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Biography and Memoir February 2020
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| The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison by John F. Callahan and Marc C. Conner, editorsWhat's inside: a chronological collection of six decades of correspondence written by National Book Award-winning author Ralph Ellison that offer an intimate glimpse into his life and career.
Why you might like it: Co-edited by Ellison's literary executor John F. Callahan, these previously unpublished letters are supplemented with richly contextualized introductions and footnotes.
Don't miss: Ellison's frequent musings to fellow black intellectuals Richard Wright and Albert Murray about life, work, and politics. |
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| And Then We Grew Up: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood by Rachel FriedmanWhat if? Years after her attendance at the Interlochen Arts Camp stoked her passion for a career as a violinist, author Rachel Friedman contemplates the path her life might have taken had she stuck with her childhood dreams.
Don't miss: interviews with Friedman's former Interlochen classmates exploring creativity, ambition, and identity.
Is it for you? Readers who've felt conflicted about their life's path or the weight of expectation will find much to relate to in this reflective chronicle. |
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What It Takes : To Live and Lead With Purpose, Laughter, and Strength
by Zahra Al-harazi
"Zahra Al-Harazi recounts how it was only by breaking other people's rules time and time again that she found the strength to live by her own. Zahra and her family's incredible story is both inspiring and encouraging in a time when we must ask ourselves what the meaning of home is for people without a country, for families who live and love, as so many do, somewhere in between."
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Notes from a young Black chef : a memoir
by Kwame Onwuachi
The Top Chef star and "30 Under 30" Forbes honoree traces his culinary coming-of-age in both the Bronx and Nigeria, discussing his eclectic training in acclaimed restaurants while sharing insights into the racial barriers that have challenged his career.
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| The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. StewartWhat it is: a sweeping and thought-provoking biography of Alain Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar and father of the Harlem Renaissance.
Awards buzz: The New Negro won the National Book Award in 2018 and the Pulitzer Prize in 2019.
Is it for you? Weighing in at over 900 pages, Jeffrey C. Stewart's extensively researched work doesn't shy away from Locke's flaws, like his penchant for misogyny or his willingness to indulge his patrons' racism for his own financial gain. |
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Unashamed : musings of a fat, black Muslim
by Leah Vernon
"Ever since she was little, Leah Vernon was told what to believe and how to act. There wasn't any room for imperfection. Good Muslim girls listened more than they spoke. They didn't have a missing father or a mother with mental illness. They didn't have fat bodies or grow up wishing they could be like the white characters they saw on TV. They didn't have husbands who abused and cheated on them. They certainly didn't have secret abortions. In Unashamed, Vernon takes to task the myth of the perfect Muslim woman with frank dispatches on her love-hate relationship with her hijab and her faith, race, weight, mental illness, domestic violence, sexuality, the millennial world of dating, and the process of finding her voice".
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