Daniel Black’s ninth book, Isaac’s Song, is a novel about Black gay becoming in the 1980s. It dunks us into the colorful life and language of Isaac Swinton, carrying us through recollections of his rigid childhood in Missouri and life in Chicago amidst the AIDS crisis.
Load in Nine Times is Frank X. Walker’s poetic exploration of American life in the period surrounding the Civil War. The collection takes Kentucky as its geographical framework, speaking through enslaved mothers, fathers, and children and masters and mistresses.
In John Vercher’s third novel, Devil Is Fine, a biracial father grieves his deceased son and dying career, realizing that he only understands both through a post-mortem examination. Vercher will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 26-27.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Alive at the End of the World is the latest apocalyptic collection of poetry from Memphis native Saeed Jones.
Black Panther: Panther’s Rage by Sheree Renée Thomas and the anthology Africa Risen, which Thomas coedited, imagine worlds rich in Black life and agency. Sheree Renée Thomas will appear at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City on March 27.
Prolific, critically acclaimed writer Percival Everett offers a new take on a controversial classic with his latest novel, James. Everett will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 25.
