February is Black History and Futures Month! This month is dedicated to centering and honouring Black experiences and excellence— in hopes of inspiring engagement going all year long! In this spirit, we’ve collected this list of recent books, published in BC, that feature Black voices and stories.
Find children’s books, poetry, Vancouver history and more on this list that celebrates diverse perspectives and subjects.
Poetry
allostatic load by Junie Désil (Talonbooks)
From the publisher: “allostatic load navigates the racialized interplay of chronic wear and tear during tumultuous years marked by global racial tensions, an ongoing pandemic, the commodification of care, and the burden of systemic injustice. Moving between diaristic intimacy and the remove of news reportage, Désil’s second poetry collection invites readers to hold the vulnerability and resilience required to navigate deep healing in a world that does not wish you well, in a world that is inflamed and consequently inflames us, in a world where true restoration and health must co-occur with the planet and with each other.”
Coming soon! April 15, 2025
Crowd Source by Cecily Nicholson (Talonbooks)
From the publisher: “Crowd Source parallels the daily migration of the crows who, aside from fledgling season, fly across metro Vancouver every day at dawn and dusk… Attentive to the great intelligence and perspectives of corvid and non-human communications, the poems in Crowd Source engage historical and strategic examples of how these songbirds gather and disperse. Continuing Nicholson’s engagement with the contemporary climate crisis, social movements, and Black diasporic relations, this is a text for all concerned about practising ecological futurities befitting corvid sensibilities, caw.”
Coming soon! April 1, 2025
The Gospel of Breaking by Jillian Christmas (Arsenal Pulp Press)
From the publisher: “In The Gospel of Breaking, Jillian Christmas confirms what followers of her performance and artistic curation have long known: there is magic in her words. Befitting someone who “speaks things into being,” Christmas extracts from family history, queer lineage, and the political landscape of a racialized life to create a rich, softly defiant collection of poems.”
Out now!
How She Read by Chantal Gibson (Caitlin Press)
From the publisher: “How She Read is a collection of genre-blurring poems about the representation of Black women, their hearts, minds and bodies, across the Canadian cultural imagination.
Drawing from grade-school vocabulary spellers, literature, history, art, media and pop culture, Chantal Gibson’s sassy semiotics highlight the depth and duration of the imperialist ideas embedded in everyday things, from storybooks to coloured pencils, from paintings to postage stamps.”
Out now!
For Kids
Anna Carries Water by Olive Senior, illustrated by Laura James (Tradewind Books)
From the publisher: “Anna fetches water from the spring every day, but she can’t carry it on her head like her older brothers and sisters. In this charming and poetic family story set in Jamaica, Commonwealth Prize-winning author Olive Senior shows young readers the power of determination, as Anna achieves her goal and overcomes her fear.”
Out now!
The Antiracist Kitchen by Nadia Hohn (Orca Book Publishers)
From the publisher: “What if talking about racism was as easy as baking a cake, frying plantains or cooking rice? The Antiracist Kitchen: 21 Stories (and Recipes) is a celebration of food, family, activism and resistance in the face of racism. In this anthology featuring stories and recipes from 21 diverse and award-winning North American children’s authors, the authors share the role of food in their lives and how it has helped fight discrimination, reclaim culture and celebrate people with different backgrounds.”
Out now!
Just Kickin’ It by Julie Thompson (Orca Book Publishers)
From the publisher: “After his parents were killed in an accident three years ago, Jesse went to live with his grandfather, and it wasn’t long before the insurance money ran out. That meant no money for new threads or fresh kicks. Now with summer in swing, Jesse has been saving for new sneakers. He’ll finally be able to keep up with the rest of the kids at his school… But then his grandpa’s WiFi is cut off and Jesse has to hand over his savings to pay the bill. It looks like Jesse’s plan for new shoes is trashed. That’s until nineteen-year-old smooth-talking Derick rolls into town… Derick shows the boys there’s more than one way to get what you want. And Jesse must decide how much he is willing to pay.”
Coming soon! February 11, 2025
Stories
Perfect Little Angels by Vincent Anioke (Arsenal Pulp Press)
From the publisher: “In this stunning debut story collection set largely in Nigeria, questions abound: What happens when we fall short of society’s – and our own – expectations? When our personal desires conflict with the duties we are bound to? The characters in Perfect Little Angels confront these dilemmas and more in these brilliantly imagined tales.”
Out now!
Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi (Arsenal Pulp Press)
From the publisher: “A 2021 Canada Read finalist, this intergenerational saga is about three Nigerian women: a novel about food, family, and forgiveness.
Butter Honey Pig Bread is a story of choices and their consequences, of motherhood, of the malleable line between the spirit and the mind, of finding new homes and mending old ones, of voracious appetites, of queer love, of friendship, faith, and above all, family.”
Out now!
Shut Up You’re Pretty by Tea Mutonji (Arsenal Pulp Press)
A Canada Reads 2024 runner-up!
From the publisher: In Tea Mutonji’s disarming debut story collection, a woman contemplates her Congolese traditions during a family wedding, a teenage girl looks for happiness inside a pack of cigarettes, a mother reconnects with her daughter through their shared interest in fish, and a young woman decides to shave her head in the waiting room of an abortion clinic. These punchy, sharply observed stories blur the lines between longing and choosing, exploring the narrator’s experience as an involuntary one. Tinged with pathos and humour, they interrogate the moments in which femininity, womanness, and identity are not only questioned but also imposed.
Out now!
Nature
Dare to Bird: Exploring the Joy and Healing Power of Birds by Melissa Hafting (Rocky Mountain Books)
“Melissa’s story is one of triumph over a range of adversities. She eloquently demonstrates, through her words and her phenomenal photography in this beautifully designed book, the healing power of birds and birding. Melissa truly is a champion for encouraging more diversity in birding.” —David Lindo, vice-president of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Out now!
History
Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim “Joe” Fortes by Ruby Smith Diaz (Arsenal Pulp Press)
From the publisher: “Searching for Serafim is a layered exploration of the life of Vancouver’s first lifeguard, Serafim “Joe” Fortes. A Trinidad native who arrived on the shores of Canada in 1885, Fortes was heralded as a hero in Vancouver for saving dozens of people from drowning, and his funeral drew the largest crowd ever recorded in the city’s history. Since his passing, Fortes has been commemorated with a Canada Post-issued stamp and local buildings named in his honour. Yet, little has been discussed about how he navigated an openly white supremacist society as an Afro Latino man.”
Out now!
Go Do Some Great Thing by Adam Rudder and Crawford Kilian (Harbour Publishing)
“The revised third edition of Kilian Crawford’s ground-breaking book on BC’s Black pioneers is timely and essential reading. It is a critical corrective to omissions and erasure in both academic histories and in popular understandings, not only of the past but also of the present… Documentary accounts of history like this one will help us better understand the world we inherited in all its complexity. Much work remains to done to recover Black history in BC and to ensure an anti-racist future. Kilian’s book has laid the foundations. It should be in every BC teacher’s repertoire and its gaps should inspire young historians to write the stories still to be told.”
–Georgia Sitara, BC Studies
Out now!