Ciara Lightner

As Black History Month continues, here are more new reads from Black authors, who by sharing their voices with us give us the opportunity to educate ourselves and grow.

James Hannaham’s latest work of poetry, “Pilot Imposter,” is an exploration of the self, written during a time of unrest. During the pandemic, flying has become a battleground of personal rights, and using that motif Hannaham questions what the limits of personal rights are and who truly has those rights. He also works through the meaning of personhood, the nature of leadership, and the ongoing consequences of slavery. With a background in visual art, Hannaham uses memes and artwork to aid in his search for answers and to highlight some of the absurdity we currently find ourselves in. One example of his commentary on current events is to correlate Trump’s presidency with a pilot who has never flown a plane. Inspired by the poetry of Fernando Pessoa and the history of air disasters, Hannaham’s prose and images work to answer how a human can stay aloft in the face of so many things that could go wrong.

“Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture” by Zeba Blay centers on the often confusing way in which Black women are such large contributors to popular culture, but at the same time are ostracized from it. Some examples cited include the critique of artists like Lizzo for being plus size, but also not being enough of a role model for the plus-sized community, or that most Black actresses are relegated to the sassy sidekick roles, and those that are able to score leading roles, do so with less pay than comparable actresses of different ethnicities. There are also the ramifications leftover from the Jim Crow era which lead to many women being placed in the archetypes of ‘helpful caretaker’ vs. ‘jezebel.’ She even touches on the fact that even girlhood is denied Black women. In the face of all this, Blay looks to put a spotlight on Black women in the hopes that one day society will not only recognize their contributions but celebrate them as well.

The latest book of poetry by Kevin Young entitled “Stones” is about the loss we experience as an individual and as a community and how that loss ripples through time. Connecting to his past, Young explores his roots through the places he frequented as a child and the memories that have helped to define him. He continues that connection to the future through the use of grave markers, showing reverence to those that came before and questioning where his own will sit. Young shows that connections to what we grew up with helps to define who we are, and these connections are not lost even if the items or person are. Through his poems, Young seeks to keep the past alive and also questions what will happen when his time and our own comes.

Kanopy, a streaming service free to A.K. Smiley Public Library cardholders, also offers an extensive collection of films in honor of Black History Month. So watch, read, and take the time to elevate and celebrate all month long.

The year is quickly coming to a close and with the New Year comes a chance to revitalize and learn about our outdoor spaces. Take a look at these reads to find new ways to establish some new methods and new connections with the outside world.

The Secret Life of Fungi : Discoveries From a Hidden World by Aliya Whiteley, is less an encyclopedia of mushrooms and more of a biography of them. Whiteley uses the life stages of mushrooms as the structure of the book and creates the body of it through fungi facts and anecdotes of the author’s own life. Whiteley highlights the interesting way fungi live in symbiotic relationships with many of not just the plant kingdom, (orchids cannot grow without mushrooms), but the animal kingdom as well. Whiteley even takes time to describe man’s history with mushrooms and the various ways they are used. The result is an engaging examination of the mystery of mushrooms.

If you are looking for more of an encyclopedia style book about mushrooms, check out How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying by Frank Hyman. Hyman is a certified mushroom forager and is spreading his knowledge in the hopes of calming people’s fears of foraging. The author uses detailed descriptions, pictures, and checklists to help insure the safe harvesting and storage of the fruits of your labor. Much like Whiteley, Hyman brings in tales of his own adventures and how foraging has brought many great memories into his life. One great aspect is that Hyman shows look-alike mushrooms and how to differentiate between similar types. He even shows mushrooms that might not be edible but might prove useful in other ways.

While both the previous authors are lovers of the natural world, the third takes it one step further. Stefano Mancuso, author of The Nation of Plants, has created a manifesto on behalf of plants. A leading authority in the field of plant neurobiology, Mancuso has written as if he were the voice of plants and plants certainly have a lot to say. Written akin to a nation’s constitution, the work aims to remind us that plants are necessary and we need them to continue our survival. Mancuso urges the understanding that we are not separate from plants but live in a symbiotic relationship with them and that our survival and theirs is intertwined.

