Silver Sparrow

The on the go home of Tayari Jones

[tayarijones]

Let go, or be dragged.

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It was such a treat to interview Nicole Sealey for @poetswritersinc. Smart words & gorgeous layout.

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KALUSHI’ TELLS THE STORY OF THE SHORT LIFE OF SOUTH AFRICAN FREEDOM FIGHTER SOLOMON MAHLANGU.

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Library of Congress Digitizes 19th-Century Photos of Black Women Activists The Library of Congress recently digitized rare 19th-century photographs of African American women active in suffrage, civil rights, temperance, education, reform, and journalism. https://hyperallergic.com/370345/19th-century-photographs-of-black-women-activists/

[tayarijones]

Happy Pub Day, Lesley Nneka Arimah!  Lovely short stories, every one of them.

[tayarijones]

The cover of my new novel, An American Marriage.

Silver Sparrow author Tayari Jones spins the tale of newlyweds Celestial and Roy, an artist and executive, respectively, who try to grasp their own version of American Dream in the New South. A wrench gets thrown into that plan, though, when Roy is sentenced to 12 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and Celestial ends up growing closer to her childhood friend Andre in Roy’s absence. But five years later, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta eager to re-start his life with Celestial, only to find that things aren’t how he left them at all.

Read an excerpt in EW:

Enter the goodreads giveaway contest:

[nyrbclassics]

Ernesto, on sale today! Events this and next week!

Estelle Gilson’s new translation of Umberto Saba’s Ernesto goes on sale today. Here’s what some of our favorite writers and critics are saying about it:

“This little miracle of a book tackles the weightiest themes—the unthinking cruelty of youth, the shock of adulthood, the humanizing force of love—with the humor and lightness of touch that are the surest sign of mastery. For all its modesty and charm, the novel’s profound, unassuming beauty has a force and finally a grandeur that come from the source of all great art, what Saba calls ‘the red-hot center of life.’” —Garth Greenwell

“A work of tenderness that doesn’t smudge its complex corners.” —Anakana Schofield

“Umberto Saba’s secret novel Ernesto re-creates a boy’s awakening to sexual love with both men and women. It’s a story so fresh, so alive to nuances of feeling and perception, it defies any formulaic understanding of love in Saba’s time or in our own. Estelle Gilson’s translation catches the intimate rhythms of these discoveries.” —Rosanna Warren

In honor of Saba’s poignant coming-of-age novel, we’ll be hosting a couple of speical events:

On Wednesday, March 31st, at Warwick’s in San Diego Estelle Gilson will be in conversation with Elio Schaechter

On April 6, a discussion of Ernesto with Peter Cameron, Benjamin Taylor, Jaime Manrique, and Stefano Albertini will be held at The Bureau of General Services—Queer Division in NYC.

Cover art: Mario Sironi, Portrait of Brother Ettore, 1910

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"If I fall, I will fall five-feet four-inches forward in the fight for freedom." Civil Rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer died on this day in 1977

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RIP, Mari Evans. You are loved.

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ROBERT 'BOBBY' SENGSTACKE, OF CHICAGO DEFENDER FAMILY, DEAD AT 73. His photos of black Chicago were iconic. RIP to an American Treasure.

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Happy Pub Date to Dan Chaon.  This book creeped me out, in a good way. If you like brisk, brainy, psychological thrillers, this one is for you.

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Branden Jacobs Jenkins, American Genius.  His latest play, “Everybody” is at the Signature Theater in NYC.  Go see it.  And read this review in the New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/06/branden-jacobs-jenkins-from-the-heart

[quotes-for-reference]

A library at night is full of sounds; the unread books can’t stand it any longer and announce their contents, some boasting, some shy, some devious.

What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, Helen Oyeyemi (via quotes-for-reference)

[tayarijones]

"When you get too big to do the little things, you are too little to do the big things." -- Elisabeth Omilami » bit.ly/2lZW6YC

[penamerican]

“Citizenship is an act of the imagination.” —Teju Cole

Read an excerpt from Teju Cole’s essay collection Known and Strange Things, a finalist for the 2017 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. This annual award is conferred on a book that is groundbreaking, and that signals strong potential for lasting influence.

Stay tuned for the winner’s announcement, which will take place live at the 2017 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on March 27.

[cartermagazine]

Today In History We Honor Beah Richards

‘Beah Richards, a strong fiercely political, poet, playwright, actress, author and powerful Black woman. Richards received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Sidney Poitier’s mother in the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.’

(photo: Beah Richards)

- CARTER Magazine

[tayarijones]

Happy Birthday, Ralph Ellison, born  March 4, 1913.