AFROPUNK x Penguin Random House Celebrate Black Authors On World Book Day

23rd April is earmarked as a day where authors and creator of literary work are celebrated by their peers and adoring fans. For this year’s World Book Day, we collaborated with the good folks at Penguin Random House to hear word from some of the brightest mind in literature today. Over the day we shared videos from authors who read their favourite passages from their work and gave context for eager fans to connect even more with the books. Ranging from books about love, food, politics, we made sure everyone had their fair share of food for thought. In case you missed it, here’s the recap of what went down and we recommend you pick up these books.

Danté Stewart is a minister, essayist, and cultural critic. He is author of Shoutin’ In The Fire: In Shouting in the Fire Stewart gives breathtaking language to his reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy—both the kind that hangs over our country and the kind that is internalized on a molecular level. Stewart uses his personal experiences as a vehicle to reclaim and reimagine spiritual virtues like rage, resilience, and remembrance—and explores how these virtues might function as a work of love against an unjust, unloving world. You can pick Danté’s “Shoutin In The Fire” here:

Robert Jones Jr.  Robert Jones, Jr., is the author of the New York Times bestseller,The Prophets, which was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. His writings have been featured in The New York Times, Essence, and The Paris Review, as well as the critically acclaimed anthologies Four Hundred Souls and The 1619 Project. He is the creator and curator of the social-justice, social-media community Son of Baldwin, which has over 300,000 followers across platforms.  The Prophets explores the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. You can purchase the book here

A native New Yorker, Kwana Jackson (@kwanawrites) had two dreams: (1) to be a fashion designer and (2) to be a writer. After studying fashion design and graduating from FIT, she spent ten years designing for various fashion houses. She blessed us with a passage from her heartfelt charming novel, Real Men Knit. Listen as she reads her favourite passage from the book. Real Men Knit follows four adoptive brothers who struggle to keep open the doors of her beloved Harlem knitting shop. The story is about real connections and the importance of preserving parts of our community that make them unique and special to us. You can pick up a copy here:

Kim Johnson (@kcjohnsonwrite) is an award-winning novelist, with 2021 accolades that include the Pacific Northwest Book Award and Malka Penn Human Rights Award for Children’s Literature. Today she reads a passage from her novel, “This Is My America”, her bestselling novel that explores racial injustice against innocent Black men who are criminally sentenced and the families left behind to pick up the pieces. The book is available here for purchase. 

Bryant Terry (@bryantterry) is a renowned chef and food justice activist whose latest book, Black Food brings together over 100 contributors from the African diaspora around the globe to share their culinary knowledge. He is an NAACP Image Award winner and a James Beard Award-winning chef and educator and the author of Afro-Vegan and Vegetable Kingdom. He is renowned for his activism and efforts to create a healthy, equitable, and sustainable food system. He is currently the chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where he creates programming that celebrates the intersection of food, farming, health, activism, art, culture, and the African Diaspora. You can get his works here