Celebrate the brilliance of Black literary voices with The Faces of Black Literature Book Bundle Giveaway! This 6-book collection features powerful novels and poetry from iconic authors Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, August Wilson, and Zora Neale Hurston. From stirring verses to unforgettable narratives, these works highlight the richness and depth of Black storytelling. Enter to win them all now and add to your literary collection!

Giovanni's Room (Deluxe Edition) by James Baldwin

A deluxe edition of James Baldwin's groundbreaking novel, with a new introduction by Kevin Young and special cover art designed by Baldwin's friend and contemporary Beauford Delaney

Giovanni's Room is set in the Paris of the 1950s, where a young American expatriate finds himself caught between his repressed desires and conventional morality. David has just proposed marriage to his American girlfriend, but while she is away on a trip he becomes involved in a doomed affair with a bartender named Giovanni. With sharp, probing insight, James Baldwin's classic narrative delves into the mystery of love and tells a deeply moving story that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston

From "one of the greatest writers of our time" (Toni Morrison)--the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God--a collection of remarkable stories, including eight "lost" Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time.

In 1925, Barnard student Zora Neale Hurston--the sole black student at the college--was living in New York, "desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world." During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nearly a century later, this singular talent is recognized as one of the most influential and revered American artists of the modern period.

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston's "lost" Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston's world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer's voice and her contributions to America's literary traditions.

Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose by Nikki Giovanni

One of America's most celebrated poets challenges us with this powerful and deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society while illuminating the depths of her own heart.

For more than fifty years, Nikki Giovanni's poetry has dazzled and inspired readers. As sharp and outspoken as ever, she returns with this profound book of poetry in which she continues to call attention to injustice and racism, celebrate Black culture and Black lives, and and give readers an unfiltered look into her own experiences.

In Make Me Rain, she celebrates her loved ones and unapologetically declares her pride in her Black heritage, while exploring the enduring impact of the twin sins of racism and white nationalism. Giovanni reaffirms her place as a uniquely vibrant and relevant American voice with poems such as "I Come from Athletes" and "Rainy Days"--calling out segregation and Donald Trump; as well as "Unloved (for Aunt Cleota)" and "When I Could No Longer"--her personal elegy for the relatives who saved her from an abusive home life.

Stirring, provocative, and resonant, the poems in Make Me Rain pierce the heart and nourish the soul.

"If there was a need for poetry that galvanized and inspired, there was also a demand for poetry that comforted and unified -- and Ms. Giovanni provided on both counts." -- The Washington Post

The Piano Lesson by August Wilson

August Wilson has already given the American theater such spell-binding plays about the black experience in 20th-century America as "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, " and the Pulitzer Prize-winning, "Fences." In his second Pulitzer Prize-winner, "The Piano Lesson, " Wilson has fashioned his most haunting and dramatic work yet. At the heart of the play stands the ornately carved upright piano which, as the Charles family's prized, hard-won possession, has been gathering dust in the parlor of Berniece Charles's Pittsburgh home. When Boy Willie, Berniece's exuberant brother, bursts into her life with his dream of buying the same Mississippi land that his family had worked as slaves, he plans to sell their antique piano for the hard cash he needs to stake his future. But Berniece refuses to sell, clinging to the piano as a reminder of the history that is their family legacy. This dilemma is the real "piano lesson, " reminding us that blacks are often deprived both of the symbols of their past and of opportunity in the present.

Where the Jazz Band Plays - The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

A leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes was the first to use his poetry to reflect the real daily lives of average Black people. This collection celebrates Black pride and contains messages of hope and optimism from the 1920s.

Langston Hughes is often referred to as the Poet Laureate of African-American experience. The writer featured themes of cultural heritage, racial discrimination, and optimism in his poetry. He used his work to reflect the struggles of Black people in America, but also to send messages of hope. Jazz and blues had a strong influence on his work and dreams are a recurring theme in his poetry. Not only does Hughes comment on the American dream and Black people's inability to achieve it, but he also uses dreams as a symbol of hope for equity and freedom.

This collection features several sections, including:

Where the Jazz Band Plays - The Weary Blues has been proudly published by specialist poetry imprint Ragged Hand and features an introductory excerpt by Carl Van Vechten and the introductory essay A Brief History of the Harlem Renaissance. This collection is a perfect gift for fans of Hughes' poetry and those with an interest in Black history.

The Complete Poetry by Maya Angelou

The beauty and spirit of Maya Angelou's words live on in this complete collection of poetry, including her inaugural poem "On the Pulse of Morning"

Throughout her illustrious career in letters, Maya Angelou gifted, healed, and inspired the world with her words. Now the beauty and spirit of those words live on in this new and complete collection of poetry that reflects and honors the writer's remarkable life.

Every poetic phrase, every poignant verse can be found within the pages of this sure-to-be-treasured volume--from her reflections on African American life and hardship in the compilation Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie ("Though there's one thing that I cry for / I believe enough to die for / That is every man's responsibility to man") to her revolutionary celebrations of womanhood in the poem "Still I Rise" ("Out of the huts of history's shame / I rise / Up from a past that's rooted in pain / I rise") to her "On the Pulse of Morning" tribute at President William Jefferson Clinton's inauguration ("Lift up your eyes upon / The day breaking for you. / Give birth again / To the dream.").

Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry also features her final long-form poems, including "A Brave and Startling Truth," "Amazing Peace," "His Day Is Done," and the honest and endearing Mother:

"I feared if I let you go
You would leave me eternally.
You smiled at my fears, saying
I could not stay in your lap forever"

This collection also includes the never-before-published poem "Amazement Awaits," commissioned for the 2008 Olympic Games:

"We are here at the portal of the world we had wished for
At the lintel of the world we most need.
We are here roaring and singing.
We prove that we can not only make peace, we can bring it with us."

Timeless and prescient, this definitive compendium will warm the hearts of Maya Angelou's most ardent admirers as it introduces new readers to the legendary poet, activist, and teacher--a phenomenal woman for the ages.

Don't stop here! Celebrate Black Voices even more with these Diverse Literary Fiction novels. See them all, here.

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Upon successful entry, you will be eligible for a prize that will include: one (1) bundle of six (6) books: Giovanni's Room By James Baldwin (9780593688960), Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance By Zora Neale Hurston (9780062915801), Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose By Nikki Giovanni (9780062995285), The Piano Lesson By August Wilson (9780452265349), Where The Jazz Band Plays The Weary Blues By Langston Hughes (9781528720496), and The Complete Poetry By Maya Angelou (9780812997873). Total value of the prize pack is: $117.97. Only one entry per e-mail address per day will be valid.

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