Celebrate #NationalPoetryMonth with these unforgettable and essential reads by Black poets.
Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman
The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.
“An inspired anthem for the next generation—a remarkable poetry debut.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Gorman’s newest poetry collection offers a stunning amalgamation of poems formatted in different styles to convey a message of sorrow, unity, and collective healing . . . This stunning collection belongs on every shelf.”—Booklist, starred review
Available in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Print Editions.
Also Available in Spanish: Llámame nosotros.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Click for a Teacher’s Guide.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire
Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma, and resilience from the celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Black Is King, award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire.
“The beautifully crafted poems in this collection are fiercely tender gifts.”—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist
“Shire is the real thing—fresh, cutting, indisputably alive.”—The New York Times
Available in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Harlem Shadows: Poems by Claude McKay; Introduction by Jericho Brown
A harbinger of the Harlem Renaissance first published in 1922, this collection of poignant, lyrical poems explores Claude McKay’s yearning for his Jamaican homeland and the bitter plight of Black and African Caribbean people in America.
With pure heart, passion, and honesty, Claude McKay offers an acute reflection on the complex nature of racial identity in the Caribbean diaspora, encompassing issues such as nationalism, freedom of expression, class, gender, and sex.
Poems of Blackness, queerness, desire, performance, and love are infused with a radical message of resistance in this sonorous cry for universal human rights. Simultaneously a love letter to the spirit of New York City and an indictment of its harsh cruelty, Harlem Shadows is a stunning collection that remains all too relevant one hundred years after its original publication.
Available in Trade Paperback and eBook Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Stones: Poems by Kevin Young
A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, called “one of the poetry stars of his generation” (Los Angeles Times).
Whether it’s the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young’s home places and his dear departed, and to what of them—of us—poetry can save.
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Click to Watch a Conversation with Kevin Young.
Girls That Never Die: Poems by Safia Elhillo
Intimate poems that explore feminine shame and violence and imagine what liberation from these threats might look like, from the award-winning author of The January Children.
In Girls That Never Die, award-winning poet Safia Elhillo reinvents the epic to explore Muslim girlhood and shame, the dangers of being a woman, and the myriad violences enacted and imagined against women’s bodies. Drawing from her own life and family histories, as well as cultural myths and news stories about honor killings and genital mutilation, she interlaces the everyday traumas of growing up a girl under patriarchy with magical realist imaginings of rebellion, autonomy, and power.
Available July 12th in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Walking Gentry Home: A Memoir of My Foremothers in Verse by Alora Young
An acclaimed young poet traces the lives of her foremothers in Western Tennessee, from those enslaved centuries ago to her grandmother, her mother, and finally her own life, in this stunning debut celebrating Black girlhood and womanhood.
A true American epic in verse, Walking Gentry Home tells the story of Alora Young’s ancestors, from the unnamed women the historical record has forgotten but Young brings to life through imagination.
Informed by archival research, the will and testament of a slaver, formal interviews, family lore, and even a DNA test, Walking Gentry Home gives voice to those most often muted: Black girls and women in America.
Available August 2nd in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans
From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity.
“Nothing short of sublime, and the territory [Mans’] explores . . . couldn’t be more necessary.”—Vogue
“You are carrying in your hands a Black woman’s heart.”—Jericho Brown, author of Pulitzer Prize winner The Tradition
“Read it in a day. Arresting. Beautiful language. Thoughtful examination of girlhood, Blackness, & queer identity. Bought a 2nd copy specifically for loaning out to friends. It’s that good! Read it!”—New York Times bestselling author Phoebe Robinson
Available in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Click to Watch a Conversation with Jasmine Mans.
Click to Watch Our Listen Up: Audiobooks Read by the Author Panel Featuring Jasmine Mans.
Finna: Poems by Nate Marshall
Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacular—its influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety found only within its intimacy.
“I am thankful for the honesty and self-examination in this work, yes. But even beyond that, I am thankful for a speaker who speaks as my people might, yelling across a parking lot or during a card game. I am thankful that this, too, is a part of the honesty this marvelous collection is in pursuit of.”—Hanif Abdurraqib, author of Go Ahead in the Rain and A Fortune for Your Disaster
“Written in a streetwise vernacular, these pieces about what it means to be a Black man in America feel the beat of rap and the burden of history. His search for the ‘Nate Marshall origin story’ illuminates life in this country in a strikingly original way.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Available in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song Edited by Kevin Young
A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present.
“This vast anthology gathers voices both canonical and overlooked to build an implicit but unassailable case that Black poetry is central to American literature.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Simply, a landmark . . . Together, it’s a kind of history of American history—jazz, Emmett Till, slavery—but also a celebration of arts movements . . . and a lively conversation across decades . . . It’s addicting, and refreshing, and no doubt, the sort of holiday treasure a family hands down for generations.”—Chicago Tribune
Available in Hardcover.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Click to Watch a Conversation with Kevin Young.
Family Listening:
Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman
A lyrical audiobook from presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long.
“In rich language and vivid art, this hopeful celebration of the life-affirming power of change to ripple out into a better future is irresistible. Text and poetry work together to regulate a careful reading of this beautiful work. One to keep, to read, and to reread.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Click for a Teacher’s Guide.
Emile and the Field by Kevin Young
In this lyrical picture book from an award-winning poet, a young boy cherishes a neighborhood field throughout the changing seasons. With stunning illustrations and a charming text, this beautiful story celebrates a child’s relationship with nature.
“[An] exquisite story of one boy’s unfettered delight in nature.”—The Horn Book, starred review
“[A] thing of beauty. From its exquisite endpapers, awash with wildflowers, and its sublime first words that evoke lolling in tall blue grasses, it captivates.”—The New York Times
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Want More Poetry?
Since its founding in 1915, Alfred A. Knopf has prided itself on publishing some of the finest poets of our time. And for more than twenty years, the imprint has celebrated National Poetry Month by sending out a free poem every day throughout April.
