A must-read treasure trove of practical wisdom for Black writers, writing teachers, and anyone interested in the craft.
A one-of-a-kind anthology featuring guidance and perspectives from acclaimed Black writers.
“Born out of absolute generosity and hope for the future of Black writing,” this collection of 31 essays and interviews, edited by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Brown, features a who’s-who roster of Black fiction and nonfiction writers, poets, and essayists. Though the book is for “anyone who is a student of the craft,” its primary purpose is to inform and encourage emerging Black writers in particular. The text includes original essays from Daniel Omotosho Black, who examines the rhythm of Black vernacular; Jacqueline Woodson, who shows how to discern what characters want and how they’re going to get it; and Tiphanie Yanique, who contributes a piece called “Fiction Forms: How to Make Fun and Profundity Possible in Fiction.” The book also includes previously published works such as a 1979 interview with Ernest J. Gaines and Callaloo editor Charles Rowell. Some of the essays come with writing exercises, such as Crystal Wilkinson’s “Asking Questions and Excavating Memory: Creating Complex Fictional Characters,” while others focus on revision and how to read to become a better writer. Rita Dove begins her piece by noting, “I do not like how-to-write manuals.” Still, she decided to pen an essay to help writers “avert disaster” and to “extol the passion that drives the writing.” Brown’s collection is conversational, anecdotal, and collaborative in tone throughout. Divided into eight sections with titles such as “Who Your People?” “Where You At?” and “What It Look Like?” this isn’t your average craft book. It’s something exponentially better, more engrossing, and more easily applicable for writers in undergraduate and graduate writing programs as well as those in no program at all.
A must-read treasure trove of practical wisdom for Black writers, writing teachers, and anyone interested in the craft.Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780063278189
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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