My Government Means to Kill Me (fiction – hardbound) by Rasheed Newsom
This is a fierce and riveting queer coming-of-age story following the personal and political awakening of a young gay Black man in 1980s New York City, from the television drama writer and producer of The Chi, Narcos, and Bel-Air. It is vibrant, humorous, and fraught with entanglements.
You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays (nonfiction/essays – paperback) by Zora Neale Hurston
This collection is the quintessential gathering of provocative essays from one of the world’s most celebrated writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Spanning more than three decades and penned during the birth of the Harlem Renaissance through the early days of the civil rights movement, Hurston’s writing articulates the beauty and authenticity of Black life. Collectively, these essays showcase the roles enslavement and Jim Crow have played in intensifying Black culture rather than destroying it.
The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin (nonfiction – hardbound) by Hafizah Augustus Geter
Recalling her parents’ lessons on the art of Black revision, and mixing history, political analysis, and cultural criticism, alongside stunning original artworks created by her father, renowned artist Tyrone Geter, Hafizah maps out her own narrative, weaving between a childhood populated with Southern and Nigerian relatives. All throughout, she forms a new personal and collective history, addressing the systems of inequity that make life difficult for non-able-bodied persons, queer people, and communities of color while capturing a world brimming with potential, art, music, hope, and love.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, February 15 @ 5 pm (free, SF Ferry Building) Malcolm Harris, author of Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism and the World
In Palo Alto, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the “tragedy of the commons,” racial genetics, and “broken windows” theory; the internet and computers, too.
Wednesday, February 15 @ 5:30 pm (free, live online) Roberto Lavato, author of Unforgetting, and Raina Leon, author of black god mother this body
In honor of Black History Month and recognizing the importance of uplifting diverse voices and stories now and throughout the year, we are presenting our Annual Race in America event.
Unforgetting is an urgent, no-holds-barred tale of gang life, guerrilla warfare, intergenerational trauma, and interconnected violence between the United States and El Salvador, Roberto Lovato’s memoir excavates family history and reveals the intimate stories beneath headlines about gang violence and mass Central American migration, one of the most important, yet least-understood humanitarian crises of our time—and one in which the perspectives of Central Americans in the U.S. have been silenced and forgotten.
In black god mother this body, Raina Leon offers what a godmother should offer: a portal to infinite divine possibility, a safe space to learn something new, and multi-faceted generosity. These are poems that mother, mentor, and mend, and that you want to break open again.
Saturday, February 18 @ 4 pm (free, Corte Madera) Sonora Jha, author of The Laughter
A white male college professor develops a dangerous obsession with his new Pakistani colleague in this modern, iconoclastic novel. An explosive, tense, and illuminating work of fiction, The Laughter is a fascinating portrait of privilege, radicalization, class, and modern academia that forces us to confront the assumptions we make, as both readers and as citizens.
Top of Your Stack – Recommendations from Book Passage
Published on February 9, 2023
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