Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the author of the genre-bending novel, Long Division and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. He serves as Ottilie Schillig Professor in English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi and Libby Shearn Moody Professor of Creative Writing and English at Rice University.
Search results: 10 results for “by candace williams”
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10 results
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I am the Most Dangerous Thing
I am the Most Dangerous Thing
by Candace Williams
$17.95Over the course of these poems, the Black, queer protagonist begins to erase violent structures and fill the white spaces with her hard-won wisdom and love. I am the Most Dangerous Thing doesn't just use poetry to comment on life and history. The book is a comment on writing itself. What have words done? When does writing become a form of disengagement, or worse, violence?
The book is an exercise in paring the state down to its true logic of violence and imagining what can happen next. There are many contradictions—Although the protagonist teaches the same science that was used to justify enslavement and a racial caste system, she knows she will die at the hands of science and denies the state the last word by penning her own death certificate. As an educator and knowledge worker, she is an overseer of the same racist, misogynistic, and homophobic systems that terrorize her. Yet, she musters the courage to kill Kurtz, a primordial vision of white terror. She is Black and queer and fat and angry and chill and witty and joyful and depressed and lovely and flawed and an (im)perfect dagger to the heart of white supremacist capitalism. -
Queenie Is Working on It: A Novel
Queenie Is Working on It: A Novel
$29.00Candice Carty-Williams, internationally bestselling author of Queenie (now a television series on Hulu), reunites us with the iconic character nearly ten years on, facing new chaotic choices in life and love with cherished old friends and family in this highly anticipated sequel.
Queenie Jenkins is moving on up.
She’s thirty-three, the editorial director for The Good Sis, a thriving media network amplifying the voices of Black women, a far cry from her former toxic workplace. With a great platform and a renewed sense of purpose, she’s fighting the good fight.
So when an appointment for research goes haywire and reveals startling truths about her own fertility, Queenie is confronted with a racing biological clock when she’s not even sure she wants kids in the first place. She’s sort of seeing someone, but it’s not that serious (according to him), and her mom, grandma, and aunt Maggie all mean well, but they keep asking when she’s going to settle down.
Surrounded by loyal friends who seem to fall in love with their person and get pregnant at the drop of a hat, Queenie feels they just don’t get her. After a series of confusing “situationships” that prove more trouble than they’re worth, an old flame that she’s now second-guessing why she ended it with, and her beloved grandfather’s failing health, Queenie feels as though time is running out in all the parts in her life. And she’s going to do what she thinks is best to get back on track, no matter how inadvisable.
Bigger. Not better. Older. Not wiser. The beloved and flawed Queenie Jenkins is scared, she is frustrated, she is confused…but…she is working on it.
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Queenie
Queenie
by Candice Carty-Williams
$18.99NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY WOMAN’S DAY, NEWSDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BUSTLE, AND BOOK RIOT!
“[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking.” —Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You
For fans of Luster and I May Destroy You, a disarmingly honest, unapologetically black, and undeniably witty debut novel that will speak to those who have gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.
Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.
As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.
With “fresh and honest” (Jojo Moyes) prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today’s world. -
Seven Days in June
Seven Days in June
by Tia Williams
$17.99Brooklynite Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer, who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone's surprise, shows up in New York.
When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York's Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can't deny their chemistry-or the fact that they've been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.
Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva's not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart, and she needs to get him out of New York so that her life can return to normal. But before Shane disappears again, there are a few questions she needs answered. . .
With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual. -
The Seven Daughters of Dupree
The Seven Daughters of Dupree
from $19.00*Paperback Release Date - 1/5/2027*
From the two-time Emmy Award–winning producer and host of the Black and Published podcast comes a sweeping multi-generational epic following seven generations of Dupree women as they navigate love, loss, and the unyielding ties of family in the tradition of Homegoing and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.
It’s 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother Gladys remains silent about the family’s past, including why she left Land’s End, Alabama, in 1953. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers.
From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby’s fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia’s future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.
