In the early days of spring, I decided to partake in one of my favorite activities: thrifting for books. Typically, I come across gold in unexpected places, and this particular afternoon was no different. Slightly hidden within the arbitrary shelves of Goodwill, I discovered a pristine copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora […]
Akwaeke Emezi’s upcoming 2022 romance novel You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is set to be adapted as a film. Amazon Studios won the highly competitive bidding battle, and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society will develop. This marks the first major film property acquisition for Jordan. Emezi credits the title of the […]
**This thinkpiece contains spoilers from Brit Bennett’s “The Vanishing Half.” In Brit Bennett’s compelling best-seller The Vanishing Half, two fair-skinned African American twins choose drastically different paths for themselves: One secretly decides to pass as white, while the other embodies her Black identity. Released in June of 2020, the novel has received widespread acclaim while […]
The illustrious R&B singer Luther Vandross would have turned 70 today. In honor of his legacy, Google has paid tribute to him with a lively and colorful animation that captures the spirit of Vandross. In the video, we’re taken through notable moments of the singer’s career, while his classic 1981 song “Never Too Much” plays […]
Inspired by the Little Free Libraries around the globe, Amplify Library is a new progressive concept which centers on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) authors. If you aren’t aware of Little Free Libraries, these tiny libraries are placed in various communities, parks, and even unassuming places. There’s two in my neighborhood alone, and […]
Them, the new horror anthology series by Little Marvin, explores racial terror in 1950s America. In conversation with Shadow and Act, Little Marvin shared his thoughts on what home truly means, and how he’s creating space for more Black horror stories to be told. Witnessing the terrorization of Black people in everyday life is what […]
Kwesi Botchway, a distinguished artist from Accra-Ghana, spoke with Artnet’s Naomi Rea to discuss his current exhibition “Homecoming: The Aesthetic of the Cool” and why painting Black faces is such an integral part of his work. Heavily encouraged to paint at a young age by his mother, Botchway’s journey with art began in childhood. He […]
In an interview with Kukuwa Ashan of Electric Lit, Kaitlyn Greenidge discusses her recently released novel, Libertie––one of JARO’s most anticipated reads of 2021. A gripping story about the meaning of freedom, Libertie follows free-born Libertie Simpson and her life in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn. Her mother, a physician, yearned for Libertie to follow in her footsteps. […]
Inspired by Afrofuturism, African artists Ziki Nelson, Tolu Foyeh, and Hamid Ibrahim joined forces to create Kugali, a Pan-African comics company. “The idea was that in the scientific genre, there were hardly any Black people. It was as though they were passing on the message that there were no Black people in the future,” said […]
23-year-old poet Amanda Gorman, who made history as the youngest inaugural poet, will join Oprah Winfrey in conversation this Friday for “The Oprah Conversation” on Apple TV Plus. “The Hill We Climb,” the touching poem that Gorman recited during Biden’s inauguration, will be discussed. She’ll speak about the creative process behind the poem, and share […]