Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

North Carolina

Honey

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

A Novel

Acclaimed children's author Nana Brew-Hammond makes her highly anticipated return with this soaring and profound story about love and understanding told through three generations of one Ghanian family. Determined to avoid the pain and instability of her parents' turbulent, confusing marriage, Kokui marries a man far different from her loving, philandering, self-made father--and tries to be a different kind of wife from her mother. But when Kokui and her husband leave Ghana to make a new life for themselves in America, she finds history repeating itself. Her marriage failing, she is called home to Ghana when her father dies. Back in her childhood home, which feels both familiar and discomforting, she comes to realize that to exorcize the ghost of her parents' marriage she must confront them, not only to enable her own healing, but for the sake of her daughter who is considering a marriage proposal of her own. Tender and illuminating, warm and bittersweet My Parents' Marriage is a compelling story of family, community, class, and self-identity from an author with deep empathy and a generous heart.

My Parents' Marriage

1d959e78-0dae-4a43-992d-c24c99909d39-0

Akwaeke Emezi

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY HARPER'S BAZAAR, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BOOKPAGE AND MORE! "Emezi unspools a web of erotic danger in their entertaining latest...readers in search of a decadent good time will find it here."–Publishers Weekly A thrilling new novel from the bestselling, award-winning, visionary Akwaeke Emezi One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed. Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from the breakup, visits an exclusive sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally and suddenly upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, collide into the scene just as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt and glittering underworld, they’re all looking for a way out, fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them.

Little Rot

4a386f1f-58b9-4060-94e3-b2cde08840f9-0

Alex Michaelides

A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex–movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneous trip to a private Greek island is upended by a murder — from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient This is a tale of murder. Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it? Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island. I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind...and a murder. We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered. But who am I? My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.

The Fury

fdb3e377-6b71-4d8c-a9d8-917b131c7a0c-1

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

Nick Chiles

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

An Autobiography

In an autobiography marked by staggering vulnerability, former NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf-whose given name was Chris Jackson before converting to Islam and changing it in 1991-recounts the twists, turns, trials, and triumphs of his life. He is perhaps most well-known for being exiled from the league for praying--instead of standing and saluting the flag - during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before games throughout the 1995-96 season. Abdul-Rauf's protest sent shockwaves through the NBA that can still be felt today. With wit and candor, Abdul-Rauf tells the story of how he rose to the top of his game--only to have his career taken away in the blink of an eye when he stood up for his principles. He also recounts his experiences living with Tourette Syndrome, committing his life to the Islamic faith, and growing up estranged from his father. In the Blink of an Eye challenges readers to examine our own lives by asking what we value, how we want to be remembered, and how we can contribute to making the world a better place. Through evocative passages that place the reader in the heat of the moment as well as poignant portraits of the important people in his life, In the Blink of an Eye will capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. This book is a must-read for anyone who has faced down adversity by standing up for the integrity of their own life, path, and identity. From his confrontations with racism--including the burning down of his house--to his difficult relationship with some of his closest family members, Adbul-Rauf reveals in intimate detail the important and inspirational, if painful, episodes that shaped his life.

In the Blink of an Eye

26d018cf-1a91-46dd-9ad1-49c33446ed2a-0

John Cho

An instant New York Times bestselller!

An Indiebound bestseller!



Troublemaker follows the events of the LA Riots through the eyes of 12-year-old Jordan as he navigates school and family. This book will highlight the unique Korean American perspective.



12-year-old Jordan feels like he can't live up to the example his older sister set, or his parent's expectations. When he returns home from school one day hoping to hide his suspension, Los Angeles has reached a turning point. In the wake of the acquittal of the police officers filmed beating Rodney King, as well as the shooting of a young black teen, Latasha Harlins by a Korean store owner, the country is at the precipice of confronting its racist past and present. 

As tensions escalate, Jordan's father leaves to check on the family store, spurring Jordan and his friends to embark on a dangerous journey to come to his aide, and come to terms with the racism within and affecting their community.

