Reads 365: No.24
April- Poetry & Prose
Poetry, literary works & lyrical fiction
Some of the books features heavy subject matter, so please be mindful of the content warnings and research them fully.
Your mental wellbeing matters.
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
🎭 An epic poem disguised as a novel. A love letter to Black Southern history, family, trauma, and resilience.
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers traces Ailey's family from West Africa through slavery to present-day Georgia, while confronting colorism, sexual violence, academic elitism, and the stories we tell to survive. Part historical saga, part poetry, all brilliant.
This isn't just a book. It's an EXPERIENCE. It's oral history, it's genealogy, it's verse, it's fury, it's love.
💫 Perfect for:
• Epic saga readers with stamina
• Fans of Homegoing
• Anyone exploring family histories
• Readers who love lyrical prose
🎭 Poetry & Prose
📚 Historical Fiction/Literary
#MarginsXReads #PoetryAndProse #TheLoveSongs #HonoréeFanonneJeffers #BlackSouthern #HistoricalFiction #EpicSaga #Poetry #DiverseBooks
Ghana Must Go
by Taiye Selasi
A Ghanaian-Nigerian family fractures when the father disappears. Decades later, his death brings them back together.
Taiye Selasi's debut follows the Sai family across continents—from Ghana to Nigeria to Boston to London. When their surgeon father abandons them, each child navigates identity, belonging, and what "home" means when you're from everywhere and nowhere.
Selasi writes like a poet. Every sentence is crafted. Every image deliberate.
💫 Perfect for:
• Diaspora literature readers
• Fans of Americanah
• Anyone exploring family secrets
• Readers who love lyrical prose
⭐ Debut sensation
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
🌍 Ghanaian-Nigerian
#MarginsXReads #PoetryAndProse #GhanaMustGo #TaiyeSelasi #Afropolitan #Diaspora #GhanaianNigerian #FamilySaga #LyricalFiction #DiverseBooks
How to Sit
by Tyrese Coleman
What does a Black woman do when her white coworker asks to touch her hair? When her mother is dying? When her body becomes a battlefield?
Tyrese Coleman's short stories blend fiction, essay, and poetry to explore Black womanhood, microaggressions, grief, and survival. Genre-defying, formally inventive, and urgently necessary.
"How to Sit" isn't just a title, it's an instruction manual for navigating a world that doesn't want you to be comfortable.
💫 Perfect for:
• Experimental fiction lovers
• Readers exploring Black womanhood
• Fans of hybrid forms *(fiction/essay/poetry)
• Anyone who loves formally innovative work
⭐ Hybrid genre-defying collection
📖Urgent and necessary
📚 Genre: Short Stories/Literary Fiction
#MarginsXReads #PoetryAndProse #HowToSit #TyreseColeman #ShortStories #BlackWomen #ExperimentalFiction #HybridForm #LiteraryFiction #DiverseBooks
April’s Poetry & Prose list