#hardcover #￼hardcover #GrowMajor #GmvintageDesigns #OctaviaSpencer #BlackWriters #BlackHistoryMonth

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

New York

Meet Randi Rhodes, the world's first ninja detective! Mystery abounds in this delightful new middle grade series from Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer.

Deer Creek is a small town whose only hope for survival is the success of their Founder's Day Festival. But the festival's main attraction, a time capsule that many people believe hold the town's treasure, has gone missing.

Randi Rhodes and her best friend, D.C., are Bruce Lee-inspired ninjas and local detectives determined to solve the case. Even if it means investigating in a haunted cabin and facing mean old Angus McCarthy, prime suspect.

They have three days to find the treasure...the future of their whole town is at stake! Will these kids be able to save the day?

The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit

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Rebecca Roanhorse

Florida

Celeste, a card sharp with a need for justice, takes on the role of advocatus diaboli, to defend her sister Mariel, accused of murdering a Virtue, a member of the ruling class of this mining town, in a new world of dark fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse.

The year is 1883 and the mining town of Goetia is booming as prospectors from near and far come to mine the powerful new element Divinity from the high mountains of Colorado with the help of the pariahs of society known as the Fallen. The Fallen are the descendants of demonkind living amongst the Virtues, the winners in an ancient war, with the descendants of both sides choosing to live alongside Abaddon's mountain in this tale of the mythological West from the bestselling mastermind Rebecca Roanhorse.

Tread of Angels

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A few random pages have light highlights and markings 

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

New Jersey

Stories

A suicidal father looks to an older neighbor -- and the Cookie Monster -- for salvation and sanctuary as his life begins to unravel. A man seeking to save his estranged, drug-addicted brother from the city's underbelly confronts his own mortality. A chess match between a girl and her father turns into a master class about life, self-realization, and pride: "Now hold on little girl.... Chess is like real life. The white pieces go first so they got an advantage over the black pieces." These are just a few glimpses into the world of the residents of the fictional town of Cross River, Maryland, a largely black settlement founded in 1807 after the only successful slave revolt in the United States. Raw, edgy, and unrelenting yet infused with forgiveness, redemption, and humor, the stories in this collection explore characters suffering the quiet tragedies of everyday life and fighting for survival. In Insurrections, Rion Amilcar Scott's lyrical prose authentically portrays individuals growing up and growing old in an African American community. Writing with a delivery and dialect that are intense and unapologetically current, Scott presents characters who dare to make their own choices -- choices of kindness or cruelty -- in the depths of darkness and hopelessness. Although Cross River's residents may be halted or deterred in their search for fulfillment, their spirits remain resilient -- always evolving and constantly moving.

Insurrections

879461ce-e7f7-49b5-8f0c-89bdc5ed3620-1

Elise Bryant

Alabama

Jane the Virgin meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before in this charming debut romantic comedy filled with Black Girl Magic. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Nicola Yoon, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances. Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She's rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she's a true leading lady is in her own writing--in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader. When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she's excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just...gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she's ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa's stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming. But as Tessa checks off each item off Caroline's list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about--including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She's well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all? --Becky Albertalli, bestselling author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Happily Ever Afters

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#hardcover #drama #play #blackwriters #augustwilson 

The Piano Lesson & Fences

Pennsylvania

Shoes on the other Foot 

Ohio

#paperback #fiction #shortstories #anthology #Africa #culture #blackwriters #2022


Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

The 2022 Mukana Press Anthology of African Writing

Who are Africa's most promising emerging short story writers? Mukana Press seeks to answer this question by scouting the continent for largely undiscovered talent. The Result? This collection!Africa's stories have largely been relegated to themes of poverty, and war; yet there is so much more brilliance, texture, and layers to our stories. This collection seeks to provide a platform for the rest of the world to become acquainted with the excellence of talent outside of the mainstream, as well as tell our stories from fresh vantage points.A young woman creates an alternative identity on social media in Nigeria, a little girl discovers hidden photographs of the father she never met, a serial killer stalks his victims, a woman watches the evolution of a newlywed couple's relationship through their window in Zanzibar. The stories in this collection are eclectic, breathtaking, and illuminate readers to an Africa that has largely been left untold.

