Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World

Akashic Books

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Subject: Black Interest

The Angels’ Share

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A Jamaican father and his adult son travel across the island together in a touching and humorous novel that explores family reconciliation.

Around Harvard Square

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Race, class, and hormones combine and combust when a Harvard freshman and his two friends attempt to join the staff of the Harpoon, the school’s iconic humor magazine.

Bivouac

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The death of a Jamaican man’s father raises questions about the father’s political endeavors, and about the plight of 1980s Jamaica.

Black Lotus

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Finding the Black Lotus murderer is Detective Wolf’s chance to avoid an Internal Affairs investigation. That’s when things get personal.

*While supplies last, books ordered through the website will include a bookplate SIGNED by K’wan!

Black Lotus 2: The Vow

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After the death of a police officer, assassin Kahllah (aka the Black Lotus) is forced out of retirement in an attempt to clear her name while outrunning a mysterious enemy.
*While supplies last, books ordered through the website will include a bookplate SIGNED by K’wan!

Black Music

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The long-awaited reissue of the sequel to Amiri Baraka’s seminal work, BLUES PEOPLE, and latest selection in the AkashiClassics Renegade Reprint Series. This collection of essays by Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones includes a new introduction by the author and Q&A by Calvin Reid.

Cake

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The highly anticipated second title from Akashic’s groundbreaking street-lit imprint, The Armory, curated by author Kenji Jasper.

Cane Warriors

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Moa, a fourteen-year-old slave, gets caught up in the most significant slave rebellion in Jamaican history, paying homage to freedom fighters all over the world.

Caught Up

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Author of the mega–best seller B-More Careful (350,000 sales) is back with an irresistible hard-boiled crime story.

Conduit

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Chris Abani’s acclaimed Black Goat series presents the debut collection from one of America’s most promising young poets.

The Darkest Hearts

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Trap music, human trafficking, malt liquor, and the tyranny of President Trump collide in the fifth installment of Nelson George’s D Hunter mystery series.

*Please note, if you’re using Nelson’s friends and family discount code, the discount applies to paperback books only.

Discretion

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Elizabeth Nunez’s reissued fourth novel is a haunting, mesmerizing exploration into the often destructive price of passion.

Dog War

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The highly anticipated new novel and debut US publication from the legendary Jamaican author of The Lunatic and The Duppy.

The Duppy

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Oddball sexuality, acts of perversion, and out-of-order behavior from the acclaimed Jamaican author of The Lunatic and Dog War.

How funny is this social satire? Akashic Books’s pledge to our readers: Laugh out loud at least once or your money back. Seriously.

eel on reef

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A truly exciting American debut from a Nigerian writer on Chris Abani’s new poetry imprint, Black Goat, with an introduction by Kwame Dawes.

The Freedom Artist

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An impassioned plea for freedom and justice, set in a world uncomfortably like our own, by the Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri.

Game World

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Launching Akashic’s new Black Sheep YA imprint, an adventure novel in a video game turned reality, with giant spiders, malevolent hummingbirds, a not-quite-yellow-brick road, and preteen children learning how to be heroes!

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Getting It Right

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Half-sisters Kara and Alex—one the biracial product of foster care, the other of dysfunctional privilege—struggle for redemption and forgiveness.

Glorious

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Award-winning novelist Bernice L. McFadden’s highly anticipated new historical novel set amidst the Harlem Renaissance.

TO ORDER THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF GLORIOUS, PLEASE SELECT “HARDCOVER” FROM THE DROP-DOWN MENU BELOW

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Gomer’s Song

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Award-winning poet Kwame Dawes explores the insidious nature of power and the limits of protest for Chris Abani’s Black Goat poetry series.

Got

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The first title from The Armory, a new high-quality urban noir imprint edited by Kenji Jasper.

Grace

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The reissue of Elizabeth Nunez’s moving exploration into trust, family, redemption, and love.

Haiti Noir

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Akashic recruits Danticat, one of the truly great contemporary writers, to edit this timely volume featuring stories set both before and after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Home Girl

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When Naomi, a fourteen-year-old white girl, is placed with a black foster care family, her life takes some dramatic twists and turns.

