Best Books of 2022, Library Journal
Big Indie Book of Fall, Publishers Weekly
Foreword INDIE, finalist in anthology
Georgia Author of the Year Award, finalist
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"Valerie Boyd's Bigger Than Bravery isn't just an anthology; it is a
survival guide."
--Courtney B. Vance, Tony- and Emmy-winning actor
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An anthology of Black resilience and reclamation, with contributions
by Pearl Cleage, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Tayari
Jones, Kiese Laymon, Imani Perry, Deesha Philyaw, Khadijah Queen, Jason
Reynolds, Alice Walker, and more
Born of a desire to bring together the voices of those most harshly
affected by the intersecting pandemics of Covid-19 and systemic racism,
Bigger Than Bravery explores comfort and compromise, challenge and
resilience, throughout the Great Pause that became the Great Call.
Award-winning author and scholar of the Black archive Valerie Boyd
curates this anthology of original essays and poems, alongside some of
the most influential nonfiction published on the subject, inviting
readers into a conversation of restorative joy and enduring wisdom.
Bigger Than Bravery captures what Boyd calls the "first draft of
history," with poems serving as deep breaths between narrative essays to
form a loose chronology of this unprecedented time. Karen Good
Marable cranks "Whip My Hair" from the car windows during quarantine
joyrides with her daughter. Deesha Philyaw ponders loneliness as she
sorts Zoom meetings into those that require a bra and those that don't.
Writing in the moment though not of it, Pearl Cleage reflects on
what has and hasn't changed since the AIDS epidemic. Jason Reynolds
harnesses heat and flavor to carry on his father's legacy.
Sorrow and outrage have their say, but the stories in these pages are
bright with family, music, food, and home, teaching us how to nourish
ourselves and our communities. Looking ahead as much as it looks back,
Bigger Than Bravery offers a window into a hopeful, complex present,
establishing an essential record of how Black people in America insist
on joy as an act of resistance.
