Welcome to In Reading Color, a space where we focus on literature by and about people of color.
By the time this newsletter comes out, I’ll be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. I’ve been to the city before, but never for this celebration. I loved, loved when I was here last, but I must admit my slight anxiety over the crowd that I know will gather.
Despite that, I’m hyped to return to the home of jazz, so I’m sharing a couple books with you today that are based in New Orleans.
Bookish Goods
Laminated Bookmark by ZellaAndCo
I love clean, simple designs, and I also love how this bookmark is laminated! $4
New Releases
A Stone Is Most Precious Where it Belongs: A Memoir of Uyghur Exile, Hope, and Survival by Gulchehra Hoja
Gulchehra Hoja guides us through her life in in East Turkestan, from a pleasant childhood to early beginnings of becoming a TV star. Chinese rule set her down a different path, though. Once she began to realize the atrocities committed against her people, she changed as a journalist and began reporting more of what she saw. This led to 24 of her family members disappearing overnight. This memoir gives us a peak into what life has been like for the Uyghurs, something that has been in short supply.
The Sum of Us (Adapted for Young Readers): How Racism Hurts Everyone by Heather McGhee
As an expert in economic policy, McGhee knows that everyone can have a piece of the pie, but only if racial disparities are addressed. Here, she lays out how racism hurts all of us, even the ones who seemingly benefit from it. I love how books like this are adapted for younger readers, making the issues they cover more accessible. And honestly, even if you’re not who the YA label targets, these are still an a great way to get into a topic.
More New Releases:
Full Exposure by Thien-Kim Lam (Romance)
A Sun to Be Sewn by Jean D’Amérique, translated by Thierry Kehou (Contemporary/Literary Fiction)
A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness: Stories by Jai Chakrabarti (Literary fiction)
A Country You Can Leave by Asale Angel-Ajani (Contemporary/Literary Fiction)
Last Chance Dance by Lakita Wilson (YA; Romance)
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
When I tell you I wish I was from New Orleans! It’s just as magical and amazing as you’ve heard.
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker
Sixteen-year-old twins Cristina and Clement Trudeau hail from a long line of powerful magic users, but their family is currently in disarray. Their father has died, their mother is sick, and the twins aren’t even on speaking terms. This changes once they realize their mother isn’t actually sick, but cursed, and it’ll take the two of them coming together to figure out who on the magic council — the same one from which their family was dethroned — wants to destroy their family. Doing so will require they solve a 30-year-old murder before another magical massacre happens in the city of New Orleans.
A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
We’re taken through the lives of Evelyn, a Creole woman growing up in New Orleans during WWII, and her descendants. For Evelyn, whose family is the apex of Black high society, a difficult choice between love and privilege must be made; then in the ’80s, her daughter Jackie contends with her husband’s drug addiction; and finally, Jackie’s son T.C. leaves jail after Hurricane Katrina to find New Orleans a totally different city than he remembered. As we see how their city changes around them, we see, too, how racism shifts and takes on new forms.
Thanks for reading; it’s been cute! If you want to reach out and connect, email me at erica@riotnewmedia.com or tweet at me @erica_eze_. You can find me on the Hey YA podcast with the fab Tirzah Price, as well as in the In The Club newsletter.
Until next time,
Erica