• #Repost @literaryfreedomproject with @get_repost ・・・ The #CasitaMariaBookClub and #OneBookOneBronx read Locked Gray / Linked Blue by Kem Joy Ukwu DISCUSSION SCHEDULE: Wednesdays 7pm July 15, 22, 29, Aug 5 & Aug 12. #KemJoyUkwu will join the Zoom conversation on Aug 12. Family dynamics, bad romance, work, and money haunt the New Yorkers in these stories as they nevertheless triumph. A sister is faced with the individual, human reality of family separation; a daughter navigates her difficult mother’s wedding-day crisis; an unexpected proposal from a neighbor represents hope and resignation in equal measure. These stories invite readers into the most private of hearts with clear, forceful, and memorable prose. Ukwu wields the constraints of the short story as if she had invented them expressly to connect us to each other. Born and raised in the Bronx, Kem Joy Ukwu’s Locked Gray / Linked Blue, was named as a finalist for the 2016 New American Fiction Prize. #lockedgray #bronxwriters #bronxreaders @casitamariabx @brainmillpress
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    #Repost @literaryfreedomproject with @get_repost ・・・ The #CasitaMariaBookClub and #OneBookOneBronx read Locked Gray / Linked Blue by Kem Joy Ukwu DISCUSSION SCHEDULE: Wednesdays 7pm July 15, 22, 29, Aug 5 & Aug 12. #KemJoyUkwu will join the Zoom conversation on Aug 12. Family dynamics, bad romance, work, and money haunt the New Yorkers in these stories as they nevertheless triumph. A sister is faced with the individual, human reality of family separation; a daughter navigates her difficult mother’s wedding-day crisis; an unexpected proposal from a neighbor represents hope and resignation in equal measure. These stories invite readers into the most private of hearts with clear, forceful, and memorable prose. Ukwu wields the constraints of the short story as if she had invented them expressly to connect us to each other. Born and raised in the Bronx, Kem Joy Ukwu’s Locked Gray / Linked Blue, was named as a finalist for the 2016 New American Fiction Prize. #lockedgray #bronxwriters #bronxreaders @casitamariabx @brainmillpress
  • “It was three years since Ilana had joined the resistance. She stood at the center of the encampment, before her commander listening with rapt attention. Ilana cut a wiry, slyphic figure, her raven-black hair braided with crystal beads and freshwater pearls, her jaw stubbornly set, arms folded across her chest.” — Mihka Emani THE MEADOW #yalit #yafantasy #metaphysicalfantasy #weneeddiversebooks #fantasybooks #yabooks #yafantasybooks #yafantasyauthor #blackyaauthors #blackauthors #mihkaemani #brainmillpress #blacklivesmatter
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    “It was three years since Ilana had joined the resistance. She stood at the center of the encampment, before her commander listening with rapt attention. Ilana cut a wiry, slyphic figure, her raven-black hair braided with crystal beads and freshwater pearls, her jaw stubbornly set, arms folded across her chest.” — Mihka Emani THE MEADOW #yalit #yafantasy #metaphysicalfantasy #weneeddiversebooks #fantasybooks #yabooks #yafantasybooks #yafantasyauthor #blackyaauthors #blackauthors #mihkaemani #brainmillpress #blacklivesmatter
  • “She says that life is not about how you fall, it’s how you get up, time and time again, it’s about how you get up. And what don’t kill you, will only make you stronger, my love, what don’t kill you, only makes you stronger. So she gives everyone a chance and a second chance. And she says you’re welcome, come again, just remember to wipe your feet and use a coaster for your glass of beer. But the truth is, she shows you her hand, she plays life so open, it is impossible not to see her cards, to cheat her and beat her.” —Salena Godden, “blue cornflowers”
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    “She says that life is not about how you fall, it’s how you get up, time and time again, it’s about how you get up. And what don’t kill you, will only make you stronger, my love, what don’t kill you, only makes you stronger. So she gives everyone a chance and a second chance. And she says you’re welcome, come again, just remember to wipe your feet and use a coaster for your glass of beer. But the truth is, she shows you her hand, she plays life so open, it is impossible not to see her cards, to cheat her and beat her.” —Salena Godden, “blue cornflowers”
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  • “They got in their wagon & said: take care of this until we get back. Which is the only way, they say, a man like B could get a house with so many grand pitches in every floor. They say, blacks weren’t meant to look down from a height. Except, B did. So you start to think of the land as his book. He wrote what he wished.” #poetry #poetryofinstagram #blackpoets #blackgenealogy #kikipetrosino #brainmillpress #blacklivesmatter
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    “They got in their wagon & said: take care of this until we get back. Which is the only way, they say, a man like B could get a house with so many grand pitches in every floor. They say, blacks weren’t meant to look down from a height. Except, B did. So you start to think of the land as his book. He wrote what he wished.” #poetry #poetryofinstagram #blackpoets #blackgenealogy #kikipetrosino #brainmillpress #blacklivesmatter
  • “Hotlanta was finally an appropriate name, Apollo thought, swinging his dangling feet over a charred Honda Civic that he’d repurposed as a throne. The street was empty, devoid of traffic and life. Apollo sat calmly as giant flames snakes around buildings, producing spires of smoke that choked the sky, Towers of Babel spreading the new universal language of birth and revolution. He’d really burned it all down. All the bullshit. All the corporatism. All the opportunism. All the wires and wiretaps. Welcome to Atlanta.” #fiction #bookstagram #atlanta #blackauthors #literarythriller #musicbooks #gentrification #confederatemonumentshavegottogo #brainmillpress #stephenkearse #blacklivesmatter
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    “Hotlanta was finally an appropriate name, Apollo thought, swinging his dangling feet over a charred Honda Civic that he’d repurposed as a throne. The street was empty, devoid of traffic and life. Apollo sat calmly as giant flames snakes around buildings, producing spires of smoke that choked the sky, Towers of Babel spreading the new universal language of birth and revolution. He’d really burned it all down. All the bullshit. All the corporatism. All the opportunism. All the wires and wiretaps. Welcome to Atlanta.” #fiction #bookstagram #atlanta #blackauthors #literarythriller #musicbooks #gentrification #confederatemonumentshavegottogo #brainmillpress #stephenkearse #blacklivesmatter