3 Books Published by Carolina Wren Press on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

"An expansive spectrum of literary purpose and aesthetics that shine fiercely" —from the introduction by Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate

The Carolina African American Writers’ Collective celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary with All the Songs We Sing, an anthology of works by members of the Collective, edited by its founder, Lenard D. Moore. North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green introduces the anthology, which includes works by Lenard D. Moore, Bridgette A. Lacy, Crystal Simone Smith, Evie Shockley, Camille T. Dungy, Carole Boston Weatherford, and many others. Individually, these poems, stories, and essays have helped these Carolinians voice their experiences, remind us of our history, and insist on change, and gathered together, their chorus is turned all the way up and demands to be heard. These writers have shaped the modern literary landscape of the Carolinas for the last twenty-five years and will continue to influence and inspire African-American writers for generations to come.

In a half-red sea, Evie Shockley is “dreaming the lives of the ancestors.” Navigating against prevailing currents, these poems sail on eddy and backflow, taking inspiration from knots and twists of American history and culture. Whether improvising between the lines of a slave narrative in “henry bibb considers love and livery,” amplifying Lady Day’s most devastating blues in “you can say that again, billie,” or going freestyle with “double bop for ntozake shange,” Shockley’s imagination travels every which away. In “a thousand words” and other reflections on contemporary events, Shockley’s firm grounding in history adds weight and depth to her observations of the recent past and present.
—Harryette Mullen

Preston Allen’s stories explore the boundary between boy and man, church and smut shack in spare, deadpan prose. This collection won the Carolina Wren Press’s Sonja H.Stone contest for fiction writing.