Literary Criticism

"The Hood Needs Love, Too!" delves into the struggles and triumphs of marginalized communities, shedding light on the systemic issues we face and offering a message of hope and empowerment. With a keen focus on the vital pillars of Collective Strength,...

With Speech Is My Hammer, Max Hunter draws on memoir and his own biography to call his readers to reimagine the meaning and power in literacy. Defining literacy as a "spectrum of skills, abilities, attainments, and performances," Hunter focuses on...

Bringing together fourteen African-American women, Marita Golden has compiled saucy and spicy essays that serve as an exploration into the contemporary black female psyche. Ranging in style from Audre Lorde's classic polemic on eroticism to Miriam...

D.L. Hughley calls it like he sees it, discussing everything from dating to former president Barack Obama with sharp, thoughtful commentary "The best book since The Hunger Games. First he was a King of Comedy; now he's the king of comedy authors."--Chris...

Toward an Anti-Racist Poetics seeks to dislodge the often unspoken white universalism that underpins literary production and reception today. In this personal and thoughtful book, award-winning author Wayde Compton explores how we might collectively...

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - A radiant collection of letters from the renowned author of Invisible Man that traces the life and mind of a giant of American literature, with insights into the riddle of identity, the writer's craft, and the story of a...

A magnificent, foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves, in resistance to the lies of racism and often in heated disagreement with each other, over the course of the country's history...

This book is a first in combining essays from women about their African fathers and vice versa and will not only provide a significant set of insights into the relationship between fathers and daughters but also explore gaps in the perception of African...

These are the books you should read. This is the canon. Joan Anim-Addo, Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay have curated a decolonized reading list that celebrates the wide and diverse experiences of people from around the world, of all backgrounds and all...

Contributions by Cynthia Baron, Elizabeth Binggeli, Kimberly Nichele Brown, Terri Simone Francis, Priscilla Layne, Eric Pierson, Charlene Regester, Ellen C. Scott, Tanya L. Shields, and Judith E. Smith Intersecting Aesthetics: Literary Adaptations and...

A classic and "elegant" (The New York Times) collection of essays from the renowned author of Invisible Man, that captures the breadth and complexity of his insights into racial identity, jazz and folklore, and citizenship across six decades. Compiled,...

An anthology that explores all facets of the Black Arts Movement. Edited by Dr. Kim McMillon and Kofi Antwi. Foreword by Ishmael Reed. Introduction by Dr. Margo Natalie Crawford. This anthology, nearly 60 years in the making, features over 100 poets and...

The definitive biography of a pivotal figure in American literary history A major poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) was one of the first African American writers to garner international recognition in the wake of emancipation. In this definitive...

"We're starting to see...diverse voices on the shelf, a wider variety of experiences on the page, and many different reasons for getting outside. -- Jaime Herndon, Book Riot Encompassing identity, inspiration, ancestry, and stewardship, the essays and...