"Monica Hand's me and Nina is a beautiful book by a soul survivor. In these poems she sings deep songs of violated intimacy and the hard work of repair. The poems are unsentimental, blood-red, and positively true, note for note, like the singing of Nina Simone herself. Hand has written a moving, deeply satisfying, and unforgettable book."—Elizabeth Alexander In an intimate conversation with the "High Priestess of Soul," Monica A. Hand surveys the places and moods of alienation through poems that are as musical and stylistically diverse as Nina Simone's work. Hand readily embraces a "mass hypnosis" style, putting "a spell on [us]" with her intensely passionate cries and commitment to embracing both tragedy and exuberance in these insightful poems. From "Dear Nina": I am not recession depression oppression compression crooked line broken line polka dot parking lot or spot I am a Gift from God I know that I am an un-kept solo song Monica A. Hand is a poet and book artist currently living in Harlem, New York. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Aunt Chloe, Black Renaissance Noire, The Sow's Ear, Drunken Boat, Beyond the Frontier, African-American Poetry for the 21st Century, Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in poetry and poetry in translation from Drew University and is a founding member of Poets for Ayiti.

Lots of little, everyday frustrations make Nina mad, and she is very good at expressing her feelings.

“Making an auspicious entry into children’s books, Laden provides a stylish, droll answer to the riddle of what dogs do while their owners sleep.” —Publishers Weekly “I have a dog. Nothing exotic or special, just an ordinary dog.” Or so this little boy thinks—until one morning, when he opens the door a little early and sees his dog jump out of a limousine. That night, he decides to follow his dog, and that’s when the fun starts, in a nighttime romp around town where he learns what adventures dogs get up to while their humans are fast asleep. A terrific read-aloud and true “comedic gem,” Nina Laden’s story will have everyone captivated by the coolest dog around (Parents’ Choice). “Laden’s dog characters are especially keenly drawn . . . A whimsical book.” —Kirkus Reviews “Sophisticated enough for older children and silly enough for younger listeners, this boy-and-his-dog book has a clever text, great illustrations and strong appeal.” —School Library Journal

A witty and thought-provoking collection of visual poems constructed from stacks of books. Delighting in the look and feel of books, conceptual artist Nina Katchadourian’s playful photographic series proves that books’ covers—or more specifically, their spines—can speak volumes. Over the past two decades, Katchadourian has perused libraries across the globe, selecting, stacking, and photographing groupings of two, three, four, or five books so that their titles can be read as sentences, creating whimsical narratives from the text found there. Thought-provoking, clever, and at times laugh-out-loud funny (one cluster of titles from the Akron Museum of Art’s research library consists of: Primitive Art /Just Imagine/Picasso/Raised by Wolves), Sorted Books is an enthralling collection of visual poems full of wry wit and bookish smarts. Praise for Sorted Books “Katchadourian’s project . . . takes on a weight beyond its initial novelty. It’s a love letter to books, book collecting and the act of reading.” —San Francisco Chronicle “As a longtime fan of [Katchadourian’s] long-running Sorted Books project I’m thrilled for the release of Sorted Books—a collection spanning nearly two decades of her witty and wise minimalist mediations on life by way of ingeniously arranged book spines. . . . In an era drowned in periodic death tolls for the future of the physical book, her project stands as a celebration of the spirit embedded in the magnificent materiality of the printed page.” —Brain Pickings “Katchadourian’s stacks possess an understated sophistication; they are true to the intimate nature of books and yet reveal their dramatic features and unexpected potential.” —Publishers Weekly

I watch. I study. I prowl. I hunt. I always go in with a plan. A set of rules for myself. I don't take unnecessary risks. That's how I've been able to evade capture all these years. But there's something about this girl that is different than the others. When I finally meet her, the rules become a blur. And I break the most important one of all--I take her with me. ----- It's just my imagination--that feeling of being watched. That those icy eyes-- a vivid turquoise with a distinct golden fleck--aren't watching me. It's just stress. I am the person everyone relies on. Maybe that's why I haven't been feeling so content with my life lately. Why I dream those eyes belong to someone who can tear me away from all of my responsibilities. But these are just shameful fantasies, never meant to breach reality. Then one night, the dream comes true, only it's a horrific nightmare. Now, I only have one task: survival. 124k words. Trigger warning: If you need one, this is really not the book for you.

"Sixteen-year-old queer-identified Banjo Logan wakes up groggy in a juvenile mental ward. She realizes that the clueless therapist and shiny psychiatrist can't help her come to terms with her genderqueer boy/girlfriend's suicide, much less help her decide what to do with the fetus that's growing inside her or answers the question of why she cuts. She's befriended by two fellow patients--a strange and slightly manic queer girl and a shy, gay boy disowned by his born-again Christian parents. Girls Like Me is the a powerful coming of age story of a pregnant gay teenager who realizes that friends may make the best medicine."--Back cover.