“A comprehensive exploration of postpartum traditions that emphasize the importance of nurturing mothers during their most vulnerable times. From traditional recipes to rituals, this book highlights sisterhood and the need for comprehensive care that honors both the mother and the newborn.”
―from the foreword by Erykah Badu, five-time GRAMMY Award Winner, singer/songwriter, and holistic healer

As a mother, grandmother, and traditional midwife, Shafia M. Monroe intimately knows about childbirth and the fourth trimester. For over forty years, she’s helped thousands give birth, and has taught thousands more how to support birthing parents, all integrating the deep wisdom of African American healing traditions. Long suppressed by the white medical establishment, these practices—such as belly binding, heat, herbs, the lying‑in period, and the “taking‑out‑of‑bed ritual”—are powerful healing tools. Using them, we mother the mother through a healthy postpartum period.

While this framework will be powerful healing for all mothers, the information in this book can save Black mothers' lives; with African American women disproportionately suffering from maternal mortality and morbidity, there is an urgent need for an embrace of African American postpartum care that surrounds the new mother and her baby with community, love, and protection. Mothering the Mother is a resource for Black women and communities to reclaim their cultural traditions for a healthy postpartum recuperation.

Powerful self-transformation practices for navigating an increasingly uncertain world inspired by Malcolm X’s final years, written by his daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz.

When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, he did more than cross geographic borders–he transformed his vision of faith, justice, and freedom. In Malcolm in the Desert, his daughter Ilyasah Shabazz invites us to walk beside him on that journey of spiritual transformation. In retracing his steps, she helps us see how the work of changing the world so often begins within. 

In Malcolm in the Desert, Shabazz reframes pilgrimage as a modern practice. She extracts keen lessons from her father’s life and legacy that show us the value of slowing down, listening deeply, and remembering who we truly are. Shabazz calls us to respond to crisis with courage, to meet grief with love, to rediscover faith as a creative force for change, and to dream in more revolutionary colors. These pages paint a new picture of Malcolm X through compassionate prose and galvanizing historical insight that shine alongside Jungian, Buddhist, and Islamic principles and wisdom from leading poets and scholars. Shabazz ties it all together  with simple practices to help us answer three central questions: Who are you? What do you care about? What is yours to do?

Malcolm in the Desert reveals the human heart of a legend. It is a reminder of the outer challenges we all face and the inner work it takes to be a light in an unstable world.  It is both a daughter’s offering to her father’s legacy and a compassionate guide for anyone seeking direction through the deserts of their own becoming.

75 recipes spanning cherished classics and modern interpretations, bringing the soul of Somali cooking to the world stage.

Known by many names, the cape of spices, the nation of poets, and the land of cinnamon, Somalia is nestled in the Horn of Africa and is blessed with fertile fields, rich in spices, and endowed with the longest coastline in mainland Africa. This location and natural abundance have made Somalia a corridor between east and west, and a central point in global trade and migration, dating back millennia.   

In Soomaaliya, Ifrah F. Ahmed tells the story of her country through its history, its food, and its people. Somalia’s role in the spice trade yields xawaash, the most distinctive of Somali flavors, a heady blend of cumin, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and turmeric that’s used in everything from marinades to stews. Cardamom also finds its ways into thin, fragrant crepes, sweet fried beignets called bur, and bariis, rice spiced with cardamom and cumin. This rice is paired hilib ari, tender goat meat stew that is a product of Somalia’s deep roots in herding and agrarianism. Baasto, or pasta, a relic of the long Italian colonial rule, is served with a range of simple tomato sauces to ragus. The bountiful waters supply fish freshly caught and fried. And for afternoon tea, a pot of spiced shaah, served with thick slices doolsho, an aromatic cardamom cake. These are a just a few of the over 70 recipes included that introduce the foundational flavors and tastes of the Somali palate.  

Through profiles of food producers, writers, and chefs, Ahmed shines a light on the many Somalis, at home and abroad, working to both preserve and transform the cuisine. Expansive and generous, and fueled by a deep love, Soomaaliya is a celebration of the richness of Somali food, and the remarkable resilience of its people.

Deluxe, expanded edition of an out-of-print early novel from Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor, with a brand-new introduction from the author

Niger, West Africa, 2074

It is an era of tainted technology and mysterious mysticism. A great change has happened all over the planet, and the laws of physics aren’t what they used to be.

Within all this, I introduce you to Ejii Ugabe, a child of the worst type of politician. Back when she was nine years old, she was there as her father met his end. Don’t waste your tears on him: this girl’s father would throw anyone under a bus to gain power. He was a cruel, cruel man, but even so, Ejii did not rejoice at his departure from the world. Children are still learning that some people don’t deserve their love.  

Now 15 years old and manifesting the abilities given to her by the strange Earth, Ejii decides to go after the killer of her father. Is it for revenge or something else? You will have to find out by reading this book.

I am the Desert Magician, and this is a novel I have conjured for you, so I’m certainly not going to just tell you here.

*ships in 7-10 business days

Tracey E. Hucks traces the history of the repression of Obeah practitioners in colonial Trinidad.

Obeah, Orisa, and Religious Identity in Trinidad is an expansive two-volume examination of social imaginaries concerning Obeah and Yoruba-Orisa from colonialism to the present. Analyzing their entangled histories and systems of devotion, Tracey E. Hucks and Dianne M. Stewart articulate how these religions were criminalized during slavery and colonialism yet still demonstrated autonomous modes of expression and self-defense. In Volume I, Obeah, Hucks traces the history of African religious repression in colonial Trinidad through the late nineteenth century. Drawing on sources ranging from colonial records, laws, and legal transcripts to travel diaries, literary fiction, and written correspondence, she documents the persecution and violent penalization of African religious practices encoded under the legal classification of “obeah.” A cult of antiblack fixation emerged as white settlers defined themselves in opposition to Obeah, which they imagined as terrifying African witchcraft. These preoccupations revealed the fears that bound whites to one another. At the same time, persons accused of obeah sought legal vindication and marshaled their own spiritual and medicinal technologies to fortify the cultural heritages, religious identities, and life systems of African-diasporic communities in Trinidad.