The Newlyweds' Window

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#paperback #fiction #shortstories #blackwriters #race #culture #contemporary #socialjualstice #memoir #Africa 

And Other Stories

Send Her Back

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#remyngamije #blackwriters #bookclubfavorite #comingofage #africanliterature #africanlit


"Meet the future of African literature" (Mukoma Wa Ngugi, author of Nairobi Heat) with this "gorgeous, wildly funny, and, above all, profoundly moving and humane" (Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here) coming-of-age tale following a young man who is forced to flee his homeland of Rwanda and make sense of his reality.

Nobody ever makes it to the start of a story, not even the people in it. The most one can do is make some sort of start and then work toward some kind of ending.

One might as well start with Séraphin: playlist-maker, nerd-jock hybrid, self-appointed merchant of cool, Rwandan, stifled and living in Namibia. Soon he will leave the confines of his family life for the cosmopolitan city of Cape Town, where loyal friends, hormone-saturated parties, adventurous conquests, and race controversies await. More than that, his long-awaited final year in law school promises to deliver a crucial puzzle piece of the Great Plan immigrant: a degree from a prestigious university.

But a year is more than the sum of its parts, and en route to the future, the present must be lived through and even the past must be survived in this "hilarious and heartbreaking" (Adam Smyer, author of Knucklehead) intersection of pre- and post-1994 Rwanda, colonial and post-independence Windhoek, Paris and Brussels in the 70s, Nairobi public schools, and the racially charged streets of Cape Town.

"Visually striking and beautiful told with youthful energy and hard-won wisdom" (Rabeah Ghaffari, author of To Keep the Sun Alive), The Eternal Audience of One is a lyrical and piquant tale of family, migration, friendship, war, identity, and race that will sweep you off your feet.

The Eternal Audience of One

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#hardcover #magic #fantasy #blacksun #fiction #booktok #blackwriters #botm 

North Dakota

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Storyteller's Life

A well-written account of this writer and folklorist who was largely unrecognized in her lifetime.

Zora Neale Hurston

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Toni Morrison

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Beloved

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Nevada

Sethe, an escaped slave living in post-Civil War Ohio with her daughter and mother-in-law, is persistantly haunted by the ghost of her dead baby girl

#paperback #classic #classicliterature #greatauthor

Tennessee

THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a "strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within.

Things Fall Apart

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Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist

In this sharp, funny, and timely collection of personal essays, veteran video blogger and star of MTV's Decoded Franchesca Ramsey explores race, identity, online activism, and the downfall of real communication in the age of social media rants, trolls, and call-out wars. Franchesca Ramsey didn't set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race, and culture, really. But then her YouTube video "What White Girls Say...to Black Girls" went viral. Twelve million views viral. Faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters, and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard or step back and let others frame the conversation. After a crash course in social justice and more than a few foot-in-mouth moments, she realized she had a unique talent and passion for breaking down injustice in America in ways that could make people listen and engage. In her first book, Ramsey uses her own experiences as an accidental activist to explore the many ways we communicate with each other--from the highs of bridging gaps and making connections to the many pitfalls that accompany talking about race, power, sexuality, and gender in an unpredictable public space...the internet. WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY includes Ramsey's advice on dealing with internet trolls and low-key racists, confessions about being a former online hater herself, and her personal hits and misses in activist debates with everyone from bigoted Facebook friends and misguided relatives to mainstream celebrities and YouTube influencers. With sharp humor and her trademark candor, Ramsey shows readers we can have tough conversations that move the dialogue forward, rather than backward, if we just approach them in the right way.

Well, That Escalated Quickly ARC

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Jamise Harper

It's time to diversify your reading list.

