NEW YORK (AP) — Sixty years after her death, the story of Zora Neale Hurston is still not fully told. The fiction writer-anthropologist-folklorist died in a segregated Florida hospital in January 1960, so forgotten and impoverished that her work was out of print and her grave left unmarked. Starting in the 1970s, when Alice Walker […]
Nnedi Okorafor’s Hugo Award-winning science fiction trilogy Binti will be adapted into a series from Hulu and Media Res. The Binti novella is set against the backdrop of a technologically advanced future. It centers on Binti, an exceptional woman who is fated to be a leader for her community in Africa. Yet, she chooses a […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Stacey Abrams has a new book coming out this summer that will focus on her signature cause, voting rights. Henry Holt and Company announced Tuesday that “Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America” is scheduled for June 2020. Based on research and her run for […]
As the last year of the decade comes to a close, we’re keeping our eyes out for books that will mark the beginning of a new era, written by fresh new voices and seasoned authors of color. One of our most anticipated reads comes from the late literary great Zora Neale Hurston, where eight previously […]
“Genesis Begins Again” by Alicia D. Williams has been announced as one of the five finalists competing for the William C. Morris literary award. In October, JARO had the pleasure of speaking with Williams about her debut novel through our podcast offering, where she touched on her early writing process and the book’s crucial message […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, “The Water Dancer,” is among the nominees for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Coates’ narrative of an enslaved person’s journey to freedom is a fiction finalist, along with Valeria Luiselli’s “Lost Children Archive” and Myla Goldberg’s “Feast Your Eyes.” The nonfiction nominees are Maria Popova’s “Figuring,” […]
In the latest episode of JARO’s Podcast, Tomeka M. Winborne had the pleasure of speaking with debut novelist and 2019 Kirkus Prize Finalist Alicia D. Williams about her acclaimed book Genesis Begins Again. The hour-long conversation details Williams’ early writing process and the novel’s plot. Williams takes listeners through a poignant yet hopeful adolescent journey impacted […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Marlon James fantasy novel “Black Leopard, Red Wolf,” Laila Lalami’s immigrant tale “The Other Americans” and Jason Reynolds’ neighborhood story “Look Both Ways” are among this year’s finalists for the 70th annual National Book Awards. Nominees announced Tuesday also include Albert Woodfox, the former prison inmate who spent more than 40 […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A book of Toni Morrison quotations is coming out in December. “The Measure of Our Lives: A Gathering of Wisdom” will draw from her whole body of work, including celebrated novels such as “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon.” The foreword is by Zadie Smith, adapted from a tribute she wrote soon […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, “The Water Dancer,” has been a long and eventful journey. Begun a decade ago, his chronicle of a slave with an extraordinary memory who joins the Underground Railroad is the result of countless drafts, a shift from multiple narrators to a single voice, some needed advice from […]