“[The BreakBeat Poets is] one of the most diverse and important poetry anthologies of the last 25 years.”—Latino Rebels
Black Girl Magic continues and deepens the work of the first BreakBeat Poets anthology by focusing on some of the most exciting Black women writing today. This anthology breaks up the myth of hip-hop as a boys’ club, and asserts the truth that the cypher is a feminine form.
Poet and vocalist Jamila Woods was raised in Chicago, and graduated from Brown University, where she earned a BA in Africana Studies and Theatre & Performance Studies. Influenced by Lucille Clifton and Gwendolyn Brooks, much of her writing explores blackness, womanhood, and the city of Chicago.
Mahogany L. Browne is a Cave Canem and Poets House alumna and the author of several books including Smudge and Redbone. She directs the poetry program of the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Idrissa Simmonds is a fiction writer and poet. Her work has appeared in Black Renaissance Noire, The Caribbean Writer, Fourteen Hills Press, and elsewhere. She is the 2014 winner of the Crab Creek Review poetry contest, and a New York Foundation for the Arts and Commonwealth Short Story Award Finalist.
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“The poems in the collection, influenced by the rhythms, lyricism, and expressiveness of hip-hop music and culture, speak to the many dimensions of black womanhood.”
—Poets & Writers
“This anthology celebrates the works of Black women from all corners of the diaspora, exploring themes of beauty, unapologetic blackness, intersectionality, self-definition, and more.”
—Teen Vogue
“Black Girl Magic features more than 60 writers using vivid imagery and crackling language to embrace their vulnerabilities and push against stereotypes that erase Black women’s lived experiences, instead honoring the richly variant forms and stories of Black womanhood… In a world that seems hell bent on the degradation of Black women and girls, hope can often seem like an unattainable luxury. Yet the beauty of Black Girl Magic lies in its defiance of that narrative pushed by patriarchal white supremacy.”
—Broadly
“These dense, entrancing, necessary works by more than 60 black women poets create a black-girl-centric world of their own. The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic is a well-rounded look at what it means to be a black woman and in the process serves as a platform for our voices and bodies, revealing our maneuvers through the world as deeply relevant to and deserving of literary space.”
—Chicago Reader
“An enthralling, deep, beautiful and heartbreaking dive into the world of Black women. Black Girl Magic offers an insightful and necessary look at what it means to be black, resolute and have a platform to share it loud and proudly.”
—Okayplayer
“One of the most important volumes of poetry in recent years.”
—Dazed
“Written by and for black women, these poems disrupt myths and stereotypes and present expansive perspectives on black womanhood.”
—Newcity
Other books edited by Mahogany L. Browne, Idrissa Simmonds, et al.
Other books of interest
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The BreakBeat Poets
Edited by Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, et al. -
My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter
by Aja Monet -
How We Get Free
Edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor -
The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 3
Edited by Fatimah Asghar and Safia Elhillo -
The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4
Edited by Felicia Chavez, José Olivarez, et al.