Troublemaker

1280d27c-fc0d-43ac-b583-72a190c28261-1

Bethany C. Morrow

Named A Most Aniticipated Book of 2022 by *Medium* CrimeReads* Tor Nightfire* Bookshop* Book Talk* BiblioLifestyle* and more! From bestselling author Bethany C. Morrow comes a new adult social horror novel in the vein of Get Out meets My Sister, the Serial Killer, about Farrah, a young, calculating Black girl who manipulates her way into the lives of her Black best friend’s white, wealthy, adoptive family but soon suspects she may not be the only one with ulterior motives. . . . Seventeen-year-old Farrah Turner is one of two Black girls in her country club community, and the only one with Black parents. Her best friend, Cherish Whitman, adopted by a white, wealthy family, is something Farrah likes to call WGS—White Girl Spoiled. With Brianne and Jerry Whitman as parents, Cherish is given the kind of adoration and coddling that even upper-class Black parents can’t seem to afford—and it creates a dissonance in her best friend that Farrah can exploit. When her own family is unexpectedly confronted with foreclosure, the calculating Farrah is determined to reassert the control she’s convinced she’s always had over her life by staying with Cherish, the only person she loves—even when she hates her. As troubled Farrah manipulates her way further into the Whitman family, the longer she stays, the more her own parents suggest that something is wrong in the Whitman house. She might trust them—if they didn’t think something was wrong with Farrah, too. When strange things start happening at the Whitman household—debilitating illnesses, upsetting fever dreams, an inexplicable tension with Cherish’s hotheaded boyfriend, and a mysterious journal that seems to keep track of what is happening to Farrah—it’s nothing she can’t handle. But soon everything begins to unravel when the Whitmans invite Farrah closer, and it’s anyone’s guess who is really in control. Told in Farrah’s chilling, unforgettable voice and weaving in searing commentary on race and class, this slow-burn social horror will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page.

Cherish Farrah

68ff894b-db7c-423d-84bd-1eb42be5c5b4-1

Clyde W. Ford

Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth

Antoney and Isabell -- Piracy and European Wealth -- Servants or Slaves? -- From Servitude to Slavery -- Legislating Faith, Love, and Lust -- Runaways and Rebels -- A House Built on Smoke -- Founding Debtors, Founding Documents -- A Great White Hope -- I Can't Breathe -- Before the Mast -- Over Coffee -- Hell on Wheels -- The Only Cowardly Blood -- A Second American Revolution -- Back Again Toward Slavery.

Of Blood and Sweat

c72ee3a3-0762-4cd7-82dc-9b5a1614c700-1

Sonora Reyes

A sharply funny and moving debut novel about a queer Mexican American girl navigating Catholic school, while falling in love and learning to celebrate her true self. Perfect for fans of Erika L. Sánchez, Leah Johnson, and Gabby Rivera.

Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. 

After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and, most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that's a problem for Future Yami. 

The thing is, it's hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn't going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she'll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do? 

Told in a captivating voice that is by turns hilarious, vulnerable, and searingly honest, The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School explores the joys and heartaches of living your full truth out loud.

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

2dc26f6f-6cb5-4ade-b32d-bc17bc51699b-1

Tiphanie Yanique

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF FALL 2021 BY: NEW YORK TIMES ● VULTURE ● BOSTON GLOBE ● OPRAH DAILY SHEREADS ● KIRKUS REVIEWS ● HEY ALMA ● LITHUB ● AND MORE “Reveals on every page how love can persevere and take shape over time and space.”—Boston Globe “One of the most inventive and talented stylists of her generation.” —Vulture From the award-winning author of Land of Love and Drowning, an electric new novel that maps the emotional inheritance of one couple newly in love. When Fly and Stela meet in 21st Century New York City, it seems like fate. He's a Black American musician from a mixed-religious background who knows all about heartbreak. She’s a Catholic science teacher from the Caribbean, looking for lasting love. But are they meant to be? The answer goes back decades—all the way to their parents' earliest loves. Vibrant and emotionally riveting, Monster in the Middle moves across decades, from the U.S. to the Virgin Islands to Ghana and back again, to show how one couple's romance is intrinsically influenced by the family lore and love stories that preceded their own pairing. What challenges and traumas must this new couple inherit, what hopes and ambitions will keep them moving forward? Exploring desire and identity, religion and class, passion and obligation, the novel posits that in order to answer the question “who are we meant to be with?” we must first understand who we are and how we came to be.

