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Capping Off a Winning Week, Amanda Gorman's First 3 Books Have Preemptively Garnered a Million First Prints
Ask any author or publisher, and they’ll tell you that garnering enough demand for reprints of any book is a very good sign. With that in mind, a million prints ordered prior to publication is a very rare indication of a predicted hit. After her performance at last Wednesday’s inauguration, Amanda Gorman’s publisher Penguin Random…
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A New Era for a Modern Museum: The Guggenheim Names Naomi Beckwith Its New Deputy Director and Chief Curator
For 84 years, New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has represented the vanguard of modern art, an early champion of artists today, its nautilus shell-inspired structure houses artworks from generations of the world’s most visionary and experimental artists. Yet like many fine arts museums, for decades, the Guggenheim’s iconic spiral of galleries have proved a…
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'Suddenly, You See the Story More Clearly': The Root Presents: It's Lit Talks Transcendent Writing With Yaa Gyasi
“I always say, writing a first novel, you feel like you’re writing in the dark, unsure of whether or not your book will ever see the light of day,” says author Yaa Gyasi, who has written not one but two bestsellers since 2016, when her debut novel Homegoing was published by Penguin Random House. An…
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Got 99 Problems, but a Book Ain't One: Jay-Z's Roc Nation and Random House to Launch 'Roc Lit 101'
If the ongoing pandemic has reignited your passion for reading (or simply deepened it), say no more, Fam. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter has already Decoded his lyrics in book form, but now, the company he founded will add to its (and his) multimedia entertainment empire, announcing a new publishing partnership with Random House, a division of…
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'We're Not Some New Anomaly': The Root Presents It's Lit Talks Purpose, Process and Pronouns With George M. Johnson
When The Root first spoke to George M. Johnson (one of our longtime contributors) just ahead of the release of their debut book, All Boy Aren’t Blue: A Memoir Manifesto, we had a feeling they were on the cusp of something groundbreaking. Borne from their own reflections on growing up without the language and representation…
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Deana Lawson Is the 1st Photographer to Win the Guggenheim's Hugo Boss Prize
She was a member of the 2018 class of The Root 100, and now, photographer Deana Lawson is the winner of the Hugo Boss Prize 2020, the biennial award made possible by the luxury fashion label and administered by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation “to recognize significant achievement in contemporary art,” according to a release.…
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Gala Goes Virtual: Beyoncé, Solange, Jay-Z, Megan Thee Stallion and More to Appear at WACO Theater Center's Virtual Celebration
Did you miss the stylish spectacle of the Wearable Art Gala this year? Are you quietly a fan of “Ms. Tina’s Corny Jokes”? Want to see how much Blue Ivy’s art allowance increased this year? If you answered yes to any of the above, you’ll want to tune into the WACO Theater Center’s Virtual Celebration…
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Reclaiming Our Sourdough Starter: 'Rage Baking' Began With a Black Woman—and Right Now, We Want It Back
A twisted tale only recently came to our attention, but feels especially relevant today as Paula Deen and her loyal following celebrate her new weekly Fox & Friends’ segment, “America Cooks Together”—you know, because Paula Deen is such a great American unifier. But we promised you a story, so here it goes, albeit a couple…
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May Is Mental Health Awareness Month. You Hanging in There?
How you doin’, fam? Obviously, as of late, we’ve been talking a lot about health here at The Root. As the world—and the United States, in particular—faces an unprecedented health crisis in the outbreak of COVID-19, our concerns have largely been focused upon the physical aspects of the coronavirus; how to avoid it, combat it,…
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VSB's Damon Young Wins Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Award for What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
What’s more exciting than any work of fiction? The news that one of our favorite essayists, colleagues and play cousins is being recognized for his brilliance! As reported by Publishers Weekly (and our work Slack), Damon Young’s debut book of essays, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, was recently named the nonfiction winner of…
