retailconnection

The trials faced by Black American women are the focus of the personal essays in this collection by Parker, a poet and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Writing about her own mental health and figures like Serena Williams who feature prominently in Black cultural life, Parker explores the effects of societal expectations about Blackness on actual Black lives. (Publishers Weekly)

Randall narrates his story of recovery from depression as well as his effort to learn more about a grandfather who was threatened for attempting to pass as white in a Mississippi town. This memoir, which also touches on Randall’s cultural lodestars—BoJack Horseman, Odd Future—marks his adult debut. A queer Black middle grade author and poet, Randall contributed to the well-received anthology Black Boy Joy and is a recipient of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. (Publishers Weekly)

African American and Africana studies scholar Plant draws parallels between her brother’s incarceration in Louisiana’s Angola Prison and the institution of slavery. Inspired by her research into the life of Zora Neale Hurston, Plant examines the carceral system and other legacies of greed in present-day American society, insisting on physical freedom as a condition of justice and equality. (Publishers Weekly)

In this thriller, preservationist Kenetria Nash is trapped with a group of strangers in a historic house on an isolated Hudson River island and must contend with a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder as well as a murder. Cole, an outspoken champion of diverse fiction, counts Black horror films like The People Under the Stairs and Tales from the Hood, Hitchcock, and Rosemary’s Baby as influences. (Publishers Weekly)

In this short fiction collection, seven speculative tales provide a fantastical spin on the real stresses of Black life. PW’s starred review praised Cotman’s 2020 collection, Dance on Saturday, for its biting wit and powerful emotion; here the Philip K. Dick Award finalist assembles a cast of characters including LARPers, activists, a hapless professional wrestler, and a domineering tree. (Publishers Weekly)

This wide-ranging collection gathers the work of Black poets including Jericho Brown, Rita Dove, Terrance Hayes, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Tracy K. Smith. Editor Alexander—NPR contributor, Caldecott Medal recipient, and creator of Disney+ series The Crossover—assembles poems dealing with grief and joy, family and ritual, beloved animals and favorite dishes that offer, as in Alice Walker’s poem “I Could Eat Collard Greens Indefinitely,” “a stirring sensuousness.” (Publishers Weekly)