Monster in the Middle

db8afcf0-84b9-4acc-8e6c-f81b359779c2-1

Tomi Obaro

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

The story of three once-inseparable college friends in Nigeria who reunite in Lagos for the first time in thirty years--a sparkling debut novel about mothers and daughters, culture and class, sex and love, and the extraordinary resilience of female friendship.

Funmi, Enitan, and Zainab first meet at university in Nigeria and become friends for life despite their differences. Funmi is beautiful, brash, and determined; Enitan is homely and eager, seeking escape from her single mother's smothering and needy love; Zainab is elegant and reserved, raised by her father's first two wives after her mother's death in childbirth. Their friendship is complicated but enduring, and over the course of the novel, the reader learns about their loves and losses. How Funmi stole Zainab's boyfriend and became pregnant, only to have an abortion and lose the boyfriend to police violence. How Enitan was seduced by an American Peace Corps volunteer, the only one who ever really saw her, but is culturally so different from him--a Connecticut WASP--that raising their daughter together put them at odds. How Zainab fell in love with her teacher, a friend of her father's, and ruptured her relationship with her father to have him.
 
Now, some thirty years later, the three women are reunited for the first time, in Lagos. The occasion: Funmi's daughter, Destiny, is getting married. Enitan brings her American daughter, Remi. Zainab travels by bus, nervously leaving her ailing husband in the care of their son. Funmi, hosting the weekend with her wealthy husband, wants everything to go perfectly. But as the big day approaches, it becomes clear that something is not right. As the novel builds powerfully, the complexities of the mothers' friendship--and the private wisdom each has earned--come to bear on a riveting, heartrending moment of decision. Dele Weds Destiny is a sensational debut from a dazzling new voice in contemporary fiction.
 

Dele Weds Destiny

19eb1a67-ff3f-480d-8a73-5398750314e2-1

Ciera Rogers

Because You Don't Need to Fit in to Win

From the fashion mogul and entrepreneur behind Babes, an empowering memoir about turning what makes you different into the foundation of your success Ciera Rogers is known for being an “Outsider”—and she likes it that way. As the founder and CEO of a multi-million-dollar brand that caters to curvy women of all shades, worn by the likes of Kim Kardashian and championed by Beyoncé, Ciera has rallied the very women the fashion industry is designed to ignore around the radical idea that what makes you different is actually your superpower. The Outsider Advantage is for Outsiders like her: the dreamers, doers, and go-getters that society continuously overlooks and underestimates, but who are uniquely equipped to achieve glass-shattering success. In this bold and inspiring memoir, Ciera shares the moments in her life that left the biggest impact—being kidnapped at a young age by her estranged father, running hustles in strip clubs, living in her mom’s red Jeep, daring to post her first outfit for sale on Instagram, hitting seven-figures, and buying a home—and unearths the powerful lessons she has taken away from her past and her unorthodox rise, like how to harness what you already have and how to use your trauma as a motivator. She also speaks to feelings of millennial rage, as on her journey, she came to realize that the American Dream is a lie. But she didn’t allow that to stop her from outmaneuvering the system to finally live the life she wanted. Arguing that what the world calls limitations—lack of connections, resources, fancy degrees, or even the “right” look—are actually our biggest competitive advantages, Ciera teaches anyone who has ever been overlooked, ignored or underestimated how to embrace their Outsider status to find unstoppable success.

The Outsider Advantage

34f43fca-173e-4af4-984f-4753e2d6410c-0

Eve J. Chung

A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story Daughters are the Ang family’s curse. In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed. Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them. From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story. Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.

Daughters of Shandong

629e633f-7917-4514-b44e-2f99b809bb34-1

Nathan Hill

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • The New York Times best-selling author of The Nix is back with a poignant and witty novel about a modern marriage and the bonds that keep people together. Mining the absurdities of contemporary society, Wellness reimagines the love story with a healthy dose of insight, irony, and heart. "A stunning novel about the stories that we tell about our lives and our loves, and how we sustain relationships throughout time—it's beyond remarkable, both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page.” —NPR When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the gritty '90s Chicago art scene, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in the thriving underground scene with an appreciative kindred spirit. Fast-forward twenty years to suburban married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter the often-baffling pursuits of health and happiness from polyamorous would-be suitors to home-renovation hysteria. For the first time, Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize each other, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process, Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.