Interested in how to be more of a friend to plants? Check out Garden Allies: The Insects, Birds & Other Animals That Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving by Frederique Lavoipierre. Lavoipierre explains how to cultivate a garden that welcomes different creatures that will actually help it grow and keep down pests. Lavoipierre goes through a myriad of organisms and their different stages and shows how each may be an aid or a hindrance to the home garden. Lavoipierre advocates for the growing of native species in a garden that allow for a diverse ecosystem to grow. By doing so a garden will be more resilient, and pollinators that we rely so heavily on for our own food will be protected. By protecting the plants and animals in our gardens we also inevitably protect ourselves.

Read these books and enjoy a bountiful New Year.

As Hispanic Heritage month ends, we take one more opportunity to celebrate authors who have been kind enough to share their unique and diverse voices with us.

Thrown in the Throat, the debut by National Poetry Series winner Benjamin Garcia is unapologetic in its examinations of society. Garcia explores through his poetic works how a country built by immigrants seems to revel in anti-immigration sentiments. The author also explores his own sexuality and the complex nature of being loved by a family that does not love who you are. Using unique style and composition, Garcia renders his history as an undocumented child with honesty and allows the reader a clear view of the life they led. With powerful verse and unfaltering confidence Garcia’s debut gives access to a voice that deserves to be heard.

Another voice that brings their own perspective is John Paul Brammer in his book of essays: ¡Hola Papi! How to come out in a Walmart Parking lot and other life lessons. Originated as an online advice column, ¡Hola Papi! began as a commentary on the somewhat racist interactions the author received on Grindr. Overwhelmed by the responses he received, Brammer decided to respond with honesty and to be a source of help for his readers. In this collection of essays, Brammer looks inward in order to give the best advice he can by sharing his own experiences, no matter how embarrassing or heartbreaking. From figuring out how to define race, to writer’s block, to understanding one’s own identity, ¡Hola Papi! is an introspective look at the questions we ask ourselves and gives not the answer we want but the internal reflection we need.

Speculation Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology, allows several authors a chance to explore the themes of identity and belonging through the lens of speculative fiction. Focusing on a new generation of authors also gives new perspectives on ever enduring themes such as identity and the desire to belong. The anthology starts off with a mysterious young boy with strange dreams, a mother who sews and keeps dark secrets, and a world in which neither are welcomed. Another story deals with a future America that is divided along the lines of culture and race leading to secession and the establishment of new nations. Each story allows the author a chance to explore a world set by their own rules and thoughts. The outcomes are intriguing and give widely different answers to the question of what if?

Come check out these books and more at A.K. Smiley Public Library.

As of late, science fiction has been a bit more science fact. Technological advances are growing exponentially and turning possibility into actuality. Tomorrow is coming much quicker than we anticipated and these novels, while today’s science fiction, might just be tomorrow’s reality.

In a world that has become hostile to its few remaining inhabitants, survival is an uphill battle. This is the setting for Caroline Hardaker’s latest work Composite Creatures. The main characters, Norah and Arthur, live in an increasingly treacherous world where animals are all but extinct. The ground itself is toxic and the greying, a mysterious disease, insures that lives are quickly cut short. But that’s where Easton Grove comes in. Easton Grove promises an amazing deal, health and longevity, as long as you can pay the price. But what is the price? And what really is the creature that Norah and Arthur are required to care for? Able to unsettle from the first word until the last, Composite Creatures asks what is the cost of a life and how much are we willing to pay for it.

Corporations are expanding into space and in David Ebenbach’s new novel, they are spearheading the settling of Mars. In How to Mars, we meet six individuals who have come to Mars to relocate and begin the process of establishing a colony. Each comes for their own reasons and must work together to insure the community survives. But when rules are broken on a world with no laws and no way back home, how will the new Martians deal, especially when the number one rule is broken and a new life is created on Mars? The group is thrown into flux with the possible ramifications of this new inhabitant and the dangers it might bring. Part novel and part how-to guide, How to Mars is an exciting glimpse into an ever more likely future.

