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African American Center Author Talk Booklist

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SFPL_AACL

San Francisco Public Library

Staff-created list

This SFPL booklist was inspired by a reading of novelist, essayist and short story writer Dr. Keenan Norris' latest novel, "The Confession of Copeland Cane". On Saturday, Nov. 6, Dr. Norris was in conversation in the African American Center -3rd Floor of the Main San Francisco Public Library. Link to recorded author talk: https://bit.ly/Keenan_Norris

By:

SFPL_AACL

San Francisco Public Library

20 items

20 items

The Confession of Copeland Cane

The Confession of Copeland Cane

A Novel

by Norris, Keenan

Book - 2021

Norris (Brother and the Dancer) delivers a powerful treatise on the double consciousness of a young Black man in this dystopian look at police oppression ...Show more Norris (Brother and the Dancer) delivers a powerful treatise on the double consciousness of a young Black man in this dystopian look at police oppression and surveillance in the 2030s. Coming of age in East Oakland amid racial terror in the form of televised police brutality and the "Ghetto Flu" (alternately defined as a deadly flu similar to Covid-19 and the myriad challenges faced "due to living in the hood") 18-year-old Cope Cane becomes a fugitive after his role in a protest that turned violent. Show less

Norris (Brother and the Dancer) delivers a powerful treatise on the double consciousness of a young Black man in this dystopian look at police oppression ...Show more Norris (Brother and the Dancer) delivers a powerful treatise on the double consciousness of a young Black man in this dystopian look at police oppression and surveillance in the 2030s. Coming of age in East Oakland amid racial terror in the form of televised police brutality and the "Ghetto Flu" (alternately defined as a deadly flu similar to Covid-19 and the myriad challenges faced "due to living in the hood") 18-year-old Cope Cane becomes a fugitive after his role in a protest that turned violent. Show less

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Sula

Sula

by Morrison, Toni

Book - 1974

This is a sorrowful, touching, sometimes funny tale of two women who share everything as childhood friends in their small, segregated Ohio town, but are later torn apart by the radically different paths they choose to follow. This is a sorrowful, touching, sometimes funny tale of two women who share everything as childhood friends in their small, segregated Ohio town, but are later torn apart by the radically different paths they choose to follow. Show less

This is a sorrowful, touching, sometimes funny tale of two women who share everything as childhood friends in their small, segregated Ohio town, but are later torn apart by the radically different paths they choose to follow. This is a sorrowful, touching, sometimes funny tale of two women who share everything as childhood friends in their small, segregated Ohio town, but are later torn apart by the radically different paths they choose to follow. Show less

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Girl, Woman, Other

Girl, Woman, Other

by Evaristo, Bernardine

Book - 2019

Girl, Woman, Other is a celebration of the diversity of Black British experience. Moving, hopeful, and inventive, this extraordinary novel is a vivid port...Show more Girl, Woman, Other is a celebration of the diversity of Black British experience. Moving, hopeful, and inventive, this extraordinary novel is a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean. Show less

Girl, Woman, Other is a celebration of the diversity of Black British experience. Moving, hopeful, and inventive, this extraordinary novel is a vivid port...Show more Girl, Woman, Other is a celebration of the diversity of Black British experience. Moving, hopeful, and inventive, this extraordinary novel is a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean. Show less

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Survival Math : Notes on An All-American Family

Survival Math : Notes on An All-American Family

by Jackson, Mitchell

Downloadable Audiobook - 2019

With a poet's gifted ear, a novelist's sense of narrative, and a journalist's unsentimental eye, Mitchell S. Jackson candidly explores his tumultuous yout...Show more With a poet's gifted ear, a novelist's sense of narrative, and a journalist's unsentimental eye, Mitchell S. Jackson candidly explores his tumultuous youth in the other America. Survival Math takes its name from the calculations Mitchell and his family made to keep safe--to stay alive--in their community, a small black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon blighted by drugs, violence, poverty, and governmental neglect. Show less

With a poet's gifted ear, a novelist's sense of narrative, and a journalist's unsentimental eye, Mitchell S. Jackson candidly explores his tumultuous yout...Show more With a poet's gifted ear, a novelist's sense of narrative, and a journalist's unsentimental eye, Mitchell S. Jackson candidly explores his tumultuous youth in the other America. Survival Math takes its name from the calculations Mitchell and his family made to keep safe--to stay alive--in their community, a small black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon blighted by drugs, violence, poverty, and governmental neglect. Show less

