A New Holiday for Black Authors

I’ve never heard of an Earl Grey pie, but it honestly makes so much sense. I love tea-flavored things, and am itching to try this. If you do, let me know how it is!

In addition to typical pie ingredients, you’ll need:

Pastry Cream

Earl Grey standard tea bags

Whole milk

Vanilla paste

Chocolate Ganache

Susan Burton’s life was turned upside down when her 5-year-old son was killed by a car in South L.A. Without access to professional mental health care, Burton turned to self-medicating with drugs. Because her struggles with addiction took place during the War on Drugs, she eventually landed in prison, and was in and out for the next 15 years. In all that time, she was never offered any kind of rehabilitation or help with her illness. She sought out a rehab facility on her own, underwent recovery, and set out to help women with similar challenges. In this memoir, she speaks about her experiences with addiction — including the systemic issues that lead to more incarceration rather than education and true recovery — and her organization A New Way of Life. This book, and Burton, have been recognized as vital to prison reform and social justice overall.

“Let’s deflate something monstrous, / and take its air inside us.”

From Ghana to Tuskegee, this debut poetry collection by award-winning Xan Phillips follows the Black body as it is subjugated to the horrors of enslavement and other atrocities across different settings and time periods. But through it all, they also illuminate the ways that joy is reclaimed in intimate and queer spaces.

Beautiful cover aside, I’ve seen this described as a fantasy novel that is perfect for frequent and infrequent fantasy readers alike, as its magic and world building feels a little easier to get into. Here, Kiah, who is essentially adopted by the queen of Alfajiri, sets out on a journey to discover more of her past. Accompanying her are her two close friends, and as the three journey on and learn about Kiah and the true nature of things, the structure of Alfajiri is threatened. Now the people of their country must choose between following the heir, or contending with an empty throne.

It’s the mid 1900s in the south, and 16-year-old Nell is married off and whisked away to Boston. Though she likes the idea of being independent, shy Nell lives in a time when the weight of the world rests on women’s shoulders, and opportunities are few. Once she has three children, her body feels the consequences, and her emotionally abusive husband Henry withdraws from her. She seeks comfort in another man, Charles, who she meets at church, and who she becomes pregnant by. Child Bride follows Nell as she does the best she can in a harsh and segregated world.