#bnplit

[blacknerdproblems]

I am 2000 and late on the news, but it was a few days ago when I learned of The Book Club created and organized by Chicago rapper Noname. Initially started last year, I came across a tweet of hers on twitter when looking for some type of escapism from the horror of death, fire and military action by the U.S. in the Middle East.

The tweet I stumbled upon links to the Patreon of said book club and when I read on, I learned that it aims to become an online/IRL community dedicated to uplifting POC voices. Two authors of color will be highlighted each month by the club to be read and discussed along with local meetups in select cities. Imagine the smile on my face poking around on their website and the social media seeing so many Black and Brown folks with reading material, with smiles and most of all–gathered together.

But what takes the cake? What made me take out my wallet and sit down and bust this piece out on a Saturday morning before second breakfast? Noname’s Bookclub has a vision of sustainability and a pledge to push for education. With every subscription to the Patreon means compensating staff, graphic designers, photographers, and facilitators which is key. In a day and time where huge, multi-million dollar publications are still pushing unpaid internships and rent (is too damn high!) control still doesn’t exist in many places around the country–attempting to create and keep something creative ongoing is ideal and realistically needs support and especially support by way of dollar bills. The website also mentions that a 2020 goal is that they also want to raise funds to send their monthly picks to select prisons in various cities.

Further detailed is the push for acknowledging bookstore and libraries: for example, there are links to the Los Angeles Public Library and the Chicago Public Library who partnered up with the book club. As for the bookstores, shopping locally is encouraged with photos, addresses and phone numbers to such book havens like Hakim’s Bookstore in Philadelphia and the Reparations Club in Los Angeles. The stress to shop local is felt at the bottom of the about page on the website with the words: Noname. No Amazon. Shop Local. The intent is further felt when glancing on social media with such tweets as the one below, advertising #FuckAmazonDay where on January 11, a mass registering for library cards to promote free access to book and education will take place. Excited, I am.

Read on here. [x]

[enb2515]

Still in love with my old sketches #Throwback #chobits #ebellamy #bnplit #chobits #anime #art #blerd #pencil https://www.instagram.com/p/B8eDkTPgELv/?igshid=2hj3uz7zm7f0

[nerdofalltrades]

Getting a package from Amazon is like getting a present from your past self saying "I know Monday is going to be on some bull💩, so here you go". #bnplit

[greeniezona]

Repost from @blacknerdproblems using @RepostRegramApp - We've partnered with Dancing Star Press to give away copies of L.D. Lewis' A Ruin of Shadows to our new newsletter subscribers. • • Link in Bio. Contest is open to anyone. • • •Winners in the US & US Territories are eligible for hard copies. International winners will receive a digital copy in their choice of .mobi, .pdf, or .epub format. • • • #blacknerdproblems #aruinofshadows #ldlewis #bnplit #dancingstarpress

[sffortheculture]

From The Vanguard Series Link in my bio #bookquotes #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookshelf #bookworm #bookblog #books #tbrlist #authorcommunity #booklover #bookstagram #writingcommunity #afrofuturism #qotd #sffortheculture #fantasybooks #dystopian #blackscifi #blackbooks #Blackstorieshavepower #blackcreativesmatter #fantasy #dystopian #blackbookstagram #blackauthors #mustread #diversifybookstagram #blackbooksmatter #supportblackauthors #bnplit (at Bridgeport, Connecticut) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIrDlIdA-bK/?igshid=qjvtkpzodf5p

[aceofspadespdx]

Banned Books Week, Day 2. Alice Walker, The Color Purple. @bnplit stated here recently that everyone should have at least one book by this author. We had three, but one went out on "loan" and never came back. I am more than OK with that. If you have only seen the film, this will blow you out of the water. My husband told me it was one of the best gifts I had ever given him. What's on your list, especially those who like novels? #bannedbooksweek #womenauthors #blackliterature #blackwomemauthor👸🏾👩🏾‍🏫🙏🏾🖤 #bookstagram (at Beaverton, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFrvUWOMMko/?igshid=6aylsgj5nwcp

[wakandacon-blog]