This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collection uplifts the works of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world. Using their keen knowledge and deep love for all things literary, coauthors Jamise Harper (founder of the Diverse Spines book community) and Jane Mount (author of Bibliophile) collaborated to create an essential volume filled with treasures for every reader:

* Dozens of themed illustrated book stacks--like Classics, Contemporary Fiction, Mysteries, Cookbooks, and more--all with an emphasis on authors of color and own voices
* A look inside beloved bookstores owned by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
* Reading recommendations from leading BIPOC literary influencers

Diversify your reading list to expand your world and shift your perspective. Kickstart your next literary adventure now!

EASY TO GIFT: This portable guide is packed with more than 150 colorful illustrations is a perfect gift for any booklover. The textured paper cover, gold foil, and ribbon marker make this book a special gift or self-purchase.

DISCOVER UNSUNG LITERARY HEROES: The authors dive deep into a wide variety of genres, such as Contemporary Fiction, Classics, Young Adult, Sci-Fi, and more to bring the works of authors of color to the fore.

ENDLESS READING INSPIRATION: Themed book stacks and reading suggestions from luminaries of the literary world provide curated book recommendations. Your to-read list will thank you.

Perfect for: bookish people; literary lovers; book club members; Mother's Day shoppers; stocking stuffers; followers of #DiverseSpines; Jane Mount and Ideal Bookshelf fans; Reese's Book Club and Oprah's Book Club followers; people who use Goodreads.com; readers wanting to expand/decolonize their book collections; people interested in uplifting BIPOC voices; antiracist activists and educators; grads and students; librarians and library patrons wanting to expand/decolonize their book collections; people interested in uplifting BIPOC voices; antiracist activists and educators; grads and students; librarians and library patrons

Bibliophile: Diverse Spines

62e367d5-10e7-4df0-8d64-19b01dcfb8c8-1

Amanda Joy

Colorado

Includes an excerpt from A queen of gilded horns.

A River of Royal Blood

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Laban Carrick Hill

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance

When it was released in 2004, Harlem Stomp! was the first trade book to bring the Harlem Renaissance alive for young adults! Meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated, the book is a veritable time capsule packed with poetry, prose, photographs, full-color paintings, and reproductions of historical documents. Now, after more than three years in hardcover, three starred reviews and a National Book Award nomination, Harlem Stomp! is being released in paperback.

Harlem Stomp!

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Has a few minor flaws on the corners but the book itself is in excellent condition!

Arizona

#paperback #shortstories #modernclassics #blackwriters #gritty #realisticfiction former library book in excellent condition.

Georgia

Short Stories

"[Wright's] landscape was not merely that of the Deep South, or of Chicago, but that of the world, of the human heart." - James Baldwin

Here, in these powerful stories, Richard Wright takes readers into this landscape once again.

Each of the eight stories in Eight Men focuses on a black man at violent odds with a white world, reflecting Wright's views about racism in our society and his fascination with what he called "the struggle of the individual in America." These poignant, gripping stories will captivate all those who loved Black Boy and Native Son.

Eight Men

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Some yellowing and shelf wear. Spine not creased. 

Narratives of Black Women 1860-1960

Concentrating on carefully chosen selections from ten writers, Mary Helen Washington explores the work, the realities, and the hopes of black women writers between 1860 and 1960. Featuring works by Harriet Jacobs, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Pauline E. Hopkins, Fannie Barrier Williams, Marita O. Bonner, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Petry, Dorothy West, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Praise for Invented Lives “Mary Helen Washington has done more than any other single critic to expand the Afro-American and Anglo-American feminist canons.”—The Women’s Review of Books “This collection is, in fact, two fine books in one: at once an anthology and a critical study.”—New York Times Book Review “The forceful, uncompromising, and distinctive voice of Mary Helen Washington brings together foremothers and daughters . . . in a volume that presents . . . a century of black women’s writing along with a vital new tradition of black feminist criticism.”—Marianne Hirsch, Ms. Magazine

Invented Lives

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Washington

Magic has all but disappeared in Brooklyn, but one tenacious young magician is determined to bring it back in this exciting middle grade mystery.

