This Is America
These writers take on the complexities and violences of contemporary race relations in the US. From acts of everyday racism to inequalities within the justice system, they explore what it means to inhabit a Black body in today’s America.
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
This book-length lyric poem is a collage of anecdotes, multi-media, poetry and cultural criticism, to create a collective document of everyday racism in America. It exposes daily acts of micro-aggressions on the street and in the media that impact Black people’s ability to speak, act, and live. A game-changing work.
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
These surreal, speculative short stories tackle racial unrest, violence, injustice, and the horrors of consumerism. In one, frenzied shoppers are prepared to murder one another for deals on Black Friday, while in another, a theme park called Zimmerland (a reference to the killer of Trayvon Martin) creates a virtual reality where white players can act out violent fantasies against Black performers. Funny and terrifying in equal measure, these stories draw on horror tropes to comment on the world we’re living in today.
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
A hilarious and searing satire of modern race relations in America. Our narrator Bon-Bon lives in Dickens, a small black community on the outskirts of LA that has been erased from the national map. He grows artisinal marijuiana and watermelons with his “slave” Hominy Jenkins, the last surviving Little Rascal. When he decides to initiate an outlandish plan - to reinstate slavery and segregate the local high school - it ultimately lands him in the Supreme Court.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Twin sisters, Desiree and Stella Vignes, were raised in Mallard, Louisiana, a small town created exclusively for light-skinned Black people. When the girls decide to leave the privations of small-town life for New Orleans, Stella decides to construct a new identity based on her white-passing features. Spanning a fifty year period, this novel digs deep into the complexities of passing, whiteness, colourism, and ongoing racial bigotry in American society.
Big Eyed Afraid by Erica Dawson
This electric, original poetry collection is an examination of the self and identity as a young Black woman in America. Written in a bold, confessional style, Dawson shows a masterful control of technical forms mixed with playful improvisation. The collection is both raw and polished, refined yet reckless.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Young lovers Ifemelu and Obinze leave their home country of Nigeria and take separate paths to seek their futures in America and England. Through their different stories and experiences across three continents, the book dissects modern attitudes to race, class, solidarity, and outsiders.
Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
An impassioned and piercing collection of poetry that address the emotional toll of racism and homophobia on the lives of gay Black men. "Anything is possible," Smith writes, "in a place where you can burn a body with less outrage than a flag." Speaking of issues such as the traumatic effects of police brutality and what it means to be HIV positive, these are poems of great insight, intellect, and care.
They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
Abdurraqib's essays are much more than music journalism; they are about death, life, and being Black in modern America. He writes with great passion and love for music, covering A Tribe Called Quest, Chance The Rapper, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, and many more. His voice is rhythmic and earnest as he writes about finding moments of hope and joy in a country that arms itself against its Black population. He writes: “To bear witness to so much death that could easily be your own is to push toward redefining what it is to be a patriot in this country.”