“Things have been terrifying and interesting and beautiful as we recovered from the devastation of Erik Killmonger. He left exposed rifts and conflicts that have been painful, gaping wounds in our small community...it has never been a utopia here, but there was so much that we did not question before he came, things we began to question and realize we wanted to change, and we disagreed on how to change.” From “The Kingdom is Dead” by @adriennemareebrown in Black Freedom Beyond Borders: A Wakanda Immigration Anthology To read the full story and the rest of the book follow the link in the bio ********************* About the book: As cultural emissaries of Wakanda, we have called upon Djeli Gnara of the African Diaspora to share fanciful stories of our future and sacred remembrances of our past the Kingdom opens its borders to the Diaspora for the first time. Wakanda is no longer in self-imposed isolation, and with this new openness comes a world of possibilities for all of us. But what is the new Wakanda that we are inviting people to build? During Black August of 2018, a historical time of sacred resistance within the African American community, Wakanda Dream Lab invited Black and Afro-Diasporic writers, activists, organizers, movement leaders and freedom fighters to participate in #BlackFreedomBeyondBorders, a collective black liberation imagining centered around Immigration. #BlackFreedomBeyondBorders is a fan fiction anthology. It honors the world of Wakanda and imagines it even more whole. Through this collective imagining we seek out new strategies, tactics, and hope for transforming immigration. ************** #blackpanther #blackpantherfanart #wakandaforever #wakanda @bnplit @blacknerdproblems @blackgirlnerds @theblerdgurl @nerdsofcolor @blacktribbles @afrocomiccon @afropunk @afripolitans @theblerdvision @blerd.world (at Wakandan National Gallery - Birnin Zana) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwcDKrB9eO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=jbnkvc1ma4fk

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - I love that the older and older I get the more I learn about amazing Black women who were amazing activists. Growing up I knew about Rosa Parks (even saw her in person back in the 90’s in Los Angeles. One of my favorite childhood stories But that’s for another day). After high school I learned about Claudette Colvin a teenage activist that history tried forget due to colorism and respectability politics as she was a pregnant teen. I’ve never heard of a Elizabeth Jennings whose life and activism predates both of them. 🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃 In 1854, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jennings, an African American schoolteacher, fought back when she was unjustly denied entry to a New York City streetcar, sparking the beginnings of the long struggle to gain equal rights on public transportation. 🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️ Lizzie decided to take her case to court and Her victory was the first recorded in the fight for equal rights on public transportation, and Lizzie’s case set a precedent. Author Beth Anderson and acclaimed illustrator E. B. Lewis bring this inspiring, little-known story to life in this book. A big shoutout to @boydsmillskane For sending us this review copy of this amazing tale that I want to share again and again! #elizabethjennings #kidlit #socialactivism #bnplit #boydsmillspress https://www.instagram.com/p/B63TDU7Fqqp/?igshid=1dw0v5g1ice6p

[blacknerdproblems]

What’s good 2020???!! We’re moving into a new year and the start of a new decade! The time of reading lists for the brand new year. Now, we’re not going to say we have the best reading lists out there, but if you’re looking for books across the spectrum of genre, character, and writer’s background, you know we got you. We prefer our books filled with complex characters, with folks included from across identities and ethnicities. We like our non-fiction insightful and challenging. We read poetry, essays, fiction, graphic novels…you name it. From Black girl zombie killers in historical settings to graphic novel memoirs about banned book clubs--here's the list!

Deathless Divide

by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray) Available February 2020

Ireland’s first book in this setting, Dread Nation, was a hit with me. The story of Jane leaving Miss Preston’s Attendant school outside of Baltimore and ending up “out west” was fast, engaging, and left me wanting more. Well, more is coming. In Deathless Divide, Jane, and friend Kate, leave the ruins of Summerland to travel to California, looking for Jane’s momma.

I’m looking forward to watching Jane embrace her truth while becoming a better zombie killer. Jane and Kate are mismatched friends, which makes the tension of their tale all the stronger. I know they won’t get a happily ever after — this tale is based on destroying those kinds of tropes — but I do want to see what they build for themselves in this alternative history, zombie fighting novel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brown Sugar Babe

by Charlotte Watson Sherman, Illustrated by (Boyd Mills & Kane) Available Feburary 2020

I have a true fondness for children’s books about mommies and babies, more specifically Black mamas and their offspring. It’s a genre in children’s lit that absolutely has my whole heart, and every time I see one I must check it out. Internally, I’ve figured that it is because it was my own moms that read to me and help foster a love of reading–so books about a mom and child with skin like mine make me smile. In Brown Sugar Babe, the creative team of Sherman and Akem (who I’ve followed since first seeing her art on Instagram) gives us the most delightful and heartfelt journey of Blackness through the wonders of everything ordinary and extraordinary in the world.

