It's that time of year—our anniversary is coming up on the 22nd. We're gearing up for lots of activities for the next several weeks. Here's your guide.
Our Contributing Editors, Liz Blood and P. E. Garcia, have been working on this year's essay series. They picked the theme of "Outsiders" and have an impressive lineup of authors. Look for those starting on 8/23/16. We'll announce authors on 8/22/16.
Donald Quist's upcoming essay collection, Harbors, is finishing up with pre-orders. If you haven't yet ordered a copy, you have until the 9th. Hurry up! If you order by then, you'll get free shipping of your copy, an E-book before Christmas that can be given away, and a personalized postcard from the author. See some of the early feedback below.
“In HARBORS, Donald Quist bravely chronicles his attempts to find safe haven, to carve a space for himself and his humanity in a world where his blackness marks him for second-class citizenship. Quist sifts through the wreckages of his self—of love, of family, of escape across continents—to show readers the scars he’s earned and the pain that still radiates from them. This is a much needed work, the rare collection that enlivens and enlarges the humanity of the reader.”
“At a time when honest discussions of race, class, and violence are both necessary and too often simplistic, along comes Donald Quist. Perhaps this is what it takes - a uniquely positioned literary talent - to get us past familiar easy categories. In HARBORS, Quist assembles fragments, memories, conversations both real and imagined to reveal people in all their complexity and contradictions as well as the shifting lines of privilege and oppression. As Quist writes of three continents, his slim volume becomes my passport.”
“In HARBORS, Donald Quist gathers those moments of clarity that shape one man’s consciousness about the black experience in a global environment. Whether it’s growing up in the American South or seeking adventure in places as far away as Thailand, there’s no escaping the fixed perceptions about class, race and masculinity. Quist’s poignant essays show us, however, what it’s like to move through tension, conflict, and microaggression with hard-won dignity and grace—not unscathed, not unfazed, though certainly undefeated. A timely stellar collection!”
After 8/9/16, you'll still be able to order Harbors through our website sans the extra incentives and it will arrive 9/22/16. Also, it'll be available via SPDbooks, Amazon, and your local independent booksellers.
Interspersed between the essay series and launch of Harbors, we will be opening the vaults and posting more of the work we've published that hasn't made it online yet. There'll be something for everybody. We'll also have interviews and more announcements. Stay tuned!
Suspended between continents and cultures, Donald Quist charts the forceful undercurrents of an American identity. Through these essays Quist explores feelings of oppression and alienation as he wrestles with a single act of violence in a Washington, D.C. suburb, racial tensions in a rural South Carolina town, and the welcome anonymity of crowded Bangkok streets. These personal narratives are rich with Quist’s experience growing up as a person of color caught between parents, socioeconomic classes, and the countries he calls home.
Cover design by Maggie Chiang
Layout and design by LK James
Editing by Tatiana Ryckman
Copyediting by Emily Roberts