JACARANDA JUNETEENTH PICKS

Commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States, observed on June 19th.

To mark Juneteenth, the team selected titles from our list that spoke individually to the theme of freedom and emancipation. These selections range from comic analysis of the dual personal and political nature of Blackness, to surreal mysterious Haitian narrative that bring to life the zombie, to a daring novella set in a 1940's Brooklyn with rich, timely tales around race, gender and choice.

This list carries stories that we feel speak to the past, present and future of how we think about the legacy of emancipation.

You Can't Touch My Hair And Other Things I Still Have to Explain | Phoebe Robinson 

As personal as it is political, You Can’t Touch My Hair examines our cultural climate and skewers our biases with humor and heart with its hilarious essay collection about race, gender and pop culture from comedy superstar and 2 Dope Queens podcaster Phoebe Robinson.

Hadriana in All My Dreams | Rene Depestré

A book featuring zombie brides and lascivious butterflies, Hadriana in All my Dreams is a surreal frolic through mystery and eroticism that reveals vital truths about the nature of humanity.

Once Upon A Time in Shaolin | Cyrus Bozorgmehr

Take a kid with a dream. A legendary hip hop group. 6 years of secret recordings. A casing worthy of a king. A single artifact. Hallowed establishment institutions. An iconoclastic auction house. The world’s foremost museum of modern art. A bidding war. Endless crises of conscience. An angry mob. A furious beef. A sale. A villain of Lex Luthor-like proportions. Bill Murray. The FBI. The internet gone wild. Welcome to Once Upon A Time in Shaolin.

Praise Song for the Butterflies | Bernice L. McFadden

A bold, brave and brilliant novel exploring the trokosi tradition of ritual servitude in West Africa, Praise Song for the Butterflies will break and heal your heart. Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019.

With Your Bad Self | Kerika Fields 

Marie and Benjamin are in love, but World War II is approaching and so is the military draft for Benjamin. While Benjamin's away, another man comes knocking on her heart. Pushed to marry him by everyone around her, Marie needs to make a tough decision—waiting for Benjamin and following her dreams to see the world or move on with her life with another man? Discover this stunning novella: With Your Bad Self.

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