In this collection of impeccably written essays, Schwartz tells us early on that she never thought of her life as a "continuous line," but rather a series of intertwined, interrupted experiences. Hers is a life that has been bumped, tumbled, and smoothed by an endless stream of travel, fascinating people, and writing them, pondering them, translating them. Her essays range from musings about the art of translation, the tribulations of major surgery...

"On February 6, 1977, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, and several other Black women writers met at June Jordan's Brooklyn apartment. Naming itself "The Sisterhood," the group would meet over the next two years to discuss the future of Black literary feminism, how to promote and publicize their work, and the everyday pressures and challenges of being a Black woman writer. This network of individuals, which would also come to include Audre...

"An uplifting collection of speeches by African American women, curated by civil and human rights activist, scholar, and author Janet Dewart Bell. These magnificent speakers explore ethics, morality, courage, authenticity, and leadership, and Bell's substantive introductions provide rich new context for each woman's speech, highlighting Black women speaking truth to power in service of freedom and justice"--

"Scholar Susan Godwin is hooked when she comes across the captivating story of Mary of Modena--a seventeenth-century Italian princess who was only fourteen when coerced into marriage with the future king of England, James II, yet went on to cultivate a court full of women writers in an age when female authorship was rare. How did Mary achieve such a feat? Rain Dodging is Susan's creative nonfiction account of the years-long search upon which this...

"Cairo, 1963: four years before her lone novel is finally published, the writer Enayat al-Zayyat takes her own life at age 27. For the next three decades, it's as if Enayat never existed at all. Years, later, when celebrated Egyptian poet Iman Mersal stumbles upon Enayat's long-forgotten Love and Silence in a Cairo book stall, she embarks on a journey of reflection and rediscovery that leads her ever closer to the world and work of Enayat al-Zayyat"...

"The latest collection from award-winning poet Vievee Francis, The Shared World imagines motherhood-with and without children-and the common space between families, lovers, and strangers"--

"A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden stories of Black Appalachians through powerful essays and forty comforting recipes from the Poet Laureate of Kentucky. Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother's presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; There were an abundance of ancestors stirring, measuring, and braising with her. These...