Twelve-year-old Kingston has just moved from the suburbs back to Echo City, Brooklyn--the last place his father was seen alive. Kingston's father was King Preston, one of the world's greatest magicians. Until one trick went wrong and he disappeared. Now that Kingston is back in Echo City, he's determined to find his father.

Somehow, though, when his father disappeared, he took all of Echo City's magic with him. Now Echo City--a ghost of its past--is living up to its name. With no magic left, the magicians have packed up and left town and those who've stayed behind don't look too kindly on any who reminds them of what they once had.

When Kingston finds a magic box his father left behind as a clue, Kingston knows there's more to his father's disappearance than meets the eye. He'll have to keep it a secret--that is, until he can restore magic to Echo City. With his cousin Veronica and childhood friend Too Tall Eddie, Kingston works to solve the clues, but one wrong move and his father might not be the only one who goes missing.

Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found

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#paperback #ex-lib #African-American #Blackexperience #Blackwriters #Blackauthors #biography #writers #anthology #essays

African-American Writers on Family

These Hands I Know offers readers the first-ever intimate view of the inner workings of black family life from the point of view of prose and poetry writers. This collection of seventeen essays includes portraits of fathers, mothers, nieces, brothers, grandparents, husbands, wives, and daughters--in short the full spectrum of absolute humanity in contemporary black families. Here, in letter form, a man speaks to his aunt, the family matriarch. A daughter rejects her father's ideas of African-American identity. A young woman holds her niece in her hands for the very first time. And a son faces his father as an old man and finally comes to terms with his failings. These Hands I Know seeks to gather a resolutely honest picture of family life, however painful or joyous that truth may be.

"Family life is an insistent vessel traveling the space of our struggles to love and to be loved. . . . Africans and their descendants in America have always been nothing more and nothing less than human. If anything is constant and universal, it is suffering--personal, social, and political. If these essays offer anything, it is the affirmation of humanity."--From the Introduction by Afaa Michael Weaver

Marketing Plans:
Advertisements in key literary and trade magazines
Newsletter, brochure, catalog, and postcard mailings
Reader copies available to booksellers through participation in Book Sense Advance Access Program

Contributors include:
Fred D'Aguiar
Tara Betts
Gwendolyn Brooks
Karen Chandler
Edwidge Danticat
Jarvis Q. DeBerry
Gerald Early
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Lise Funderburg
Walter Warren Harper
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Trent Masiki
E. Ethelbert Miller
Marilyn Nelson
Kalamu ya Salaam
Della Scott
Alice Walker

Also available by Afaa Michael Weaver
Multitudes: Poems Selected and New
TC $24.00, 1-889330-40-X * CUSA
TP $14.95, 1-889330-41-8 * CUSA

Save this search

Octavia Spencer; Vivienne To (Illustrator)

The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit

Rebecca Roanhorse

Tread of Angels

Rion Amilcar Scott

Insurrections

Elise Bryant

Happily Ever Afters

August Wilson

The Piano Lesson & Fences

Hunter Hayes

Shoes on the other Foot

Rebecca Roanhorse

Tread of Angels

Mukana Press (Compiled by)

The Newlyweds' Window

Munashe Kaseke

Send Her Back

Rémy Ngamije

The Eternal Audience of One

Rebecca Roanhorse

Tread of Angels

Janelle Yates; David Adams (Illustrator)

Zora Neale Hurston

Toni Morrison

Beloved

Toni Morrison

Beloved

Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart

Franchesca Ramsey

Well, That Escalated Quickly ARC

Jamise Harper

Bibliophile: Diverse Spines

Amanda Joy

A River of Royal Blood

Laban Carrick Hill

Harlem Stomp!

Amanda Joy

A River of Royal Blood

Richard Wright

Eight Men

Mary Helen Washington

Invented Lives

Rucker Moses; Theo Gangi

Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found

Afaa Michael Weaver (Editor)

These Hands I Know