by Iris
When we shared our blog post about the discomfort surrounding that “American” in our name on social media, many followers quickly pointed out that technically, America is much more than just the USA. And they’re right, of course, even if in our case it does refer to that specific country. Not because we are “funded by the United States” or owe any particular allegiance to it, as some random keyboard warrior immediately asserted in our social media comments, but simply because our founders happened to be American. Anyway, read the original post for more on that!
To showcase the incredible diversity of the American continent and all its many countries, we’re now bringing you the third part of this series about books from the Americas. In highlighting works from an array of authors, places, languages, and backgrounds, we hope to inspire you to expand your literary horizons. You can check out the previous installments here!
Putting Myself Together by Jamaica Kincaid
“This blazing collection of essays and articles shows how this witty and fearless writer became one of the most remarkable and influential voices of a generation.”
The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
“This lyrical novel of community, betrayal, and love centers on two sisters who are exiled from Brooklyn to their unforgettable matriarchal family in Barbados.”
The Boy Kingdom / El Reino de los Varones by Achy Obejas
“These 44 prose poems, artful yet accessible, presented in both Spanish and English versions, immerse us in the boy kingdom that Achy Obejas inhabits with her two sons.”
Visitations by Julia Alvarez
“Told with a storyteller’s intimacy and the comfort of a warm hearth, this is a master writer’s reflection on family, aging, love, the body, having a voice, and the very act of composing poetry itself, experienced across the arc of decades.”
Omeros by Derek Walcott
“With circular narrative design, meros simultaneously charts two currents of history: the visible history charted in events – the tribal losses of the American Indian, the tragedy of African enslavement – and the interior, unwritten epic fashioned from the suffering of the individual in exile.”
The World So Wide by Zilla Jones
“A nimble, clear-seeing portrait of a generation’s inheritances preceding and extending from the Grenada Revolution. This is Jones’ beautiful, musical, astute, and richly earned entrance into the tome of vital Caribbean diasporic literature.”
Shame on Me by Tessa McWatt
“In this deeply personal reckoning with race and belonging, Tessa interweaves her own experiences as a mixed-race woman with a stark and unvarnished history of slavery and indenture.”
What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy
“Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined, and deeply haunting, this is a singular, stunning record, a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit.”
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
“Over the course of a single day in New York City, two teenagers—one about to be deported to Jamaica—randomly meet and fall in love.”
Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin
“Ranging in style from contemporary realism to dystopia, from futuristic fantasy to historical fiction, this inventive, shape-shifting braid of stories exists far beyond the enclosures of official decrees.”
Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo
“Set against the backdrop of a politically exciting time in Trinidad’s history, the reader becomes both a witness to and a participant in a young girl’s negotiations of an unexpectedly new and complex life.”
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
“Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.”