Wellness

07c819f4-b09e-4215-8e75-cd4b9e820d0b-1

Lauren Simmons

A Guide to Financial Wellness

The popular host of the Money Moves podcast and youngest person ever to trade on the New York Stock Exchange provides winning tips for women to help them shift their financial mindset, become confident about their money, set them on a path to financial security, and live their best lives. "Seventy three percent of Americans ranked their finances as the number one cause of stress in their lives. But financial wellness can have a positive effect on your entire life. Not only when it comes to money and finances, but the quality and ease of how you live. Financial wellness means freedom for your body and freedom for your mind. Financial stress can also cause the breakdown of relationships. But it doesn't have to be that way."--Lauren Simmons In 2017, when she was only twenty-two, Lauren Simmons became the youngest full-time female trader at the New York Stock Exchange, and the second African American woman in the Exchange's 228-year history to hold such a position. Driven by a passion for empowering women, Millennials, Gen Zs, and minorities to become more financially savvy, she now shares her experience and knowledge in this savvy financial guide. Simmons brings a fresh perspective to personal finance: she is a young African American woman with an understanding of how to increase wealth and an awareness of generational and cultural barriers--such an income inequity--that can hold people back from taking financial risks. In her warm, down-to-earth voice, Simmons makes confusing topics easy to understand. She breaks down the pros and cons of buying stocks and Treasuries, explains how to maximize your 401K opportunities even in challenging economic times, advises how to grapple with student loans, and helps you break family cycles when dealing (or not) with debt. Simmons helps a new generation and others who have been overlooked learn how to take care of their money--so their money can take care of them, today and tomorrow.

Make Money Move

7938f15d-463c-46c8-a46c-1990fc297afc-0

Bryan Washington

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot, an irresistible, intimate novel about two young men, once best friends, whose lives collide again after a loss. Cam is living in Los Angeles and falling apart after the love of his life has died. Kai's ghost won't leave Cam alone; his spectral visits wild, tender, and unexpected. When Cam returns to his hometown of Houston, he crashes back into the orbit of his former best friend, TJ, and TJ's family bakery. TJ's not sure how to navigate this changed Cam, impenetrably cool and self-destructing, or their charged estrangement. Can they find a way past all that has been said - and left unsaid - to save each other? Could they find a way back to being okay again, or maybe for the first time? When secrets and wounds become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Spanning Los Angeles, Houston, and Osaka, Family Meal is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love. With his signature generosity and eye for food, sex, love, and the moments that make us the most human, Bryan Washington returns with a brilliant new novel.

Family Meal

efb2d6f0-0a0f-47c6-a021-30bded192bef-1

Dick Gregory

Christian Gregory

A soulful, generation-defining collection of thought-provoking, agitating, and liberating works from Dick Gregory, the activist and author of sixteen books, including the classic bestseller Nigger: An Autobiography and the 2017 NAACP Image Award Winner, Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies.

A true renaissance man, Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory was one of the pioneering satirists of his generation, a reformer and brilliant spokesperson for the downtrodden and forgotten who dedicated his life to speaking unadulterated truth--and to improving ordinary lives. A revered human rights and environmental activist, fearsome and uncompromising social critic, lauded bestselling author, and beloved nutrition guru, Gregory aimed not only to educate souls, but to liberate them. His words shaped a generation and remain vital for our own turbulent times, offering wisdom to enlighten and inspire a new activist age.

This carefully curated anthology of selected writings reflects and celebrates Dick Gregory's wisdom and his vision. Divided into three sections--Body, Mind, and Spirit--it includes previously unavailable transcriptions and excerpts taken from his sixteen books, fifteen albums and audio compilations, and more than 1,200 hours of archival video, including lectures, interviews, and comedic performances. It is a breathtaking tour through the life of one of America's most prophetic and relevant cultural icons. The Essential Dick Gregory is a pointillistic portrait of a man who gave up a lucrative entertainment career to fight injustice on the front line of battle--leading protests and hunger strikes to end the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa; supporting civil rights, feminism, and Native Americans,; and addressing hunger, poverty, and police brutality.

