African Writings

The follow-up to the groundbreaking Black Queer Studies, the edited collection No Tea, No Shade brings together 19 essays from the next generation of scholars, activists, and community leaders doing work on Black gender and sexuality. Building on the foundations laid by the earlier volume, this collection's contributors speak new truths about the Black queer experience while exemplifying the codification of Black queer studies as a rigorous and important field of study.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An “extraordinary, unforgettable” (Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow) memoir of redemption and second chances amidst America’s mass incarceration epidemic, from a member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 Shaka Senghor was raised in a middle-class...

“Narrator Kristolyn Lloyd expertly uses accents, emotional cues, and vocal effects in this vivid audiobook set in 1999.” — Kirkus (Earphones Award Winner) A fast-paced, juicy debut novel that peeks behind the curtain at the cutthroat world of hip-hop music and the glamorous magazine scene...

Smart, edgy, hilarious, and unabashedly raunchy New York Times bestselling author Samantha Irby explodes off the printed page in her uproarious first collection of essays. Irby laughs her way through tragicomic mishaps, neuroses, and taboos as she struggles through adulthood: chin hairs...

Doing Time: For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than "serving a sentence"; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity. For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. The contest honors the best short stories, plays, essays, and poems among hundreds submitted annually by men and women nationwide.

A celebration and testament to the tenacity of life on the margins, brilliantly illuminating Black and queer experience. In this collection, a jubilant testimony to the joys and hardships of the Black queer experience, poet Nicholas Goodly explores language that venerates the saints of their...

In the enthralling pages of Jeffrey Ulin's captivating novel, a tale of unexpected inheritances, shattered wealth, and a desperate quest for riches unfolds. Meet Richard Keeton, a renowned big game hunter whose life takes an unforeseen turn when he finds himself next in line to inherit a prestigious British Lordship. However, his elation is short-lived as he realizes that his family's fortune lies in ruins, leaving him unable to embrace the opulent lifestyle that should accompany his pending title. Driven by a relentless desire to restore his wealth, Richard stumbles upon a perilous scheme ...

In this first-ever collection of nonfiction by John Edgar Wideman, a “towering figure in American literature” (The Nation), five decades of cultural and literary criticism paint a vivid portrait of America’s changing landscape and chronicle the emergence and evolution of a generational...

The Nile, like all of Egypt, is both timeless and ever-changing. In this audio, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey downriver that is both history and travelogue. We begin at the First Nile Cataract, close to the modern city of Aswan. From there, Wilkinson guides us through the illustrious nation birthed by this great river.

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The prolific drummer for the rock band Rush travels through African villages, both large and small, and relates his story through journal entries and tales of adventure, while simultaneously addressing issues such as differences in culture, psychology, and labels. Literary and artistic sidekicks such as Aristotle, Dante, and Van Gogh join Peart and his cycling companions, reminding the listener that this is not just another travel book - it is a story of both external and introspective discovery and adventure.

“It’s a stunner.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) From award-winning South African author Nadia Davids comes a gothic psychological thriller set in the 1920s, where a young maid finds herself entangled with the spirits of a decaying manor and the secrets of its enigmatic owner. I...

Over the years, I have become fascinated by many fantasy tales that blend local legends, historical fiction, and African-American experiences. For instance, in my small North Carolina hometown, there is a legend claiming that my great-grandparents’ homestead was once a Civil War battleground. We even discovered an old silver sword buried under their rose garden, which makes me wonder if there’s some truth behind the stories our elders shared. As I started planning a family time capsule, my idea of writing our history—based on the unusual tales I have heard throughout my life—led to ...

In June 1960, Alzada Kistner and her husband, David, a promising entomologist, left their 18-month-old daughter in the care of relatives and began what was to be a four month scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo. Three weeks after their arrival, the country was gripped by a violent revolution, trapping the Kistners in its midst. Despite having to face numerous life-threatening situations, the Kistners were not to be dissuaded.

Livingstone's first book revolutionized the way European readers saw Africa and made him a hero in England. He returned again to the Zambesi with his brother Charles and others, this time with more equipment and funds. Again he faced hippopotami, crocodiles, impossible terrain, and disease, but his greatest enemies on this trip prove to be human. The British eventually lost faith in the expedition, but Livingstone proved in the end to have had tremendous foresight.

A New York Times Notable Book Shortlisted for the Phi Beta Kappa Society's Christian Gauss Award for Outstanding Books in Literary Scholarship “Henry Louis Gates is a national treasure. Here, he returns with an intellectual and at times deeply personal meditation on the hard-fought...

In this riveting real-life adventure, Mark and Delia Owens tell the dramatic story of their last years in Africa, fighting to save elephants, villagers, and - in the end - themselves. The award-winning zoologists and pioneering conservationists describe their work in the remote and ruggedly beautiful Luangwa Valley, in northeastern Zambia. There they studied the mysteries of the elephant population’s recovery after poaching, discovering remarkable similarities between humans and elephants.

"...Cooper delivers a frank, conversational-style examination of the importance of black female friendships, respectability politics, and harmful stereotypes, among other topics. She blends candor and humor as she roots out toxic behaviors and beliefs we use in America to tear ourselves and each...

Longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle award for Nonfiction The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-nominated author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and The Age of Phillis makes her nonfiction debut with this personal and thought-provoking work that explores the journeys...

The New York Times bestselling true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a...