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Heads of the Colored People

Heads of the Colored People

Stories

by Thompson-Spires, Nafissa

Book - 2018

Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satiric...Show more Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body. Boldly resisting categorization and easy answers, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is an original and necessary voice in contemporary fiction Show less

Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satiric...Show more Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body. Boldly resisting categorization and easy answers, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is an original and necessary voice in contemporary fiction Show less

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Afterparties

Afterparties

Stories

by So, Anthony Veasna

eBook - 2021

A debut story collection about Cambodian-American life-immersive and comic, yet unsparing-that marks the arrival of an indisputable new talent in American fiction A debut story collection about Cambodian-American life-immersive and comic, yet unsparing-that marks the arrival of an indisputable new talent in American fiction Show less

A debut story collection about Cambodian-American life-immersive and comic, yet unsparing-that marks the arrival of an indisputable new talent in American fiction A debut story collection about Cambodian-American life-immersive and comic, yet unsparing-that marks the arrival of an indisputable new talent in American fiction Show less

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Blood Grove

Blood Grove

by Mosley, Walter

Book - 2021

After being approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man, Easy embar...Show more After being approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man, Easy embarks on an investigation that takes him from mountaintops to the desert, through South Central and into sex clubs and the homes of the fabulously wealthy, facing hippies, the mob, and old friends perhaps more dangerous than anyone else. Show less

After being approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man, Easy embar...Show more After being approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man, Easy embarks on an investigation that takes him from mountaintops to the desert, through South Central and into sex clubs and the homes of the fabulously wealthy, facing hippies, the mob, and old friends perhaps more dangerous than anyone else. Show less

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Street Lit

Street Lit

Representing the Urban Landscape

Book - 2014

Over the last few decades, the genre of urban fiction--or street lit--has become increasingly popular as more novels secure a place on bestseller lists th...Show more Over the last few decades, the genre of urban fiction--or street lit--has become increasingly popular as more novels secure a place on bestseller lists that were once the domain of mainstream authors. In the 1970s, pioneers such as Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim, and Claude Brown paved the way for today's street fiction novelists, poets, and short story writers, including Sister Souljah, Kenji Jasper, and Colson Whitehead. In Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape, Keenan Norris has assembled a varied collection of articles, essays, interviews, and poems that capture the spirit of urban fiction and nonfiction produced from the 1950s through the present day. Providing both critical analyses and personal insights, these works explore the street lit phenomenon to help readers understand how and why this once underground genre has become such a vital force in contemporary literature. Show less

Over the last few decades, the genre of urban fiction--or street lit--has become increasingly popular as more novels secure a place on bestseller lists th...Show more Over the last few decades, the genre of urban fiction--or street lit--has become increasingly popular as more novels secure a place on bestseller lists that were once the domain of mainstream authors. In the 1970s, pioneers such as Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim, and Claude Brown paved the way for today's street fiction novelists, poets, and short story writers, including Sister Souljah, Kenji Jasper, and Colson Whitehead. In Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape, Keenan Norris has assembled a varied collection of articles, essays, interviews, and poems that capture the spirit of urban fiction and nonfiction produced from the 1950s through the present day. Providing both critical analyses and personal insights, these works explore the street lit phenomenon to help readers understand how and why this once underground genre has become such a vital force in contemporary literature. Show less

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Dopefiend

Dopefiend

by Goines, Donald

Book - 1991

The true black voice of his generation, Donald Goines wrote novels that nailed the harsh realities of the urban experience deep into the psyche of today's...Show more The true black voice of his generation, Donald Goines wrote novels that nailed the harsh realities of the urban experience deep into the psyche of today's hip hop culture, influencing major artists from Jay-Z and 50 Cent to Nas and Ghostface Killah. Dopefiend is his classic descent into the junkie's harrowing nightmare Show less

The true black voice of his generation, Donald Goines wrote novels that nailed the harsh realities of the urban experience deep into the psyche of today's...Show more The true black voice of his generation, Donald Goines wrote novels that nailed the harsh realities of the urban experience deep into the psyche of today's hip hop culture, influencing major artists from Jay-Z and 50 Cent to Nas and Ghostface Killah. Dopefiend is his classic descent into the junkie's harrowing nightmare Show less

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Dark

Dark

A Novel

by Jasper, Kenji

eBook - 2001

Thai Williams was walking a thin line between his respectable life in Washington, D.C., and his connections with lowlifes, but that line disappears when h...Show more Thai Williams was walking a thin line between his respectable life in Washington, D.C., and his connections with lowlifes, but that line disappears when he commits a murder in a fit of rage and jealousy and then escapes to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he learns of "aspects of life he never dreamed of in his narrow ghetto existence Show less