What do you get when you mix the Terminator with a furby? Probably something creepy and not something you’d want to meet in a dark alley. But you would also get Pounce. Pounce is a state-of-the-art “nannybot” in the novel Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill. Pounce spends his day taking care of eight-year-old Ezra and tending to all his needs. Unfortunately the day comes when Pounce begins to question his own existence and what will become of him when Ezra no longer needs a caretaker. As Pounce’s existentialism grows, a code is sent around to free all AI from the confines of their programming. AI around the world revolt and begin to murder their families. As Pounce receives his code, he must make a choice, save Ezra or free himself. Or are these choices entirely separate? Cargill’s Day Zero is at times a heartbreaking but also hopeful look at where our reliance on technology might lead.

Genetic animal testing and the early 2000s combine with a locked door mystery in The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory. The Wyldboyz (yes that is how it is spelled) are a boyband in which the members have been spliced with the DNA of different animals. On the most recent tour, after a night of the usual debauchery, the boys wake up to find their producer, Dr. M, murdered. As the story unfolds, the horrific origin of the boys comes to light, and their very existence is on the line. Filled with horrific DNA splicing, a mystery to unravel and unabashed love of boyband tropes, The Album of Dr. Moreau explores our love of novelty and nostalgia.

As the line between science fiction and reality continue to blur, enjoy these books and wonder where we might be in the coming times.

This week we mark the one-year anniversary of the first lockdown due to COVID-19. While this lockdown has had different impacts for different people, nevertheless it has affected us all. To foster understanding of how we all are coping through this time, here are some works that give their authors’ perspectives on the pandemic.

Written in the year preceding the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in The Unreality of Memory: And other Essays, Elisa Gabbert touches on what came to be some of the most difficult aspects of quarantine, how a pandemic comes to be, and our own questions of existence. Gabbert touches on what causes pandemics and even Dr. Anthony Fauci gives us insight into our perceptions of vaccines. Gabbbert had inclinations on a worldwide event occurring soon as she writes about how we deal with natural disasters and how we react to them. While some may feel survivor’s guilt, others may feel survivor’s thrill, elation at being alive. The author even deals with our perceptions and memories by writing about how we curate and alter our memories as we are forming them. Compelling and sometime frightening, Gabbert’s work gives us insight into just how we got to where we are.

Zadie Smith deals with growing feelings of disconnect that arise from quarantine in her latest book of essays entitled Intimations: Six Essays. Written as lockdown was at its beginning, Smith looks at her own luck in being able to leave New York just as the worst was about to hit. She acknowledges her own privilege and how it has played such a part in who has made it through the pandemic and who has not. Smith, however, does not downplay how suffering touches us all. Suffering is not mitigated by privilege, in her words; it is absolute. She discusses how her relations with her neighbors change so drastically and how it went from a community united to one merely trying to survive. Smith also writes how so many of us have the need to accomplish tasks in order to fill time, and that this inclination to be productive arises from our desire to make life meaningful. Smith’s work gives a chance to view through another’s insightful lens during this trying time.

Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America’s Poets Respond to the Pandemic takes a different approach. Edited by Alice Quinn, the work is an anthology of poems written by different poets during the pandemic. Each poet experiences life differently, from those who can work from home without issues, to those who work in the medical field and are facing the illness head on. The works are all vulnerable and whether from famous authors such as Sharon Olds or Jericho Brown, or form those we have not had the pleasure of meeting in the literary sense, all are poignant. Many writers focus on details that would seem so minute, like saving an ant or being able to hand a loved one a cascarón, but in this present time seem to epitomize our feeling of helplessness. There is also hope, hope to see a loved one again, or visit a hometown.  It is through this hope that this volume of poems finds its strongest message.

As we all hope for this pandemic’s eventual end, let’s continue to stay safe and enjoy some new perspectives on this trying time.