Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called "ghetto prose" that would make him a commercial success. He finally succumbs to temptation after seeing the Oberlin-educated author of We's Lives in da Ghetto during her appearance on a talk show, firing back with a parody called My Pafology, which he submits to his startled agent under the gangsta pseudonym...

"Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly but who has haunted the edges of his life: Juan Gay. Playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized, Juan has a project to pass along, one built around a true artifact of a book -- Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns -- and its devastating history. This book contains accounts collected in the...

"For too long, African Americans have been left out of the story of the nation's founding, their voices absent from the memory and celebration of the creation of the American republic. Black Writers of the Founding Era -- by far the richest and most expansive anthology of its kind ever assembled -- restores these voices. The writings gathered here reveal the complexity and dynamism of African American life and culture in the period and show how the...

"A collection of humorous and heartfelt poetry for children and adults"-- "Bob Odenkirk began writing these poems with his children when they were little, compiling the poetry into a homemade book entitled Olde Time Rhymes. He wanted Nate and Erin to understand that actual people had written the books the family loved to read and to instill in them the feeling that they could be writers and illustrators themselves. Almost twenty years later, when...

"A preeminent voice in contemporary literature, Major Jackson offers steady miracles of vision and celebrations of language in rapturous, sophisticated poems. Razzle Dazzle traces the evolution of Jackson's transformative imagination and fierce music through five acclaimed volumes: his Cave Canem Poetry Prize-winning debut, Leaving Saturn (2002), which captures the spirit of resilience in the Philadelphia neighborhoods of the poet's youth; Hoops (2006),...

"The first authoritative biography of August Wilson, the most important and successful American playwright of the late 20th century, by a theater critic who knew him"-- "Ever since Ma Rainey's Black Bottom captivated Broadway audiences, August Wilson established himself as the most important American playwright of the last fifty years. His decade-by-decade cycle of ten plays about the African American experience in the twentieth century put Black...

"When I Was Your Age is a hilarious, heartwarming and surprising ode to growing up, getting older and wiser, and luck, life, and learning from the school of hard knocks, from SNL's longest-serving actor, Kenan Thompson"-- Thompson provides an ode to growing up, getting older and wiser, and learning from the school of hard knocks. He is the longest-ever-service cast member of Saturday Night Live, as well as the survivor of early 2000s television programs...

A comprehensive collection featuring over 150 poems, including works that explore joy, love, origin, race, resistance, and praise. In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander curates a collection of contemporary anthems at turns tender and piercing and deeply inspiring throughout. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance...

An inspiring personal testimonial woven with political analysis, Community as Rebellion offers a meditation on the possibilities of creating spaces of freedom within the university for students and faculty of color who often experience violence and unbelonging due to the colonizing, racializing, classist, and unequal structures that sustain academia and the university. Sharing stories, personal reflections, and experiences, the author invites readers-in...

"Film legend recalls his remarkable life of nearly eight decades -- a heralded actor who's played the roles he wanted, unchecked by the racism and typecasting so rife in the mostly all-white industry in which he triumphed. Billy Dee Williams was born in Harlem in 1937 and grew up in a household of love and sophistication. As a young boy, he made his stage debut working with Lotte Lenya in an Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill production where Williams ended...