Thai Williams was walking a thin line between his respectable life in Washington, D.C., and his connections with lowlifes, but that line disappears when h...Show more Thai Williams was walking a thin line between his respectable life in Washington, D.C., and his connections with lowlifes, but that line disappears when he commits a murder in a fit of rage and jealousy and then escapes to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he learns of "aspects of life he never dreamed of in his narrow ghetto existence Show less

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Mumbo Jumbo

Mumbo Jumbo

by Reed, Ishmael

Book - 1978

The classic freewheeling look at race relations through the ages. Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed's brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization...Show more The classic freewheeling look at race relations through the ages. Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed's brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization, a racy and uproarious commentary on our society. In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture. Show less

The classic freewheeling look at race relations through the ages. Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed's brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization...Show more The classic freewheeling look at race relations through the ages. Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed's brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization, a racy and uproarious commentary on our society. In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture. Show less

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The Sellout

The Sellout

by Beatty, Paul

eBook - 2015

A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court Show less

A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court Show less

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Parable of the Sower

Parable of the Sower

by Butler, Octavia E.

eBook - 2012

Lauren Olamina is an empath, crippled by the pain of others. One night, violence explodes, and the walls of her neighborhood are smashed, annihilating Lauren’s family and friends. Now the empath must face the world outside. Lauren Olamina is an empath, crippled by the pain of others. One night, violence explodes, and the walls of her neighborhood are smashed, annihilating Lauren’s family and friends. Now the empath must face the world outside. Show less

Lauren Olamina is an empath, crippled by the pain of others. One night, violence explodes, and the walls of her neighborhood are smashed, annihilating Lauren’s family and friends. Now the empath must face the world outside. Lauren Olamina is an empath, crippled by the pain of others. One night, violence explodes, and the walls of her neighborhood are smashed, annihilating Lauren’s family and friends. Now the empath must face the world outside. Show less

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Flyy Girl

Flyy Girl

by Tyree, Omar

Book - 1996

As a young teen, Tracy is obsessed with designer clothes, jewelry, and boys while her best friend Raheema struggles to focus on grades and achievement. When the world of gratiuitous sex threatens heartbreak, Tracy reexamines her life and goals. As a young teen, Tracy is obsessed with designer clothes, jewelry, and boys while her best friend Raheema struggles to focus on grades and achievement. When the world of gratiuitous sex threatens heartbreak, Tracy reexamines her life and goals. Show less

As a young teen, Tracy is obsessed with designer clothes, jewelry, and boys while her best friend Raheema struggles to focus on grades and achievement. When the world of gratiuitous sex threatens heartbreak, Tracy reexamines her life and goals. As a young teen, Tracy is obsessed with designer clothes, jewelry, and boys while her best friend Raheema struggles to focus on grades and achievement. When the world of gratiuitous sex threatens heartbreak, Tracy reexamines her life and goals. Show less

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Assata

Assata

An Autobiography

by Shakur, Assata

Book - 2001

Born Joanne Chesimard, she took an African name to confirm her commitment to black liberation, joined militant organizations, and was ultimately convicted...Show more Born Joanne Chesimard, she took an African name to confirm her commitment to black liberation, joined militant organizations, and was ultimately convicted of the murder of a New Jersey highway patrol officer in 1977. Her descriptions of life in prison and the vagaries of the court system are especially wrenching. Living now in Cuba as an escaped felon, she continues her utopian plea for revolution Show less

Born Joanne Chesimard, she took an African name to confirm her commitment to black liberation, joined militant organizations, and was ultimately convicted...Show more Born Joanne Chesimard, she took an African name to confirm her commitment to black liberation, joined militant organizations, and was ultimately convicted of the murder of a New Jersey highway patrol officer in 1977. Her descriptions of life in prison and the vagaries of the court system are especially wrenching. Living now in Cuba as an escaped felon, she continues her utopian plea for revolution Show less

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The Adventures of Augie March

The Adventures of Augie March

A Novel

by Bellow, Saul

Book - 1953

Augie March grows up on the south side of Chicago during the Depression and learns about wealth, women, and the pursuit of happiness. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and violence and is intended for mature readers. Augie March grows up on the south side of Chicago during the Depression and learns about wealth, women, and the pursuit of happiness. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and violence and is intended for mature readers. Show less

