"If you read one book this year, choose this one. I went to bed thinking of Ailey Pearl Garfield and woke up thinking of her. With the arrival of this epic novel of family, race, and ancestral legacy, one of America's finest poets has announced herself as a storyteller of the highest magnitude. Absolutely brilliant." - Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of Wench and Balm
“From our earliest roots, African and Indigenous, to our present-day realities weighed down by inequity and injustice, Jeffers writes about all of us with such tenderness and deep knowing. Hers is the gorgeous prose one expects from a gifted, accomplished poet, masterful and stunning, as she explores both the bountiful resilience of Black folks and the insidious depravity wrought by white supremacy. These Love Songs make for a frank, feminist, and unforgettable read.” - Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
“In this dazzling debut, generations of high yellow and brown ‘skin-ded’ women in one Georgia family explore the complexities of kin, the legacies of trauma, with all the sharp corners and blind alleys of real life. Wise, funny, deeply moving, I can’t tell you how much I love this book. A few times a generation a book comes along that gathers you up with its force, its insights, its sound and fury, its lyrical beauty. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is one of those books. Not merely a good novel, but a great and important one.” - Stephanie Powell Watts, author of No One Is Coming to Save Us
“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is epic in its scope. [It] traces the story of a family, the town in Georgia where they come from, and their migration outward over generations. The word epic is overused these days, but this book was meant to be an epic and it is. . . . This is one of the most American books I have ever read. It’s a book about the United States. It’s a book about the legacy of slavery in this country. . . . And it’s also a book about traumas and loves that sustain over generations.” - Noel King, NPR
“For me, this doesn't take much thought. It is THE novel of the year. This astonishing work is the first fiction by a writer whose poetry collections are profound and beautiful. In this book, a young woman follows her family history into the recesses of slavery in America. The young woman is a historian, so we are following her into her stunning access to the documentation of her family's capture and beyond, to the present.” - Michael Silverblatt, KCRW’s Top 10 Books of the Year
“A sweeping matriarchal epic that leads readers through a majestic tour of race, family, and love in America, this striking debut novel by an award-winning poet is, indeed, the Great American Novel at its finest.” - Joshunda Sanders, Boston Globe’s Best Books of the Year
“Stupendously good. . . . Jeffers’ renditions of Black family traditions and the burden of respectability politics are spot-on, and made me wish the book was even longer.” - Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR Best Books of the Year
“[An] ambitious début novel, by a noted poet. . . . Jeffers amasses details, richly rendering suffering and resistance.” - New Yorker
“A feat of beauty and breadth.” - Time, 100 Must-Read Books of the Year
“Utterly remarkable.” - Karla Strand, Ms.
“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is an investment, but a worthy one. It's the kind of epic that deserves its own place in the sun.” - Chris Vognar, Star Tribune
“[A] generational magnum opus.” - O, the Oprah Magazine
"Stunning." - People, Top 10 Books of the Year
Misbehaving at the Crossroads by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is an indelible collection of essays on womanhood, home and history. Honorée joins us to talk about the blues, intersectionality, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, respectability politics, poetry and more with host Miwa Messer. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. […]
It’s the very first week of National Poetry Month and we know you might be wondering — how should you celebrate? What collections should you be reading? Who should you be reading? As always, we’ve got you covered. Our Poured Over podcast has welcomed myriad poets to talk about everything from collections of verse to […]
Over the last year on Poured Over we have had the opportunity to talk with a variety of incredibly talented authors about their new works, thoughts on writing, culture, and so much more. Take a look at some of our favorites here, and catch new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and the occasional Saturday) wherever […]
Not every Black story is the same because the possibilities are endless, and as the platform for Black voices continues to grow, so do the stories that are able to be told. We are overjoyed to think about the incredible number of books that are centered around empowerment and self-love for the Black boys and girls of today and tomorrow. Representation matters and here, we are highlighting some of the […]
Summer’s almost here, and we’re only a few episodes away from our first anniversary. We’re kicking off May and AAPI Heritage month with Vaishnavi Patel and her wonderful debut, Kaikeyi, a retelling of the Ramayana. We couldn’t put down Trust, the very clever and fast-paced book-within-a-book about money and power, exile and isolation from Pulitzer […]