An introduction to the spiritual source of the beliefs and practices that have so profoundly shaped African American religious traditions.

Most of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Americas were from the Yoruba nation of West Africa, an ancient and vast civilization. In the diaspora caused by the slave trade, the guiding concepts of the Yoruba spiritual tradition took root in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States.

In this accessible introduction, Baba Ifa Karade provides an overview of the Yoruba tradition and its influence in the West. He describes the sixteen Orisha, or spirit gods, and shows us how to work with divination, use the energy centers of the body to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and create a sacred place of worship. The book also includes prayers, dances, songs, offerings, and sacrifices to honor the Orisha.

*ships in 7-10 business days

Intimate poems that explore feminine shame and violence and imagine what liberation from these threats might look like, from the award-winning author of The January Children

In Girls That Never Die, award-winning poet Safia Elhillo reinvents the epic to explore Muslim girlhood and shame, the dangers of being a woman, and the myriad violences enacted and imagined against women’s bodies. Drawing from her own life and family histories, as well as cultural myths and news stories about honor killings and genital mutilation, she interlaces the everyday traumas of growing up a girl under patriarchy with magical realist imaginings of rebellion, autonomy, and power. 
 
Elhillo writes a new world: women escape their stonings by birds that carry the rocks away; slain girls grow into two, like the hydra of lore, sprouting too numerous to ever be eradicated; circles of women are deemed holy, protected. Ultimately, Girls That Never Die is about wrestling ourselves from the threats of violence that constrain our lives, and instead looking to freedom and questioning:
 
[what if i will not die]
 
[what   will govern me then]

Experience the wonderful flavors of Ethiopia and Chef Yohanis' dazzling collection of recipes in this James Beard Award winning cookbook

Winner James Beard Award for Best International Cookbooks 2020

Winner IACP Julia Child First Book Award for Best Cookbook 2020

Shortlisted Guild of Food Writers Award 2019

National Geographic Traveller Best New Cookbook

Ethiopia stands as a land apart: never colonized, it celebrates ancient traditions. The fascinatingly distinct cuisine is influenced by a history enriched with a religious mix of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as some of the most fertile land on the continent.

In this cookbook, Ethiopia's gourmet guru seeks to spread love for the country’s cuisine. After working as a chef around the world, Yohanis Gebreyesus decided it was time to go home and put his skills to showing off what his home country has to offer. Now, he's dedicating his work to opening the world's eyes to Ethiopian cuisine.

The delicious dishes featured here include Doro Wat, chicken stewed with berbere spice, Siga Tibs, flashfried beef, and Asa Shorba, a hearty spiced fish soup, plus vegetarian dishes such as Gomen, collard greens with ginger and garlic, Azifa, green lentil salad, and Dinich Alicha, potatoes and carrots in an onion turmeric sauce.

Along with photography of the stunning landscapes and vibrant artisans of Ethiopia—combined with insightful cultural and historical details—this book demonstrates why Ethiopian food should be considered one of the world’s most singular and enchanting cuisines.

Celebrate the release of You've Got A Place Here, Too with Ebony Ladelle, Kiese Laymon, and Farrah Rochon!

EVENT DEETS

When: Monday, September 15 @ 7PM

Where: TBD

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

ABOUT THE BOOK

A heartwarming and unforgettable collection of love stories set at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, exploring hope, endurance, and what it means to leave a legacy, from some of today’s most prominent Black writers and edited by the acclaimed author of Love Radio

Love can be messy, painful, and heartbreaking, but it can also be revolutionary, profound, and hopeful. For Celine, a forbidden crush on a professor evolves into a second chance at romance years later. Myra’s focus on a coveted audition for the Fisk Jubilee Singers is challenged by the handsome music major determined to help her. Kiese investigates the darker side to academia, love, and identity. Like most blessings, love emerges in the most unexpected places—in a training cockpit for new pilots, during a Mardi Gras celebration, or while gathering signatures to start the first-ever LGBTQ+ student organization officially recognized at an HBCU.

These are just a few of the heart-searing, tender, and transporting love stories collected in You’ve Got a Place Here, Too—a true celebration of Black love and the profound impact of HBCUs on the community.

Featuring stories by Elizabeth Acevedo, Jasmine Bell, Carla Bruce, Aaron Foley, Kai Harris, Ebony LaDelle, Kiese Laymon, Christine Platt, Farrah Rochon, Kennedy Ryan, Dawnie Walton, and Nicola Yoon.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ebony LaDelle (she/her) is the author of Love Radio—which was People magazine’s best book of the summer, an Audie Award Finalist, a Michigan Notable Book, an Apple Books’ best book, and featured on the Today Show. Prior to being an author, Ebony was a brand marketing director in book publishing and worked at Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and HarperCollins. Ebony holds a BA in journalism from Howard University and an MS in publishing from Pace University.

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 was also the recipient of the 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard and a MacArthur Genius grant. He currently teaches English and creative writing at Rice University.

Farrah Rochon is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of 40-plus adult romance and young adult novels, novellas, and short stories, including the popular Boyfriend Project series from Forever Romance. When she is not writing in her favorite coffee shop, Farrah spends most of her time reading, traveling the world, visiting Walt Disney World, and catching her favorite Broadway shows.