black women connected and separated by their experiences with each other, and with the men in their lives. Written as a letter, structured like a blues song—call and response, verse and refrain—the novel asks what it means to reclaim your voice when someone else’s pain has defined your existence.

If you are looking for a happily ever after, then this is the subscription for you! We love our romances be to be inclusive so expect to see romances featuring folks of all gender identities, body sizes and age ranges. Also, be prepared for a little spice (aka smut) every once in the while.

What you get: A mix of paperback and mass paperback frontlist and backlist books.

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