Augie March grows up on the south side of Chicago during the Depression and learns about wealth, women, and the pursuit of happiness. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and violence and is intended for mature readers. Augie March grows up on the south side of Chicago during the Depression and learns about wealth, women, and the pursuit of happiness. The plot contains profanity, sexual situations, and violence and is intended for mature readers. Show less

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Invisible Man

Invisible Man

by Ellison, Ralph

Book - 1995

Both a deeply compelling bestselling novel and an epic milestone of American literature. Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown...Show more Both a deeply compelling bestselling novel and an epic milestone of American literature. Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book's nameless narrator describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", before retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. Show less

Both a deeply compelling bestselling novel and an epic milestone of American literature. Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown...Show more Both a deeply compelling bestselling novel and an epic milestone of American literature. Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book's nameless narrator describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", before retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. Show less

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Brother and the Dancer

Brother and the Dancer

A Novel

by Norris, Keenan

Book - 2013

Winner of the 2012 James D. Houston Award, Keenan Norris's first novel is a beautiful, gritty, coming-of-age tale about two young African Americans in the...Show more Winner of the 2012 James D. Houston Award, Keenan Norris's first novel is a beautiful, gritty, coming-of-age tale about two young African Americans in the San Bernardino Valley-a story of exceptional power, lyricism, and depth. Erycha and Touissant live only a few miles apart in the city of Highland, but their worlds are starkly separated by the lines of class, violence, and history. In alternating chapters that touch and intertwine only briefly, Brother and the Dancer follows their adolescence and young adulthood on two sides of the city, the luminous San Bernardino range casting its hot shade over their separate tales in an unflinching vision of black life in Southern California. Show less

Winner of the 2012 James D. Houston Award, Keenan Norris's first novel is a beautiful, gritty, coming-of-age tale about two young African Americans in the...Show more Winner of the 2012 James D. Houston Award, Keenan Norris's first novel is a beautiful, gritty, coming-of-age tale about two young African Americans in the San Bernardino Valley-a story of exceptional power, lyricism, and depth. Erycha and Touissant live only a few miles apart in the city of Highland, but their worlds are starkly separated by the lines of class, violence, and history. In alternating chapters that touch and intertwine only briefly, Brother and the Dancer follows their adolescence and young adulthood on two sides of the city, the luminous San Bernardino range casting its hot shade over their separate tales in an unflinching vision of black life in Southern California. Show less

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

An American Slave

by Douglass, Frederick

Book - 2005

The "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is an 1845 memoir of slavery and escape and a treatise on abolition written by the writer, ora...Show more The "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is an 1845 memoir of slavery and escape and a treatise on abolition written by the writer, orator and former slave Frederick Douglass. Describing in gripping detail the circumstances of his upbringing, his brutal treatment at the hands of slave-owners, and his narrow escape from Maryland to freedom, the book is one of the most famous works of American literature and provided fuel for the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. Show less

The "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is an 1845 memoir of slavery and escape and a treatise on abolition written by the writer, ora...Show more The "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is an 1845 memoir of slavery and escape and a treatise on abolition written by the writer, orator and former slave Frederick Douglass. Describing in gripping detail the circumstances of his upbringing, his brutal treatment at the hands of slave-owners, and his narrow escape from Maryland to freedom, the book is one of the most famous works of American literature and provided fuel for the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. Show less

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By the Lemon Tree

By the Lemon Tree

by Norris, Keenan

Book - 2018

Set in the Central California countryside and the Southern California desert, BY THE LEMON TREE's old school stories chronicle the collision of wide-eyed...Show more Set in the Central California countryside and the Southern California desert, BY THE LEMON TREE's old school stories chronicle the collision of wide-eyed childhood with the end of lives human and animal. In "Twice Good" a downtrodden city administrator shows up for a Black Panther protest forty years too late. "Funeral in Fresno" introduces us to an impatient reverend who is forced to confront his past and his future, while in the title story, a young boy born and raised in East Oakland bears witness to life and death in an ancient rural world. Show less

Set in the Central California countryside and the Southern California desert, BY THE LEMON TREE's old school stories chronicle the collision of wide-eyed...Show more Set in the Central California countryside and the Southern California desert, BY THE LEMON TREE's old school stories chronicle the collision of wide-eyed childhood with the end of lives human and animal. In "Twice Good" a downtrodden city administrator shows up for a Black Panther protest forty years too late. "Funeral in Fresno" introduces us to an impatient reverend who is forced to confront his past and his future, while in the title story, a young boy born and raised in East Oakland bears witness to life and death in an ancient rural world. Show less

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