Since elementary school, I always loved to read and write in my free time and always had my nose in a book. In fact, my mom would have to wrestle my book and flashlight out of my hands whenever she would catch me reading under the covers at night. As I grew older, books and stories continued to remain an important part of my life but fell to the backburner as other academic and cocurricular pursuits took my time. Read more →

By Samira K. Mehta | Since Kamala Harris has become the Democratic candidate for president, her multiracial identity has returned to the news. Harris is the child of a Black Jamaican father and a South Asian mother. You can read that heritage as multiracial, as we are increasingly inclined to do now, but for most of American history, Harris would have been read more or less exclusively as Black. Vice-President Harris has explained that her mother knew this aspect of American race relations, and so she understood that Kamala and her sister Maya would be seen as Black girls and then as Black women. She is a Black woman, a graduate of Howard University. That said, she is Black with South Asian heritage, a multiracial presidential candidate in an increasingly multiracial world. Read more →

A Q&A with Lisa Mueller | Readers will discover that the evidence-based approach that has powered remarkable breakthroughs in medicine, elections, economic development, and other high-stakes endeavors can apply to protests and social movements, too. Activism often feels very emotional, but it can be strategic at the same time. If we want our activism to really improve the world, we should consider which strategies are most likely to produce the desired results, not just those that feel right in the moment. Read more →

As many in publishing would understand, I’m a hopeless bibliophile. My TBR is mountainous, and when I’m not reading, I’m glued to podcasts or YouTube videos about books—and trying my valiant best to persuade friends and family to give my newest hyperfixation read a shot (currently: “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach). Read more →

Like so many people who work with books, I love to read! Reading has always been a massive part of my life—I remember getting in trouble for reading my book during math class in fifth grade—but connecting people with the books I thought they needed felt just as important as reading for myself. As I got older, I started to do political organizing work around prison closure and abolition. In doing this work and speaking to and learning alongside people in prison, it became all the more essential that books reach the people who need them. Read more →

By Christian Coleman | Normally, we could keep our cool, but this season we’re wilding in a dangerous mood. Can you match our timing? Because we’re in a dangerous mood for some summer reading. These titles from our catalog will make you sweat, make you hotter, make you lose your breath, make you water. They will blow your mind! Hopefully, you can last the whole season. Read more →