Editor’s Choice
Kayvion Lewis
Editor’s Choice
Stephen Buoro The Five Sorrowful Mysteries
of Andy Africa Bloomsbury, 14th March 2024, £8.99, PB, 9781526638014
Described as J D Salinger meets Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, this title has garnered praise from Max Porter, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Rankin and, now, me. Crackling with energy and intelligence, this is the story of Andrew Aziza, a one-of-a-kind teenager who goes on a journey of self-discovery in the shadow of colonialism and communal violence in north-western Nigeria.
Thieves’ Gambit Simon & Schuster Children’s, 28th September, £8.99, PB, 9781398522121
Raised by a legendary family of thieves, Rosalyn Quest is about to escape the family business when her mother is kidnapped. Her only chance to save her is to win the Thieves’ Gambit—a deadly competition for the world’s up-and-coming thieves. Sounds like The Hunger Games meets “Ocean’s Eleven”. I’m into it. Film rights have been bought by Lionsgate.
A young girl escapes slavery and is taken in by two mysterious women who are rumoured to be witches. A queer classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories is a radical reimagining of the vampire myth and an exploration of Blackness, community and female love.
Paul David Gould Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants Unbound Firsts, 8th June, £12.99, PB, 9781800182202 A literary thriller and gritty love story, set in the gay underground of 1990s Moscow.
Rachel Eliza Griffiths Promise John Murray, 6th July, £16.99, HB, 9781399809849 Set in 1957 at the begin- ning of the civil rights movement, the publisher describes Promise as “a rich, powerful and beauti- fully complex celebration of sisterhood, family and love set in a small-town community in New England”.
DC Comics, 25th July, £16.99, PB, 9781779520234 Contemporary reinvention of Icon & Rocket, a promi- nent superhero duo from the original Milestone Media of the 1990s.
Sadeqa Johnson The House of Eve Renegade Books, 4th May, £18.99, HB, 9780349130569 A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, this title is set in both 1998 and 1948 and tells the story of two mothers forced to make the “most heartbreaking decisions of their lives”.
Femi Kayode Gaslight Bloomsbury, 9th November, £16.99, HB, 9781526617637 Latest instalment in Kayode’s crime series starring clinical psycholo- gist Philip Taiwo. In this title, Philip has been urgently called in to inves- tigate the disappearance of the “First Lady” of a Nigerian mega-church.
Editor’s Choice
Editor’s Choice
Emma Dabiri
Disobedient Bodies Wellcome Collection, 26th October, £7.99, PB, 9781800817920
An incisive, empowering manifesto to show each of us how to embrace our unruly beauty. This book will explore how to unpack, process, rebel and subvert—offering alterna- tive ways of seeing beauty, drawing on other cultures, worldviews, times, places and look- ing beyond the capitalist model—to find the inherent joy in our disobedient bodies. Accompanies a major exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in autumn 2023.
Kobby Ben Ben
No One Dies Yet Europa Editions, 17th August, £14.99, PB, 9781787703728
Ghana has opened its doors to Black diaspo- rans, encouraging them to return and get to know the land of their ancestors. Elton, Vincent and Scott arrive from America; their activities are narrated by their two combative guides: Kobby and Nana. The pair’s tense relationship sets the tone for what becomes a shocking and unsettling tale of murder. A “genre-bending” story by a powerful new voice.
Meron Hadero A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times Canongate, 7th December, £9.99, PB, 9781838858933 A compelling collection of stories about those whose lives have been marked by the risk of displacement, from the winner of the AKO Caine Prize.
Louise Hare Harlem After Midnight HQ, 14th September, £16.99, HB, 9780008494957 A historical mystery that explores class, pre-Second World War politics and race.
Ollie Hicks; Emma Oosterhous (illus) Grand Slam Romance Abrams, 22nd June, £18.99, HB, 9781419758010 A queer graphic novel set in the world of softball.
Reginald Hudlin; Doug Braithwaite (illus) Icon & Rocket: Season One
TheBookseller.com
Jamaica Kincaid Mr Potter Picador, 18th January 2024, £9.99, PB, 9781529076684 A poetic and affecting story of an ordinary man attempting to make a home on the island of Antigua.
Jamaica Kincaid Talk Stories Picador, 18th January 2024, £9.99, PB, 9781529077049 Originally featured in the New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” column, these are Kincaid’s first impressions of snobbish, mobbish New York.
Kimberly Lemming That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon Jo Fletcher Books, 17th August, £8.99, PB, 9781529431261
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