“The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race,” edited by Jesmyn Ward (an author I raved about last year), is on the short list of my favorite books of 2016. A gorgeous collection of essays and poems on racial issues in America, it’s a book that punched me in the gut in the way that excellent writing tends to do. Describing her feelings on the book as a whole, Ward states:

“I believe there is power in words,
power in asserting our existence, our
experience, our lives, through words.
That sharing our stories confirms our
humanity. That it creates community,
both within our own community and
beyond it.”

The title of the collection is inspired by James Baldwin’s world-renowned “The Fire Next Time,” and its essays are broken into three parts: the past (“Legacy”), the present (“Reckoning”), and the future (“Jubilee”). While this provides a basic map for moving throughout the essays, the number of actual topics covered is….enormous. It’s a book in which – in my opinion – all readers can find something to cling to, whether it’s a particular line in a poem, a geographical reference, or a throwback to a past relationship.

It’s a book that is important everywhere and one that I especially hope readers in Lawrence will check out as we continue to have lengthy conversations on social justice. I was excited to hear that Ta-Nahesi Coates’ “Between the World and Me” was chosen to be this year’s Common Book at KU. This letter to his son about growing up in a black body in America has touched so many people, and I can’t wait for the upcoming talks surrounding the book.

One of the many reasons why I love “The Fire This Time” is the wide array of experiences represented. In her introduction to the authors, Jesmyn Ward doesn’t overtly mention the intersection of gender and race in curating this collection, but it’s easy to notice that black women are heavily represented (10 of 18 according to pronouns used in the contributors list). This directly contrasts with Coates’ book, which has received some criticism for focusing solely on men‘s experience of black bodies, overlooking black women’s part in the struggle. Ward’s variety of narratives makes the collection feel like a beautiful conversation that I’m lucky enough to listen in on. (Additionally, for a great and lengthy black-women-centric collection, check out the powerfully titled, “All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave.”)

I’d highly recommend “The Fire This Time” as a pairing with Coates, or as a separate and rich conversation for your book clubs and classrooms. While this book is at times devastating in its descriptions of racial violence and daily microaggressions, it’s also filled with small nuggets of hope. Or, at least, that is Jesmyn Ward’s goal:

“I hope this book makes each one of
you, dear readers, feel as if we are
sitting together, you and me and
Baldwin and Trethewey and Wilkerson
and Jeffers and Walters and Anderson
and Smith and all the serious,
clear-sighted writers here – and that
we are composing our story together.
That we are writing an epic wherein
black lives carry worth, wherein black
boys can walk to the store and buy
candy without thinking they will die,
wherein black girls can have a bad day
and be mouthy without being physically
assaulted by a police officer, wherein
cops see twelve year old black boys
playing with fake guns as silly kids
and not homicidal maniacs, wherein
black women can stop to ask for
directions without being shot in the
face by paranoid white homeowners.”

Please pick up “The Fire This Time” and join me in the listening.

-Kate Gramlich is a Reader’s Services Assistant at Lawrence Public Library.