Adult Art / Music / Poetry

powell, m. mick

2025

"In Dead Girl Cameo, m. mick powell closely examines the experiences of Aaliyah Haughton, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Whitney Houston, and other notable superstars who died tragically too soon. How did these starlets challenge conventional representations of Black femininity and friendship, and forever transform the musical landscape? How were the artistries of these women of color impacted by surviving in the limelight and, often, in the very same industry as their abusers? How did the literal and metaphorical deaths of these Black women superstars establish legacies of Black queer femme existence and afterlife? In stunning imagery and sensual wordplay using ekphrasis, erasure, digital collage, archival research, and speculative nonfiction in verse, Dead Girl Cameo traverses the intimate realms of superstars to reconfigure Black girlhood, survivorhood, femme friendship, and queer fandom"-- Provided by publisher.

Langley, April C. E. and Melba Joyce Boyd

2025

Examines the works of Phillis Wheatley, Maria W. Stewart, and Jarena Lee whose words laid the foundation for today’s social justice movements.

McMillan, Terry

2025

"For the first time ever, renowned author Terry McMillan brings together her previously published short fiction and nonfiction pieces, as well as never-before-seen works in a single volume. Before McMillan found success as a novelist in the early 1990s, she published provocative, boundary-pushing short stories, capturing the struggles and triumphs of Black life in America with vitality and honesty. From the work-a-day factory man's malaise in The End, to the cast-aside lover's resolve in Touching, to the aging woman's wile in Ma'Dear, McMillan's inimitable voice bravely explores the dark corners of human relationships with compassion, humor and nuance. This collection also features five unpublished short stories that reveal how she wrestled with controversial topics rarely addressed in this era, from domestic abuse in Mama, Take Another Step to extreme poverty in Can't Close My Eyes To It. Whether she's revealing life lessons, pontificating about aging, recalling her sources of inspiration, or laying bare the beginnings of her life as a writer, McMillan approaches every piece with enduring candor, wit, and fearlessness"-- Provided by publisher.

Keys, Alicia

2025

"Alicia Keys has ... done it again with her hit musical Hell's Kitchen, a coming-of-age tale loosely based on Keys's own experiences of growing up in New York City. .... [this book] shares an intimate look inside the Tony- and Grammy-winning show's creation, from the first spark of an idea through the musical's journey to Broadway, where it continues to thrill audiences today. The book includes exclusive interviews with the original cast and creative team members; thoughts from Keys on the creation of her songs; stunning stage photography and behind-the-scenes images; insights into costume creation, set design, choreography, and casting; and much more"--Page 4 of cover.

Giovanni, Nikki

2025

"Nikki Giovanni's extraordinary final collection - a landmark of American literature - speaks to the fury of our current political moment while reflecting on the tragedies and triumphs of her early life"-- Provided by publisher.

Byas, Taylor (Poet)

2025

"Resting Bitch Face is a book for women, for Black women, for lovers of art and film criticism, and for writers interested in work that finds a middle ground between poetry and prose. Taylor Byas uses some of our most common ways of "watching" throughouthistory (painting, films, sculpture, and photographs) to explore how these mediums shape Black female subjectivity. From the examination of artwork by Picasso, Gauguin, Sally Mann, and Nan Goldin, Byas displays her mastery of the poetic form by engaging in intimate and inventive writing. Fluctuating between watcher and watched, the speaker of these poems uses mirrors and reflections to flip the script and talk back to histories of art, text, photography, relationships, and men. From Polaroids to gesso primer to sculpture, Byas creates a world in which the artist calls out and the muse responds. For not only does she enter the world of the long-revered classic artist, but she also infuses her poems with such iconic pop-culture works as The Joker, WandaVision, and Last Tango in Paris"-- Provided by publisher.

Gaddy, Kristina R.

2025

"For the first time, this groundbreaking songbook collaboration by music writer Kristina R. Gaddy and Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens makes twenty examples of early Black Atlantic music accessible and playable for today's musicians, music enthusiasts, and historians. Presenting music from 1687 through the 1850s in modern treble clef and banjo tablature, along with the rich stories behind each song, Gaddy and Giddens take readers on a journey from the Caribbean across the Americas. Immensely readable for amateurs and professionals alike, Go Back and Fetch It explains the significance of early Black Atlantic music and how the patterns of tunings, melodic lines, and lyrics shed light on the impact that Black American music has had on nineteenth-century popular music, early country, old time, and bluegrass. Each tune pairs with an engaging essay on its historical background and how the tune transformed over time, as well as information about the collector. Deeply researched and carefully approached, this essential source restores the roots of Black music to the musical canon"-- Provided by publisher.