This compelling volume will challenge your beliefs, allow you to see life in unexpected ways, and dare you to make the world a better place.

The Essential Dick Gregory

03d327e4-8047-4c67-a3e7-2059d9fbf43e-1

M. K. Asante

A Memoir in 4-part Harmony 

Nephew

764b1e3d-81ec-4bb5-b1f1-fc08c76c5864-0

Kehinde Fadipe

Basking in Singapore's nonstop sunshine, low tax rate, and luxury goods market, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian are living the glamorous expat dream--until their carefully constructed lives are upended by a handsome and mysterious new arrival. Dara, a workaholic lawyer from the UK, is on the brink of partnership at her firm. Estranged from her mother, and perpetually uncomfortable around her hypercompetitive colleagues, her insecurities intensify exponentially when Lani, a new hire from Geneva (and a fellow British Nigerian), is assigned to work on what should have been her career-making case. Pitted against each other by their boss, Dara can't help but see Lani as a threat: a privileged man poised to take her place. Amaka, a sharp-tongued banker from Nigeria, is in the midst of a painful family dispute. Thousands of miles away from home, she's doing her best to distract herself with a flirtatious workplace romance--and hiding a spiraling shopping addiction that's endangering not only her finances but her very sense of self. An instant attraction to Lani jeopardizes the last shred of stability she has. Lillian, a pianist turned "trailing spouse" from the US, is desperately trying to stay in Singapore after her marriage comes to a messy end. Rather than sell her beloved piano, the last precious reminder she has of her parents, she takes a low-paying job at a language school. A chance encounter with Lani--a man who is inexplicably, impossibly, the spitting image of her late father--triggers a grief she's spent a lifetime suppressing, leading to an obsession that imperils everything--and everyone--around her. Forced to confront the ghosts of their pasts, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian soon learn that unfinished history can follow you anywhere, no matter how far you run from home.

The Sun Sets in Singapore

0c562ec4-f76f-432f-bf36-1fa161ff2f59-1

K. B. Brookins

A Memoir

By a prize-winning, young Black trans writer of outsized talent, a fierce and disciplined memoir about queerness, masculinity, and race. Even as it shines light on the beauty and toxicity of Black masculinity from a transgender perspective—the tropes, the presumptions—Pretty is as much a powerful and tender love letter as it is a call for change. “I should be able to define myself, but I am not. Not by any governmental or cultural body,” Brookins writes. “Every day, I negotiate the space between who I am, how I’m perceived, and what I need to unlearn. People have assumed things about me, and I can’t change that. Every day, I am assumed to be a Black American man, though my ID says ‘female,’ and my heart says neither of the sort. What does it mean – to be a girl-turned-man when you’re something else entirely?” Informed by KB Brookins’s personal experiences growing up in Texas, those of other Black transgender masculine people, Black queer studies, and cultural criticism, Pretty is concerned with the marginalization suffered by a unique American constituency—whose condition is a world apart from that of cisgender, non-Black, and non-masculine people. Here is a memoir (a bildungsroman of sorts) about coming to terms with instantly and always being perceived as “other”

Pretty

1b99f83b-5528-40c8-ab02-7891451af60d-0

Ibi Zoboi

Varian Johnson

Kekla Magoon

Tochi Onyebuchi

Jason Reynolds

Nic Stone

Liara Tamani

Renée Watson

Rita Williams-Garcia

Tracey Baptiste

Coe Booth

Dhonielle Clayton

Brandy Colbert

Jay Coles

Lamar Giles

Leah Henderson

Justina Ireland

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Stories of Being Young and Black in America

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today--Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and Black in America. Black is...sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson. Black is...three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds. Black is...Nic Stone's high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of. Black is...two girls kissing in Justina Ireland's story set in Maryland. Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more--because there are countless ways to be Black enough. Contributors: Justina Ireland Varian Johnson Rita Williams-Garcia Dhonielle Clayton Kekla Magoon Leah Henderson Tochi Onyebuchi Jason Reynolds Nic Stone Liara Tamani Renée Watson Tracey Baptiste Coe Booth Brandy Colbert Jay Coles Ibi Zoboi Lamar Giles

Black Enough

85d2236c-1914-4968-a93f-3f27873765da-1

Emma Brodie

A scintillating debut from a major new voice in fiction, Songs in Ursa Major is a love story set in 1969, alive with music, sex, and the trappings of fame.

