Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack.
Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.
Haymarket recently had a sale on poetry books in celebration of National Poetry Month that coincided with a sale on a few of their other titles. Book sales are like catnip to me, so I got a book that had been on my list since forever, a collection by an author I’ve been meaning to read for a while now, and a totally new-to-me collection and poet.
Before I get to the books, let me tell you about Haymarket real quick. It’s “a radical, independent, nonprofit book publisher based in Chicago” with the goal of aiding the fight for social and economic justice through books.
If you’re curious about some of their offerings, continue below for the legacy of a history-making Black feminist group from the ’70s, a poetic look at the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, and verses around a Palestinian American poet’s layered identities.
The book that has been on my list since forever
How We Get Free by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
This 2018 Lambda Award-winning book looks at the legacy and contributions of the founding members of the Combahee River Collective, a ground-breaking group of radical Black feminists that formed during the revoluntionary ’70s. Here, interviews and essays with and by the founding members of the group reflect on Black feminism.
A collection by an author I’ve been meaning to read for a while now
1919 by Eve L. Ewing
Using poetry and afrofuturist lenses, Ewing explores the largely unknown Chicago Race Riot of 1919—also known as the Red Summer—which resulted in 38 deaths, 500 injuries, and lasted eight days.
A totally new-to-me collection and poet
DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. by Noor Hindi
Palestinian American poet Noor Hindi layers the various aspects of her identity, examines them, and explores how colonialism, patriarchy, religion, and all other aspects of society interact with them.
**All-Access subscribers continue below for 11 BIPOC books out this week**
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