Buchanan, Shonda

2025

""Nina Simone's ghost lives in these poems by award-winning author, Shonda Buchanan. Like the icon's life and art, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone is complex, daring, sensuous, hard and soft all at once." Shonda Buchanan weaves a prism of language, sound and light around and through the life of concert pianist, singer and Civil Rights activist, the incomprehensible Nina Simone. With this book, Buchanan is declaring this The Century of the Black Woman, providing a realistic glimpse into not only Simone's life, but the lives of Black women in America, past and present, and their choices in a myopic, unforgiving country. A grandchild of enslaved Africans, American Indians and Irish migrants, born into poverty as Eunice Waymon in a traditionally large family, Nina Simone lived a life few Black American women lived during the Jim Crow era in the South, yet rose to ultimately impact the world with her creative genius and determined spirit. This book is both an emotional and historical excavation of an artist's life, capturing the rise and descent of that life, including Simone's family history, her childhood and young womanhood, as well as the addiction, mental health struggles and abuse. The Lost Songs of Nina Simone embodies the rich legacy --- the pleats between the cloth --- of Simone's artistry, beauty, self-immolation and rage."--Back cover.

Beta, Andy

2026

Bennett, Geoff

2026

Bailey, Trenton

2025

"In Driftin' on a Memory: Celebrating Seventy Years of The Isley Brothers, Trenton Bailey tells the story of this groundbreaking musical act. The Isley Brothers began recording as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley, and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. They have covered a wide range of genres, including gospel, doo-wop, rock 'n' roll, R&B, the Motown sound, funk, and disco, and their music has been sampled by numerous hip hop artists. The Isley Brothers achieved their first hit "Shout" in 1959 and have reached the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with new music in six different decades, from the 1950s to the 2000s. The brothers experienced their golden age from 1973 to 1983 with the addition of three younger brothers. With three instrumentalists, including composer and arranger Chris Jasper, The Isleys became a self-contained band and released a string of platinum albums. Over the years, The Isley Brothers have adapted the group, adding and losing members over time, but have always included a brother. Today, Ernie and Ronald Isley are still performing, keeping The Isley Brothers a household name and remaining a serious force in pop culture. The remarkable longevity of The Isley Brothers has solidified their status as one of America's most influential musical groups"-- Provided by publisher.

Barnes, Rhae Lynn

2026

A groundbreaking history, decades in the making, that chronicles how blackface dominated American society culturally, financially, and racially for nearly two centuries.

Obama, Michelle, 1964-

2025

The Look is Michelle Obama's inspiring reflection on how fashion has shaped her public and personal journey. Featuring over 200 beautiful photos, she shares the stories behind her most memorable outfits -- from the campaign trail to the White House and beyond -- along with insights from her trusted stylists and designers. More than a celebration of style, the book explores how clothing can express confidence, purpose, and authenticity.

Smith, Patricia, 1955-

2025

"The Intentions of Thunder gathers, for the first time, the essential work from across Patricia Smith's decorated career. Here, Smith's poems, affixed with her remarkable gift of insight, present a rapturous ode to life. With careful yet vaulting movement, these poems traverse the redeeming landscape of pain, confront the frightening revelations of history, and disclose the joyous possibilities of the future. The result is a profound testament to the necessity of poetry--all the careful witness, embodied experience, and bristling pleasure that it bestows--and of Smith's necessary voice." -- Provided by publisher.

Shabazz, Rashad

2026

Young, Kevin

2025

"Following on his exquisite Stones, Young's new collection shapes stories of familial and familiar love, inspired in part by other lives. A central sequence, "The Two-Headed Nightingale," is spoken by Millie-Christine McCoy, the famous conjoined African American "Carolina Twins." Born into slavery and ill treatment as a "freak" sensation in 1851 and later free women, their alto and soprano voices harmonized, and Young's poem explores their evolving selfhood and self-understanding: "As one we sang, /we spake- / She was the body / I the soul / Without one / Perishes the whole." In "Darkling," a cycle of poems written in reaction to Robert Rauschenberg's paintings made while listening to Dante's Inferno canto by canto, Young expands and embroiders the circles of Hell, incorporating his own experiences, drawing a cosmology of both loneliness and accompaniment, making space for the communal and singular voicing of both sorrow and hope, spiced with rueful notes on the failures of American culture. When he goes, he warns, don't sing "Amazing Grace"-not that "National / Anthem of Suffering." No, he suggests, "When I Fly Away, / Don't dare hold no vigil . . . Just burn the whole / Town on down.""-- Provided by publisher.

Wallace, Paula

2025

Catalog of an exhibition held at the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, from 15 August 2025 - 11 January 2026, and at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, Atlanta, from 15 October 2025 - 1 March 2026.