Raised on an island off Massachusetts by a mother who wrote songs for famous musicians, Jane Quinn is singing in her own band before she's old enough to even read music. When folk legend Jesse Reid hears about Jane's performance at the island's music festival, a star is born--and so is a passionate love affair: they become inseparable when her band joins his on tour. Wary of being cast as his girlfriend--and haunted by her mother's shattered ambitions-- Jane shields her relationship from the public eye, but Jesse's star power pulls her into his orbit of fame. Caught up in the thrill of the road and the profound and lustful connection she has with Jesse, Jane is blind-sided by the discovery she makes about the dark secret beneath his music. Heartbroken and blackballed by the industry, Jane is now truly on her own: to make the music she loves, and to make peace with her family Shot through with the lyrics, the icons, the lore, the adrenaline of the early 70s music scene, Songs in Ursa Major pulses with romantic longing and asks the question so many female artists must face: What are we willing to sacrifice for our dreams?

Songs in Ursa Major

85df1f0f-d7ef-495c-8adb-99fdc7a89d7a-1

Leila Mottley

Poems

A poignant and rousing debut book of poetry from the former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, CA—the acclaimed, best-selling author of the novel Nightcrawling Leila Mottley follows her trailblazing first novel with a perfectly pitched first collection of poems that demonstrate her spark and scope. woke up no light reckons with themes of reparations, restitution, and desire. Moving in sections from “girlhood” to “neighborhood” to “falsehood” to, finally, “womanhood,” these poems are the breathing life of a Black girl as she grows into adulthood, simultaneously youthful and profound. Each poem is a searing vignette, capturing the dissonance of Black girlhood through visceral language. The collection is sharp and raw, wise and rhythmic, a combination that lights up each page. From unearthing histories to searching for ways to dream of a future in a world constantly on the brink of disaster, Mottley sets forth personal and political revelation with piercing detail. woke up no light confirms Leila Mottley’s arrival and demonstrates the enduring power of her voice—brave and distinctive and thoroughly her own.

Woke up No Light

e5884713-15f1-4722-8790-f36dfb7d36aa-0

Marra B. Gad

A Memoir of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl

Winner of the 2020 Midwest Book Award in Autobiography/Memoir, The Color of Love is an unforgettable memoir about a mixed-race Jewish woman who, after fifteen years of estrangement from her racist great-aunt, helps bring her home when Alzheimer's strikes.

In 1970, three-day-old Marra B. Gad was adopted by a white Jewish family in Chicago. For her parents, it was love at first sight--but they quickly realized the world wasn't ready for a family like theirs.

Marra's biological mother was unwed, white, and Jewish, and her biological father was black. While still a child, Marra came to realize that she was "a mixed-race, Jewish unicorn." In black spaces, she was not "black enough" or told that it was OK to be Christian or Muslim, but not Jewish. In Jewish spaces, she was mistaken for the help, asked to leave, or worse. Even in her own extended family, racism bubbled to the surface.

Marra's family cut out those relatives who could not tolerate the color of her skin--including her once beloved, glamorous, worldly Great-Aunt Nette. After they had been estranged for fifteen years, Marra discovers that Nette has Alzheimer's, and that only she is in a position to get Nette back to the only family she has left. Instead of revenge, Marra chooses love, and watches as the disease erases her aunt's racism, making space for a relationship that was never possible before.

The Color of Love explores the idea of yerusha, which means "inheritance" in Yiddish. At turns heart-wrenching and heartwarming, this is a story about what you inherit from your family--identity, disease, melanin, hate, and most powerful of all, love. With honesty, insight, and warmth, Marra B. Gad has written an inspirational, moving chronicle proving that when all else is stripped away, love is where we return, and love is always our greatest inheritance.

The Color of Love

a59a9b20-35a2-4d67-bb86-54d43c4bd0c1-1

Bolde_books

Browse by categories

Isabel Banta