As a diplomat's son, star athlete, and Harvard Law School graduate, in the early 1980s Joseph Holland had a world of opportunities awaiting him on Wall Street and in corporate America. Instead, Holland moved to the inner city, driven by a divine calling full of unfolding mystery and challenge. He found himself in Harlem during the nadir of its blight and endeavored to contribute to a neighborhood that was tough in every sense of the word. A Republican among Democrats, a privileged Southern scion among working-class Northerners, Holland earned his stripes as an entrepreneur/activist embracing a vision of personal and community transformation. A five-year sojourn became a three-decade commitment, as his Harlem-based career morphed from practicing law to empowering the homeless, to running small businesses, to writing plays, to serving in politics, to building housing--all aimed at revitalizing a beaten-down, dream-deferred cultural mecca haunted by poignant memories of its glory days in the early twentieth century.

Qua loves Wynner. Wynner loves Qua. Easy enough, right? But Wynner comes with two brothers who can't stand Qua with their baby sister. In spite of it all, Qua grabs Wynner's hand and marries her at the courthouse. Flash forward five years, and Qua has kept all his promises to Wynner, supporting her through constant illness. As a wife, she's supposed to nurture and cater to her husband, but she's always sick, and she feels like less than a wife. When Qua's childhood friend comes to the city, she's sure to shake things up between the couple. Will they take their vows to heart? Uzi is feared by everything with a beating heart in New York. He has no time for a steady woman, but when Remi, a smart-talking bartender at his favorite strip club catches his eye, he chases her like a lion does an antelope. Remi is so over men wasting her time that she doesn't want to play. Will Uzi eventually shoot an arrow in her heart? Remi's younger sister, Tweeti, was always overlooked as a child. Now, all the boys who played her for being plus-sized are the same men chasing her. Tweeti doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. One week she wants to save lives; then the next she wants to take them. When Jahquel rolls into her life, she's taken aback. Will he eventually capture her heart? In New York where you gotta go hard, these kings need to reign with an iron fist. Will they do it with or without queens?

Cadence Camille Diaz could never imagine that colliding with the love of her life again after two years would turn her world upside down and inside out. This is not your typical love story, and there's no happy ending. Cadence walks a tightrope between right and wrong. Richard Jefferson represents everything right. The combination of the two presents problems that could have never been predicted. As the answers to most of the questions she has had all her life come flying at full speed, Cadence is forced to question the loyalty and trust of the people she has put in her life, and face the truth about herself.

Cousin of novelist Dorothy West and friend of Zora Neale Hurston, Helene Johnson (1905-1995) first gained literary prominence when James Weldon Johnson and Robert Frost selected three of her poems for prizes in a 1926 competition. This volume brings together the poetry and a selection of correspondence by this poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

By the groundbreaking author of the award-winning Monster–a visionary who influenced and inspired a generation–this story take us back to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places. Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn't want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the "good daughter" who realizes that there's only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion. AWARDS FOR WALTER DEAN MYERS: New York Times Bestselling Author 3-Time National Book Award Finalist Michael L. Printz Award 5 Coretta Scott King Awards 2 Newbery Honors National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2012-2013) Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement Children’s Literature Legacy Award