The poetic wording gives me hope in a world that despises (but constantly copies) Black girls: “Your brown eyes are chocolate drops brown sugar babe, your hair, a crown of brown curls, fierce as a lion’s mane.” Paired with the lovely art with everything from gingerbread men and gardens to outer space, this is the book I want to give my future daughter. We did secure a review copy and the prose is lovely and heartfelt paired with the art that makes my heart soar–look forward to my review!

See our complete list by reading on here. [x]

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - WELP....The to-read list never get shorter! #bnplit #boughtnewbookstoday #conceitedmeme #dontjudgemeplease #bookloversofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B7bcrn3lp91/?igshid=q6nv56tnu6ud

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - “ I wrote this book for every fat person, every old person, and every exceptionally short person. I wrote it for every person who has called themselves ugly and every person who can’t accept their beauty. 🙏🏾 🙏🏾 I wrote it for every person who is self-conscious about their body. I wrote it for every human being who struggles to find happiness on a daily basis, and for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by the mere act of being alive. I’ve been there. We all have. Yoga.” 🙏🏾 🙏🏾 Jessamyn Stanley’s Everybody Yoga is timeless. And then I opened up my mamas December issue of Oprah’s magazine and Just considered that I should start reading this book now—its time. Shout out to Jessamyn loving her body and For every person who wants their body to be a natural and loved extension of their passions and their personality and Everything that makes them, them! #everybodyyoga #jessamynstanley #bnplit #hereforit https://www.instagram.com/p/B6TVh9RlhOU/?igshid=1ihpx2p2miupb

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - “You have to know a lot of songs to cook the way our ancestors cooked. The songs are like clocks with spells. Some enslaved cooks timed the cooking by the stanzas of the hymns and spirituals, or little folk songs that began across the Atlantic and melted into plantation Creole, melting Africa with Europe until beginnings and endings were muddied.” -Michael W. Twitty • • • • • I’m not crying, you’re crying. WHEW. I’m home with all the good books! The top of this shelfie includes “The Cooking Gene” by cultural historian Michael W. Twitty. #nonfictionnovember #thecookinggene #whitepeopledonotknowhowtobehaveatentertainmentsdesignedforladiesandgentlemenofcolor #bnplit https://www.instagram.com/p/B45PakJlJjD/?igshid=1kfrvrl2vqnjl

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - If your comic book reading friends ain’t put you on game to Far Sector, then they don’t really love you. 〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️ “With Sojourner “Jo” Mullein, the first Black woman to become a Green Lantern, it’s easy to see how the elements of Afrofuturism will separate this Green Lantern from the rest. You can thank the @pryce14 on the art for that and the multi-award-winning pen game of writer N.K. Jemisin. N.K. Jemisin came through and opened up the most pit in DC Comics sci-fi genre which is exactly what it needed. “ 〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️ Jo’s Lipstick game is on point! She’s a character I love the reading and want to continue for the rest of the miniseries. The art is fantastic they are just so many reasons why you should be reading this if you aren’t already! #nkjemisin #jamalcampbell #dccomics #bnplit #greenlantern #SojournerMullein https://www.instagram.com/p/B8CFz0QFGJa/?igshid=1g4dbjazdv0fz

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - Reading material as the new year rolled in and things are ever chaotic in this country on day two of the new year?! At home with books and art. #bnplit #hueypnewton #blackbookstagram #homeiswherethebooksare https://www.instagram.com/p/B63UAjFlEhK/?igshid=1o0ajteewyttn

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 #bnplit #librarybooksofinstagram #thewitcher #geraltofrivia #latelibrarybooks https://www.instagram.com/p/B7t-7mvFtup/?igshid=1sh0wwjso2n00

[blacknerdproblems]

Repost from @bnplit using @RepostRegramApp - “Satoko, who is Japanese, has a new roommate in America: a Saudi Arabian woman named Nada, who practices Islam and wears a hijab. While under the same roof, Satoko and Nada learn how to live together with very different customs and still have all the fun” Super heartwarming, super hilarious and super educational! I absolutely love the slice of life manga! ✨ #bnplit #satokoandnada #manga #sevenseasentertainment https://www.instagram.com/p/B4nQfQtliNd/?igshid=yx2mcm8yftrx