The Seven Daughters of Dupree masterfully weaves together themes of generational trauma, Black women’s resilience, and unbreakable familial bonds. Echoing the literary power of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, Nikesha Elise Williams delivers a feminist literary fiction that explores the ripple effects of actions, secrets, and love through seven generations of Black women.
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Nine Lives, No Wives, and 69 Concubines
Nine Lives, No Wives, and 69 Concubines
$30.00Emmy-winning comedian Katt Williams delivers a raw, unfiltered memoir that takes readers on a wild ride from homelessness to Hollywood, revealing the resilience, faith, and unapologetic humor that define his iconic career. With a forward by Shaquille O’Neal.
At thirteen, Micah Williams told his devout Jehovah’s Witness parents he was done. Knocking on doors wasn’t his calling, but knocking out audiences would be. He hitchhiked to Florida, hustled odd jobs, and years later would transform into Katt Williams, Emmy-winner, five-foot-five giant of comedy. The only man in Hollywood who can rock both a press and curl and sold-out arenas.
Katt details the grit and unwavering self-belief that fueled his ascent from an impromptu set at a small Florida comedy club to commanding audiences worldwide. He funded his own tours, kept his ownership, and he learned early that if you’re going to be underestimated, you might as well profit from it.
Katt also reveals the quieter side of the man behind the mic: thoughtful, spiritually grounded, and deeply committed to fatherhood. He addresses the headlines head-on, sets the record straight on his legal battles, while sharing what it really means to survive Hollywood without losing ownership of your money, your voice, or your peace.
From the soul of a man who refuses to fail, this memoir is part comedy masterclass and part middle finger to convention. It’s not just for fans; it’s for anyone who’s ever been told their dreams were too loud. Katt delivers a blueprint for betting on yourself…and winning.
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I Can and I Will Lapel Pin
I Can and I Will Lapel Pin
$12.00This pin is for anyone who has ever been told they couldn't or anyone who has ever had any self-doubt. You can do it. Hard enamel pin with gold plating 1.4 inches wide Pin comes with 2 rubber pin backs -
People Person
People Person
by Candice Carty-Williams
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 business days*
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. -
IRL Author Talk: People Person with Candice Carty-Williams and Kiese Laymon-September 20 @7PM CST
IRL Author Talk: People Person with Candice Carty-Williams and Kiese Laymon-September 20 @7PM CST
Sold outJoin 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
COVID ProtocolWe are asking all event attendees to mask and we have surgical masks on hand if you find yourself without one. Given the rapidly shifting circumstances surrounding COVID, please check this page to confirm that the event will take place in person. -
Do You Take This Man
Do You Take This Man
Denise Williams
Sold outUse discount code SALE to receive 30% off at checkout
"Do You Take This Man has one of the steamiest, most addictive, most satisfyingly hard-earned happily-ever-after I’ve read in ages!"—Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of Love on the Brain
A wedding officiant who doesn't believe in love and an event planner who's been burned agree to say "I do" to being enemies with benefits.
Divorce attorney RJ would never describe herself as romantic. But when she ends up officiating an unplanned wedding for a newly engaged couple in a park, her life is turned upside down. The video of the ceremony goes viral, and she finds herself in the unlikely position of being a sought-after local wedding officiant. Spending her free time overseeing “I dos” isn’t her most strategic career move, but she enjoys it, except for the type A dude-bro wedding planner she’s forced to work with.
Former pro-football event manager Lear is a people person, but after his longtime girlfriend betrayed him, he isn’t looking for love. He knows how to execute events and likes being in control, so working with an opinionated and inflexible officiant who can’t stand him is not high on his list. He’s never had trouble winning people over, but RJ seems immune to his charms.
Surrounded by love at every turn, their physical attraction pulls them together despite their best efforts to stay an arm’s length apart. Lear refuses to get hurt again. RJ refuses to let herself be vulnerable to anyone. But when it comes to happily ever after, their clients might not be the only ones saying “I do.”
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