A unique prison narrative that testifies to the power of books to transform a young man's life
At the age of sixteen, R. Dwayne Betts-a good student from a lower- middle-class family-carjacked a man with a friend. He had never held a gun before, but within a matter of minutes he had committed six felonies. In Virginia, carjacking is a "certifiable" offense, meaning that Betts would be treated as an adult under state law. A bright young...

This book "is a challenge, confronting realities that frame an America often made invisible. Within these poems, we see the city as distant lover, we hear the sound that comes from all / the hurt & want that leads a man to turn his back to the world. We see that and we see each reason why we return to what pains us"--

"This kaleidoscopic portrait of an unprecedented time brings together some of our most treasured writers today--Edwidge Danticat, Layli Long Soldier, Monica Youn, Julia Alvarez, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor--to give voice to the unthinkable grief and hopeful possibilities born in an era of revolution and change." --

"A landmark work of intimate reporting on inequality, race, class, and violence, told through a murder and intersecting lives in an iconic American neighborhood. One New Haven summer evening in 2006, a retired grandfather was shot point-blank by a young stranger. A hasty police investigation culminated in innocent sixteen-year-old Bobby being sentenced to prison for thirty-eight years. New Haven native and acclaimed author Nicholas Dawidoff returned...

A voice for justice, anti-racism, and equality—here is the greatest and most powerful work of the people's poet, Wanda Coleman.
One of the most talked about literary collections of the year is this collection by a beat-up, broke, and Black woman who wrote with anger, humor, and clarity about her life on the margins. Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems is a selection of 130 of Coleman's poems spanning four decades, edited and introduced...

Poetry's archives are incomparable, and to celebrate the magazine's centennial, Don Share and Christian Wilman combed them to create a new kind of anthology, energized by the self-imposed limitation of one hundred poems. Rather than attempting to be exhaustive or definitive--or even to offer the most familiar works--they have assembled a collection of poems that, in their juxtapositions, echo across a century of poetry.

"The Pushcart Prize is the only annual anthology to exclusively showcase the very best writing from America's alternative literary presses. Each year contributing editors, whose ranks include the most important writers of today, along with hundreds of small presses, nominate thousands of stories, poems, essays and memoirs for inclusion in Pushcart's collection. This unique submissions process ensures a diversity of writing unmatched by any other anthology....