I Love You Too

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Bob Marley’s first and most famous son, Ziggy, extends his devotion to youth with his debut children’s book.

*While supplies last, books ordered through the Akashic Books website will include a bookplate SIGNED by Ziggy Marley!

Knucklehead

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A fierce, intelligent, and often hilarious novel about a young African American attorney who struggles to keep his cool in the personally and politically turbulent ’90s.

Limbo

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An African American man confronts a heart of darkness when his family moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Norway.

Lost Canyon

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In Revoyr’s most thrilling novel to date, four backpackers embark on a trip in the Sierra Nevada that quickly becomes a disaster.

Loving Donovan

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A long-awaited reissue of this deeply thoughtful novel about hope, forgiveness, and the cost of loving Donovan, a complex man with a shattered history.

Makeda

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The debut title from Akashic’s Open Lens imprint: a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind, from the nationally best-selling author Randall Robinson.

The Necessary Hunger

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Akashic Books reissues Nina Revoyr’s inspired and groundbreaking 1997 debut novel about women’s basketball, class, racial identity, and friendship.

On the Way Back

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Kobbé’s hilarious social novel centers on a comically failed business venture on the island of Anguilla, brilliantly echoing A Confederacy of Dunces and Herman Wouk’s Don’t Stop the Carnival.

Prayer for the Living

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Topical and timely, Booker Prize–winning author Ben Okri’s new collection of short stories blurs parallel realities and walks the line between darkness and magic.

Providential

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Best-selling writer Colin Channer’s debut poetry collection tackles the unlikely literary figure of the Jamaican policeman.

The Reluctant King

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The King family is on the political rise in New York City, but must weather the violent storm wrought by their darkest secrets.

*While supplies last, books ordered through the Akashic Books website will include a bookplate SIGNED by K’wan!

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STEWdio: Limited Edition Preorder

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This page offers two LIMITED EDITION PREORDER options for STEWdio: The Naphic Grovel ARTrilogy of Chuck D—one of which includes a priceless, one-of-a-kind original portrait of YOU by CHUCK D. STEWdio is the debut release of Chuck D’s new Enemy Books Imprint.

—Option 1. Choose the default option in the drop-down menu below for a $75 signed edition of the Box Set (only 500 available)

—Option 2. Choose the second option in the drop-down menu below for a $200 signed edition PLUS an original portrait of YOU by Chuck D (100 available. All orders are nonreturnable.)

THIS PAGE IS FOR THE LIMITED EDITION OPTIONS of STEWdio. For the unsigned, regular edition of the box set, please click here

All preorders will ship on or before June 5, 2023

Swing

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An erotic drama about four sexy couples and one swingers’ club where their fantasies and nightmares collide.

Tales

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This reissue of a 1967 story collection shows a mind in motion, featuring writing that is provocative, witty, bitter, and aggressive.

An Unkindness of Ghosts

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A breathtaking science fiction debut from a worthy successor to Octavia Butler.

*While supplies last, books ordered through the website will include a bookplate SIGNED by Rivers Solomon!

The Warmest December

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The long-awaited reissue of McFadden’s best-selling second novel praised by Toni Morrison, USA Today, Washington Post, and others—published simultaneously with McFadden’s new novel Gathering of Waters.

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Forthcoming Titles

STEWdio: The Naphic Grovel ARTrilogy of Chuck D

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Forthcoming: 6/6/23

Chuck D (Public Enemy, Prophets of Rage, etc.) brings his personal insights and social critiques to the page in fierce, passionate, and evocative visual art and prose

Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before June 06, 2023.

Note: This page is for the regular, unsigned edition of STEWdio. To order one of the limited edition preorder options–a signed box set, or a signed set + an original portrait by Chuck D–click here.

Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History

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Forthcoming: 7/4/23

An exciting history of the improv group you’ve never heard of that changed comedy in America—this is the story of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam as told by its founders and most famous alumni! Featuring a foreword by Seth Meyers and a backword by Jordan Peele.

Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before July 4, 2023.

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Tender Headed

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Forthcoming: 12/5/23

Tender Headed, selected by Camille Rankine as a winner of the 2022 National Poetry Series, is a musical and formally playful meditation on Black identity and masculinity

Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before December 05, 2023.

Preorder on Bookshop
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