New Books, Kirkus Prize Winning Authors, Reviews, and More - 11/17/2020

[Daylian]

From Tina Lifford, the sage teacher and breakout star of the critically acclaimed OWN network drama, Queen Sugar, comes The Little Book of Big Lies. A blend of personal anecdotes and meaningful, practical—and most important, actionable—advice, this invaluable book teaches the life skills you need to nurture the inner you and move beyond the past. Tina guides you on a journey of self-discovery that will help you turn shame into self-acceptance, self-rejection into self-love, blame into freedom, and old hurt into power.

Black Writers Sweep $50,000 Kirkus Prize Again!

First awarded in 2014, The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 86 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. For the second year in a row, Black writers have won all three categories!

New Books

Confessions in B-Flat by Donna Hill The year is 1963. In Harlem, the epicenter of Black culture, the fight for equality has never been stronger. The time is now. Enough is enough. Yet even within its ranks, a different kind of battle rages. Love thy neighbor? Or rise up against your oppressors? Jason Tanner has just arrived in New York to help spread the message of his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of passive resistance, while beat poet Anita Hopkins believes the teachings of Malcolm X with all her heart: that the way to true freedom is "by any means necessary." When Jason sees Anita perform her poetry at the iconic B-Flat lounge, he’s transfixed. And Anita has never met anyone who can match her wit for wit like this… One movement, two warring ideologies—can love be enough to unite them?

Meeting at the Table: African-American Women Write on Race, Culture and Community Edited by Tina McElroy Ansa and Wanda Smalls Lloyd In the aftermath of the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many other African Americans, plus the worldwide protests that followed, editors Ansa and Lloyd, created a project to bring voices of African-American women together to honestly and transparently share how race and culture have affected them in ways related to their families, their careers and their communities. The essays in Meeting at the Table: African American Women Write on Race, Culture and Community will not only enlighten readers, but offer paths into the vital conversations across racial, cultural and communal divides.

How to Make a Slave and Other Essays by Jerald Walker For the black community, Jerald Walker asserts in How to Make a Slave “…anger is often a prelude to a joke, as there is broad understanding that the triumph over this destructive emotion lay in finding its punchline.” It is on the knife’s edge between fury and farce that the essays in this exquisite collection balance. Whether confronting the medical profession’s racial biases, considering the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson, paying homage to his writing mentor James Alan McPherson, or attempting to break free of personal and societal stereotypes, Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique. The result is a bracing and often humorous examination by one of America’s most acclaimed essayists of what it is to grow, parent, write, and exist as a black American male. Walker refuses to lull his readers; instead his missives urge them to do better as they consider, through his eyes, how to be a good citizen, how to be a good father, how to live, and how to love.

Lubaya’s Quiet Roar by Marilyn Nelson, Illustrated by Philemona Williamson In this stirring picture book about social justice activism and the power of introverts, a quiet girl’s artwork makes a big impression at a protest rally. Newbery Honor winner and National Book Award finalist, Marilyn Nelson and fine artist Philemona Williamson have come together to create this lyrical, impactful story of how every child, even the quietest, can make a difference in their community and world. Young Lubaya is happiest when she’s drawing, often behind the sofa while her family watches TV. There, she creates pictures on the backs of her parents’ old protest posters. But when upsetting news shouts into their living room, her parents need the posters again.

Book Reviews

Blind Light by Glenda R. Taylor In 2001, visionary social justice advocate, Glenda R. Taylor was struck with a potentially devastating illness that took most of her sight. Instead of retreating from the public, she used it as a time of reflection and investigation. In Blind Light she asks the questions: What happens when one loses her vision in the midst of a successful career? What does the mind experience and how does it then translate reality? Her collection of poems tries to answer these questions. In her Preface, award-winning author and literary critic, Elizabeth Nunez writes that “Blind Light is a brilliant and compelling work… a deeply spiritual journey that allows the reader entry into the world of quantum physics, where Truth illuminates reality.” More ►

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