Non-Fiction

Drawing on deep passion and personal experience, former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterized as "inaccessible," "irrelevant," or "intimidating." She argues that poetry is rooted in...

A two part book reimagining dark matter and the darkTranstraterrestrial is an experimental book that documents Sage Ni'Ja Whitson's groundbreaking performance pieces, blending African Diasporic practices with innovative methodologies to explore themes of...

"This former San Francisco Poet Laureate and worldly cosmonaut handles politics, war, and love in equal measure as the best poets of the people do. Pablo Neruda. Bob Kaufman. June Jordan. Wanda Coleman. Ears to the ground and eyes to the sky."--Giovanni...

Choose Witness Over WarIt's possible to be faithful in the public square without joining the culture war. In fact, there's a model. The Black church's social action tradition has long rejected the idea that overcoming polarization means moral compromise...

A unique work of science and poetry, winner of the Cave Canem Prize, selected by Natasha Trethewey A research biologist most recently at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Brandon Kilbourne illuminates the intersections between science and poetry in...

From National Poetry Series winner MaKshya Tolbert, a "startlingly original debut" (Maggie Millner) that meanders toward possibilities of arboreal relief among entanglements of place, property, and urban planning in Charlottesville, Virginia Shade is a...

The boxing champion whose fight against the Nazis in and out of the ring made him a global icon During the 1930s and 1940s, no African American athlete commanded the spotlight more than heavyweight boxer Joe Louis. His 1938 knockout victory over German...

McCrae's latest collection considers the nature of perception and experiments with form and punctuation. This is a book about perceiving and being perceived. The various subjects of these poems are viewed by an artist, a devil, a soul floating out of a...

With heart, humor, and razor-sharp observation, this intimate and incisive memoir traces the journey of a Black, queer woman as she searches the world for a place of security and acceptance to call home I've never seen home as a permanent concept; it is...

The nineteenth century in the United States witnessed the end of slavery and the expansion of another form of confinement: the asylum. How did enslaved and free Black people encounter psychiatric institutions? How were notions of mental disability used...

The memory of the long civil rights movement often celebrates white men and women who drew on their religious faith to support Black demands for racial justice. However, the visions and actions of these leaders and their organizations often conflicted...

COOP. Say the name to a Lakers fan and after a guaranteed smile, a list of superlatives is sure to follow. The GOAT of NBA perimeter defenders. Five-time NBA champion. The quintessential glue guy. The graceful and thunderous finisher on a patented...