James Baldwin, Black Lives & the Blues

Created on January 26, 2022, 2:43 pm

Last Updated March 19, 2024, 3:16 pm

Join us virtually on Wednesday, February 9, 6:30-8 pm, for a lively and insightful conversation with Oak Park author Stan West on his book about the late, great gay African-American writer James Baldwin in "James Baldwin's Black Lives Blues Are Mine." We will talk about James Baldwin, explore Black and LGBTQ issues, and connect to the present-day Black Lives Matter Movement. The program will be moderated by Al Cunningham, a Detroit-based writer with decades of experience in cultural and LGBTQ communities of color. Check out related titles below and register now at oppl.org/calendar.

1) Early novels and stories

Author

Baldwin, James

Series

Library of America volume 97

2) Later novels

Author

Baldwin, James

Series

Library of America volume 272

3) Collected essays

Author

Baldwin, James

Series

Library of America volume 98

4) Punch me up to the gods

Author

Broome, Brian

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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Punch Me Up to the Gods introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys propel forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut. Brian's recounting of his experiences--in all their cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking glory--reveal a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in. Indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use help...

5) The essential June Jordan

Author

Jordan, June

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"A collection drawn from June Jordan's previous books"--

6) Unprotected: a memoir

Author

Porter, Billy

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Pre-loaded Audio

Description

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"From the incomparable Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner, a powerful and revealing autobiography about race, sexuality, art, and healing." -- Amazon. "Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic Emmy-winning performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the groundbreaking Tony and Grammy Award-winning star of Broadway's Kinky Boots, ... Porter was a young boy in Pittsburgh who was seen as different, who didn't fit...

7) Dear Senthuran: a Black spirit memoir

Author

Emezi, Akwaeke

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

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"A full-throated and provocative memoir in letters from the New York Times-bestselling author of The Death of Vivek Oji, "a dazzling literary talent whose works cut to the quick of the spiritual self" (Esquire). "I want to write as if I am free," Akwaeke Emezi declares in the opening of this utterly original spiritual and creative memoir. In the novels Freshwater and The Death of Vivek Oji, Emezi introduced the landscape of Nigerian childhood through...

8) We are not broken

Author

Johnson, George M

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"This is a memoir of George's boyhood in New Jersey, growing up with their brother and two cousins, all under the supervision of their larger-than-life grandmother"-- George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul were raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early brushes with racism, memorable experiences at the family barbershop, and first loves and losses. And with Nanny at their center, they are never broken....

9) The days of Afrekete

Author

Solomon, Asali

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

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"Inspired by Mrs. Dalloway and Sula, The Days of Afrekete is a tender, surprising novel about two Philadelphia women at midlife who rediscover themselves-and perhaps each other"--

10) 100 boyfriends

Author

Purnell, Brontez

Description

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"Transgressive, foulmouthed, and brutally funny, Brontez Purnell's 100 Boyfriends is a revelatory spiral into the imperfect lives of queer men desperately fighting the urge to self-sabotage. As they tiptoe through minefields of romantic, substance-fueled misadventure--from dirty warehouses and gentrified bars in Oakland to desolate farm towns in Alabama--Purnell's characters strive for belonging in a world that dismisses them for being Black, broke,...