Review: Posada-Offerings of Witness and Refuge by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

In the four sections of her first poetry collection, Posada- Offerings of Witness and Refuge, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo takes us with her through the multiple, imaginative and too real border spaces of migration, language and belonging. In the first part, she goes on a journey of remembering, collecting and reconstructing her family's history. Starting with the stolen metate they brought from  Teocaltiche, Bermejo...

Thoughts: Gabi, A Girl in Pieces #HHM

Gabi has a lot on her plate. It's her last year of high school but apart from classes and college applications, she also has to deal with a father who is fighting a losing battle with meth addiction, her friend Cindy getting pregnant (as a result of date rape, we learn later), her other best...

Women of Color & Horror: 10 On My TBR

It's September and for me finally the beginning of the creepy season, huzzah! I'll just ignore that last small heat wave this week, go away please summer, I have my tea and candles and creepy reads ready! I have a lot of books on my tbr that fall under speculative, horror and mystery, but I'm...

Review: What Sunny Saw in the Flames

What Sunny Saw In The Flames, previously published in the US as Akata Witch, is one of the books by one of my favorite writers that I hadn't read yet. Published by Cassava Republic, the book is out in the UK now! So run to the nearest bookstore! What Sunny Saw is a wonderful tale...

Review: Yetunde + Author Interview

Remember that I wanted to try to read some works of self-published writers and make sure these writers knew they would get the same chance at reviews here as traditionally published authors? Well, here we are! 🙂 Also, make sure to scroll down to the author's interview after the review! Yetunde by Segilola Salami is...

Thoughts: Malice in Ovenland Vol.1

In middle school, I was one of those kids going through all the adventure books the library had to offer. From the The Famous Five to kid detectives to opening that wardrobe, I loved it all and then had fun with my friends digging holes, running away from imaginary bad guys and hidden doorways. After that,...

Diversity & Nonfiction: Writers of Color as Experts

So here's something I've been mulling over recently: Where are the writers of color in non-fiction? Sure, you might argue that there's a lot of nonfiction available written by people of color, just look at Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and Between the World and Me or Just Mercy. These works are - very...

Thoughts: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

In a tragic incident, a woman and her three young children fall from the roof of a high building in Chicago. 11 year old Rachel is the only one to survive. Heidi W. Durrow's debut novel examines Blackness, biraciality and belonging in the context of the US during the 1980s. After the fall Rachel, the...

Building an Archive: The #DiverseBookBloggers Directory

More exciting #DiverseBookBloggers news: We now have a directory up and running! It's still a work in progress but please stop by and if you're a diverse book blogger make sure to add your blog! And send me a photo of your header for example if you'd like one included. Also, we have badges! Stop...

Thoughts: Coffee Will Make You Black

April Sinclair's Coffee Will Make You Black is the coming-of-age story of young Jean "Stevie" Stevenson who grows up in the Chicago Southside of the 1960s, in the midst of the Black Power and Civil Rights movements. As a bildungsroman, the novel follows Stevie from age eleven until seventeen and her journey of self-discovery  as well...