black writers
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Marvel Studios Is Seeking Black Writers for Blade, Starring Mahershala Ali
Last summer, Marvel Studios announced the lead of its upcoming Blade reboot and everyone collectively lost their shit with excitement because that person is Mahershala Ali. According to some insider sources, Blade is expected to premiere sometime in the fall of 2022, but with coronavirus-based delays, who knows if that’s solid. For now, though, the…
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The Home of Celebrated Poet Lucille Clifton Will Become a Creative Haven in Baltimore
The opening lines of one of Lucille Clifton’s best-known poems read: “Won’t you celebrate with me, what I have shaped into a kind of life? I had no model.” In life, Clifton was a prolific poet and children’s book author who, after being brought to national attention by the likes of Langston Hughes and Ishmael…
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'We Could All Serve to Be Less Patient Black People': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Talks About Race With Ijeoma Oluo
Triumph amid tragedy is always bittersweet—a unique type of survivor’s guilt many of us have become all too familiar with in recent months, as we reconcile profound loss with the rare but very bright spots that have occurred during this incredibly devastating year. It’s a dichotomy bestselling author and 2017 and 2018 The Root 100…
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Let It Rip: This Self-Help Book Is Designed for You to Literally Tear It Up and Feel Good About It
Nicole Russell discovered the power of paper tearing by serendipitous accident. A few years ago, when her younger sister was hurt and angry and needed a healthy way to vent, Russell told her to write down her feelings, empty out everything that was making her upset, and then rip up the page. The suggestion was…
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Here’s an Exclusive Excerpt of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Newest Fiction (You’re Welcome!)
For Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie fans, it’s been a long seven years since Americanah, her last novel, and winner of the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. She’s been active on Instagram and it’s always a joy to revisit her catalog of beautiful writing—Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, The Thing Around Your…
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'We Can't Do This Thing by Ourselves': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Talks Justice With Claudia Rankine
There is the multiverse, and then, there are the multi-versed; award-winning poet, playwright, author, editor, and artist Claudia Rankine, is undoubtedly one of the latter. With seven books, several plays, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, United States Artists, and the National Endowment of the Arts, Rankine, the Frederick…
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Your Library Needs These 5 Books by and About Powerful Black Women
There are books that make you feel great admiration for a woman’s work, books that spark the impetus to tackle an issue, and books that do both. This is a list of those books, written by women who have used their careers, voices and lives to elevate the greater good of all of us. Reclaiming…
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'Our Ancestors Cannot Be Flattened': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Wanders in Strange Lands With Morgan Jerkins
Her first book may have been her “undoing,” but journalist and author Morgan Jerkins’ second offering, Wandering in Strange Lands (HarperCollins), is a homecoming. Taking a detour from the “hot-takes” upon which she built her career and the provocative personal essays that comprised her bestselling debut, This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins retraced the steps…
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Mariah Carey's Latest No. 1? Her Bestselling Memoir
She’s the songbird with the voice that gives us butterflies, but Mariah Carey’s latest hit is of the literary variety: Her recently released and much-buzzed-about memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, is No. 1 for nonfiction on the New York’s Times Bestsellers Print Hardcover list. The news broke on Wednesday night (when many of us…